Mine is from Sperry's
Crikey,that`s a blast from the past.
Mine is from Sperry's
Crikey,that`s a blast from the past.
Mark, was that lathe from South Ghyll or Crewe Toll ?
AWEM
(ex Ferranti myself!)
Andrew,it was from Crewe Toll.Did they have a machine shop at the Gyle?
I went to Napier Tech when I was an apprentice,with loads of Ferranti guys.All from Crewe Toll and Robertson Ave.South Gyle didn`t exist in these days I think.
Mark.
CVA 55yrs, Not even run in yet, but maybe time for an oil change
Were you the lucky man with the winning bid then?
''the tone of your post there is nothing to tell you'' ''you have only used one serious industrial lathe'' hmmnn that's a bit strong isn't it? I was merely asking for your expertise on these matters as I'm interested in another lathe & wondered what the faults with colchesters were, having said I've owned one for a number of years without any trouble,& as mentioned in my post I've used other ''serious industrial lathes''Well I would,but I gather from the tone of your post there is nothing to tell you so I won`t,and as you have only used one serious industrial lathe there is no point.
For the people interested in price,an early roundhead Colchester is always a stronger machine than the later squareheads.The later ones are really soft.
CVA`s,DSG 13 x 30`s and Butler/Elliott 460/550`s can be bought for £400-750.The CVA weighs about 1500kgs,the DSG slightly more.
If I had to buy only one lathe I would buy a Ward or a Herbert capstan lathe unless I needed to do screwcutting.These things are all at least 25yo,most of them going strong,very reliable and cheap.Downside is they are heavyish and deep so need a bit more space but the Herbert 2D and the Ward 2 series aren`t bad.
Mark.
always comes down to cost vs use..... can you justify having 2-10k of machine that you use once a month when a £700 machine will do the job you want?
different if you need the extra precision or are using all day every day...
Well I've just picked up a British built M300. for daft money. needs regrind, at a cost of 600 to including the head and tail stocks hand scraped back in to alinement to take into account the beds been reground. But once rebuilt I will have a good as new lathe for less than a scrapper off the bay of fleas. Worth around 6k Not that I will be selling it
Result!!!
I'll start a thread once I get stuck in with the renovation.
If your happy with just a ground finish on the slideways then fine. But a proper machine is hand scraped to achieve the finish on the ways. A ground finish no matter how fine is microscopically a series of ridges and valleys, some of the ridges eventually get worn away unevenly to reduce accuracy. The worn metal from the ridges contributing to even further wear. A ground finish also has very little affinity for lubricating oil.
A hand scraped finish has lots of little hollows, these hollows can be likened to a shot peened finish, toughening the surface. The also serve to maintain a film of oil between the mating surfaces reducing friction and wear. The high spots on a scraped finish are less pronounced and less likely to wear into a grinding paste.
A hand scraped finish on a lathe would cost in the order of £2000 for a short bed machine. A grind can be done much cheaper.