Smart & Brown Lathe. Pics.

[busastars]

Thanks Pete. It was in a dry shed full of grime, loads of old brass swaff everywhere and sounded a little rough, it had been there for around 30 years but hadent been used in a while, got it home, cleaned & oiled everything and runs nice. Tried the different speeds slow & fast through a change on the gear and still ran nice.

Just need to learn now, wanted one for years but always got others to do my one off bits, could of bought one ages ago with the cost of paying people to do my bits. This was up for sale at just under £400, a little too'in an frow'in and £275 later its mine.

Got to admit after loading it I thought id bought a nail but after the quick once over and a good long think im happy.

 

[wyn]

( Unless Wyn you want to sell me your 20" rollers )

I'll hang on to them for the moment mate......handy for a bit of bodging.

 

[busastars]

Quick update and a little advice needed.

Ive been bodging around today, I had a go at taking of the main chuck. It came of easy enough. I need to get a faceplate and have read that alot of Southbend & Boxford parts fit my Smart & brown.

Here are a few pics of the thread, acording to the thread gague its 3.00 MM. BUT I am useless with threads, can someone tell me what I need to look for in a faceplate or what other might fit.

 

[wyn]

There is a bit of info here that says it could be 1.75" X 8 tpi.

3 mm is somewhere near 8 threads per inch.

Do you reckon it's about 1 3/4 inches diameter.

 

[busastars]

There is a bit of info here that says it could be 1.75" X 8 tpi.

3 mm is somewhere near 8 threads per inch.

Do you reckon it's about 1 3/4 inches diameter.

Just had a quick measure:

Vernier.
44.2mm / 1.740"

Tape measure about 1 3/4 "

Yeh ive read through that site Wyn, I get lost on Threads size all the time

Just wondering what I need to look for when shoping on ebay

 

[shenion]

Some Soutbend and Atlas have 1.5"-8TPI threads.

That headstock looks a lot like the early Atlas ones.

Edit: Ah, copied South Bend (which are 1.5-8) but raised spindle diameter to 1 3/4".

 

[Pete.]

You won't find a metric thread on that lathe I think Looks like 8TPI to me, your 3mm gauge doesn't fit the thread is too coarse and 8tpi is the equivalent of 3.175mm pitch.

 

[Welderpaul]

The guage doesn't fit. On the rare ocassions I have used one they are a tight fit to all faces when correctly matched up.

 

[Pieter Kleynhans]

Very nice, a mate of mine bought a Model A off an old family freind for 200quid a few months ago.

Have a look here for info on yours.



Thanks for the info I also get hold of a S&B Model A Mark 2, this one must be one of the 1958 onwards models because it is still mounted on the older style cabinet, but only this cabinet is in cast Alu not cast iron. It is in a super condition, and I dont think that the lathe did more than a few hours work in its lifetime, the only things that do need attention is to really clean it up, and for some reason the lathe was painted with a brush a light green colour (not good) and then duo to all those years standing doing nothing, the flat drive belt from the motor to the spindle is no more.

Can someone help me here, is the drive belt a continious belt or is it join in some way? If it is a continious belt what is the procedure to fit a new belt? because it look to me that I have to take the whole spindle and bearings apart to get a belt in there.

On the spindle there is two levers; the righthand side one say "OUT" & "IN" if you put it in "IN" it lock the spindle, what is the function of this?

Pieter Kleynhans

 

[shenion]

Use a Link Belt (made by Fenner) or one of its clones. I have one on my Atlas and it cuts down on vibration and can easily be removed by just disconnecting a link.

 

[Pete.]

On the spindle there is two levers; the righthand side one say "OUT" & "IN" if you put it in "IN" it lock the spindle, what is the function of this?

Could be a back-gear? My old atlas would lock the spindle if you engaged the back gear without disengaging the large gear from the spindle.

 

[jugs]

[.

the flat drive belt from the motor to the spindle is no more.

"Can someone help me here, is the drive belt a continious belt or is it join in some way?" If it is a continious belt what is the procedure to fit a new belt? because it look to me that I have to take the whole spindle and bearings apart to get a belt in there.

Pieter Kleynhans

The flat belt is joined by "Clincher" or "Aligator" belt lacing, metal teeth are squeezed into both ends of belt & conected by a pin, See -
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/showthread.php/flat-belt-stapling-155231.html?t=155231

"On the spindle there is two levers; the righthand side one say "OUT" & "IN" if you put it in "IN" it lock the spindle, what is the function of this? "
Pieter Kleynhans[/QUOTE]

It operates the back gear. Lift headstock cover, you will see 2 pulleys & 2 gears, the small bronze gear is fixed to the pulleys, the large one is fixed to the shaft.
The pulleys are locked to the shaft by a hidden key located in the lefthand end of the big pulley - to operate use a 7/32" Hex key (with a shortened short leg) - 1/2 turn to release - pulleys will now rotate only turning the bronze gear.
The IN - OUT lever lifts another set of gears to engage with the 2 gears on main shaft & give you low speed, for screwcutting ect.
DO NOT MOVE THIS LEVER WHEN LATHE IS RUNNING as you will smash the gears.

NB, Spindle thread = 1 3/4" x 8 threads per inch, there are NO metric threads on this machine.

Hope this is all clear,

 

[graffian]

The original was probably a rubber belt, with some sort of vulcannised joint, my CVA has the same sort of belt, I gather they improve the surface finish[my lathe went from v belt's in the early 50's to flat belt in 1955, I thought V belts were more modern]. I have justread the postabove and the practical machinst bit shows the belt available, I had very similar belting on my old lathe and it slipped baddly, used to 'dress' it with coke, made a real difference.

 

[busastars]

Cool, I know now what to ask and look for in a back plate. 1 3/4" x 8 TPi.

Thanks all.

 

[busastars]

Right been looking for a face plate, also been emailing a fair few places and I cannot seem to find one.

Just wondering if it maybe an option to buy another faceplate from another lathe and have a coller/adaptor made to screw over the thread on the lathe and other side a thread for a different faceplate. Or buy a blank plate and get someone here to cut it for me?????

Thanks

 

[graffian]

Old flywheels make good faceplates, it shouldn't be a problem
to alter a flywheel to fit your backplate.

 

[Pieter Kleynhans]

To all you guys,
Thank you for your inputs, now I know a lot more and can now start to explore my old lathe, hope that the two of us will "work happly ever after"

Pieter Kleynhans