Raglan 5

[sixtwoeight]

Me again

What about this? Obviously i dont know what its likely to go for - any ideas? Raglan 5 inch Lathe | eBay

 

[Rannsachair]

Looks quite a well specified lathe, if as good as described could be a good buy depending on price.

 

[not done it yet]

If in good condition (I didn’t notice it being sold on ebay previously) it should be worth over a grand but likely less by a fair amount. The fixed steady and DRO are worth a tidy sum. I am wondering if the cross slide dro bar hits the splash guard before the feed screw runs out of thread.

I will not be changing my Raglan 5 - it does all I need, so I am a fan of the marque.

The lathe alone will weigh between 180 to 200kg with the stand extra. I moved mine in a citroen saxo (no stand involved) on my own with no problem 9machine was partly dismantled to lighten the lift.

He has fitted a motor which, if he is quoting power output (2 horse power) is double that fitted originally. The motor looks like it only just fits (the distance from the lathe frame to the motor centre line has to be precise on these lathes for the variable speed to operate properly).

It has a QCGB which makes operation so much easier than with change wheels (the change wheels supplied should be for changing from metric to Imperial threading fotr this lathe). He has fitted a motor which, if he is quoting power output (2 horse power) is double that fitted originally - I would not like that and would change it to produce less power, if that is the case.

Mine has the T-slotted cross slide - again a useful part - but this one appears to not have that.

The lathe should come with an automatic trip on the long travel but the stop can be fabricated quite easily. I use mine as often as needed - the trip is quite precise - for the same speed, feed and depth of cut.

Again, as I started, condition is everything, paint is nothing apart from aethsetics.

Mine has imperial feed screws (but I have metric ones to swap in shortly). I think they only fitted an imperial lead screw, but that is not really an issue as the long travel wheel is for fast traverse, not precise positioning.

If I had not found a good example, I would be checking it out (do I implicitly trust ebay descriptions? - no, I don’t!) as it is only about thirty something miles away from me.

 

[sixtwoeight]

Thanks for the response @not done it yet , I'm too far to look in person so I think I will watch and bid and take a punt if it isn't silly money....fingers crossed.
I reckon it's a good size for me, not too big or small.

 

[ukracer]

Thanks for the response @not done it yet , I'm too far to look in person so I think I will watch and bid and take a punt if it isn't silly money....fingers crossed.
I reckon it's a good size for me, not too big or small.

Yes it can do some decent cuts I had mine for over 30 years but only when I decided to sell it did I find it cut cut take a lot bigger cut than I used to take.
I did a lot of small work for air rifles. Pneumatic hammers and stuff like that. Did all I ever needed back then. Paint would worry me but again some people like to paint things nicely!

 

[sixtwoeight]

Yes it can do some decent cuts I had mine for over 30 years but only when I decided to sell it did I find it cut cut take a lot bigger cut than I used to take.
I did a lot of small work for air rifles. Pneumatic hammers and stuff like that. Did all I ever needed back then. Paint would worry me but again some people like to paint things nicely!

I know exactly what you mean regarding the paint. Has he painted it and called it rebuilt? I was hoping the fact he says:

"All the slide ways have little wear as does the cross slide and compound nuts .
The taper roller spindle bearings showed zero wear so went back in."

I hope this means its been checked and is good. Obviously i dont know if he knows what he is doing but i suppose that's a risk I'm going to have to take.

 

[not done it yet]

Spindle bearings used to be virtually unobtainable (obsolete) but are now available at some considerable cost, I believe. I have a set of ‘new old stock’ just in case I ever need some. They do last a very long time (as long as the bearing pre-load is properly set). It is generally only the front-end spindle bearing that shows any wear.

The hardened long-travel ways wear a good deal less than the saddle which rides on it, If the shorter cross slide, they do wear more than the later ones. My compound slide doesn’t get a great deal of use.

Cross and compound feed nut replacement is not the end of the world. New ones are available from the ‘net for around £30-40 apiece - but I have a lathe, so make/repair my own.. I understand delrin nuts can be made for these. I made one (but never fitted it) as I had a spare, when it failed, on my Little John.

Probably the weakest point is when the saddle is crashed into the chuck under load - the spindle can be bent. This is generally mostly recoverable by brute force. The earlier Little John was more prone to this as the spindle was a few thou. thinner (less through-clearance on the 5”).

As a quick pricing, a fixed steady often sell for 150 on epay. You can price up the cheap chinese DROs on the net. Even a cheap chuck is going to be £50 (unless a real dud).