moving a lathe 1 mile in brum

[Pete.]

That's the headstock and that groove that runs around the top edge is designed to catch splash oil off those gears and feed it to the spindle bearings. so make sure that the oil level never drops so low that the gears are not in it. It's fairly normal for the spindle to leak oil on these older lathes, just keep it topped up. Hydraulic oil is a fairly safe bet but usually there will be a plate on the lathe telling you what it should have.

If I had to guess I would put that lathe at late 30's early 40's. Do you have all the change wheels as listed on the plate? Handy to have that 127 so you could cut metric threads.

 

[MrFluffy]

As Pete, hydraulic oil, I'd go with something like iso 46 as a nod to it being "high speed" but that would be a complete guess. I'm still confused if thats a oiler on the front of it, or a level indicator for headstock oil.

I had a look at the lathes.co.uk machine reference site and there are no hits looking like your lathe under "progress". I'm also intrigued why its got "foriegn" cast into it. I wonder if there was some sort of trademark collision with the elliot brands and they had to put that there to avoid legal issues when they were sold in the UK.
The reference archive I mentioned :-
http://www.lathes.co.uk/page21.html

I bet Tony Griffiths of lathes.co.uk would be interested in your lathe also seeing as it has no entry in his reference archive. There's a "identify your unknown lathe" page you can use, with a option to send him some pictures of your lathe to help identify it. :-
http://www.lathes.co.uk/unknown/

I noticed its got a norton gearbox on the leadscrew too. Thats a really nicely spec'd old beast.

 

[Hood]

The lever on the saddle looks interesting to me. Is it for controlling the direction of the travel when you engage the feed? Does the central wheel on that lever provide a variable release tension for coming against a stop?
If so then that is how an old lathe of mine worked and I have never been able to identify it. It was much older than yours, flat belt, open headstock etc but it may have been a forerunner of yours.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Mine takes the now obsolete Tellus 27, which I believe can be bought as Tellus 32. Hydraulic oil is what you want. I would agree with contacting Tony as some oils have the potential to damage components, especially bronze bushes which your machine will probably have given the age. Can you find any names cast into the bed or any other info on the other brass plaques?

 

[Pete.]

'Tellus' is/was hydraulic oil by Shell. Modern hydraulic oils won't affect the bronze bushes, I just use generic ISO32 or 46, whichever is easiest to hand.

 

[tinker jim]

Thanks all for your interesting replys this forum has great community spirit and a collection of people with vast array of knowledge I only wish I could help out more but only really helped Arthur with his diesel tranny not starting and new it was crank sense lol.anyway will get in touch with Tony at lathes.co.uk and up load some pics.the oiler glass on the headstock I think is feeding a bearing separate to the gearbox but I could be wrong their is two sight glasses for oil level at bottom of the gearbox.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

If your looking for oil just came across these and ordered. 20l for £30 free next day delivery iso32. Ebay no 302013302688

 

[tinker jim]

Lathe all settled in under the window for plenty of light was given plenty of inserts with this but it seems inserts have evolved greatly over the years including getting smaller would anyone recommend an all rounder to start off with or are they very much something you collect to do different jobs.?

 

[MrFluffy]

You need to be careful of grade and geometry with insert tooling. Some of it likes to be worked really really hard and span fast, faster than that old girl will be set up to rotate with. Ive been given boxes of inserts in the past that I often can't use because my lathe couldnt cope/ended up giving it away or using it on the milling machine instead.
There are positive rake insert toolholders on the market now, but the negative rake stuff is for industrial high speed ones.
If I was starting out, I'd be tempted to do baby steps with some hss at slower speeds. Your both not on the clock and need to remove chips 5mm thick per pass. That can come later.
Insert grade and geometry is yet another rabbit hole to fall down doing your research in, a topic on its own.

 

[MrFluffy]

And yeah, you end up wth all sorts of bent shaped tooling to sneak into shapes or give a finish a certain way, it evolves over time. If I'm not machining up to a hard edge, a round nosed tool gives the best surface finish for me, and leaves a radius at the transition that doesnt form a stress raiser for a crack to start later from. A pointed lozenge will get in sharp, theres parting tool inserts or blates, tooling ground to the correct included angle for thread cutting, boring bars etc etc.

 

[Hood]

A good al round tool is a PDJNR tool holder with DNMG insert. I prefer the thicker ones, the 6mm inserts as they are a good bit stronger.
http://www.cutwel.co.uk/lathe-tools...ever-lock-turning-toolholder-dnmgdnma-inserts
With a PDJNR you can face, normal cut and also a bit of profile cutting.

Inserts are available with all types of chip breakers, you can get nice sharp ones for Alu and Stainless.
http://www.cutwel.co.uk/lathe-tools/carbide-turning-inserts/dn-carbide-turning-inserts

 

[Pete.]

Lathe all settled in under the window for plenty of light was given plenty of inserts with this but it seems inserts have evolved greatly over the years including getting smaller would anyone recommend an all rounder to start off with or are they very much something you collect to do different jobs.?View attachment 110670

Jim you might want to move that machine away from the wall at the headstock end. You haven't left enough room to open the change gear cover and even if you can lift it off it's a real PITA doing the gears crammed against the wall like that.

 

[tinker jim]

Yes your right pete found that out this morning son saying power feed is a bit quick so Trying to change ,change wheels bit tight for access lol