What lathe to look for

[Turbo]

In case nobody has said. Lathes are very top heavy so it will need very well strapped down.

4 2" ratchet straps looped through the lathe going to the front, back, left and right of your load bed would be the minimum.

Either remove or tie closed any doors on the lathe.

Remove anything not securely fastened, including the tailstock.

 

[BrokenBiker]

Well...its home...todays job is to get it off the van and into the shed. Took about 3 hours to get it loaded, but to be honest the first hour was spent playing with it, running though the speeds, checking threading gearbox and feeds worked, and back gear etc, then clearing a path out to the road. Loading took maybe 2 hours and again most of that was actually getting out of the garage with a vary low ceiling and even lower door.

All in all, very happy with the lathe, the tooling that came with it is massive, didn't have time to check it all while I was there but so far there are 2 Buckets of lathe tools, live and dead centres, 1 small dog to run between centres, tailstock drill chucks, 2x 3 jaw, 2x 4 jaw, a 10" face plate, 2 spare chuck mounting face plates, taper turning attachment, milling attachment, 2x multifix tool posts with approx 8 tool holders, reamers, end Mills, centre drills, morse taper drills, a full set of imperial 5c collets and drawbar, what appears to be a myford dividing head (or atleast a close copy) mounted to the back of the spindle that attaches via a clever pivot and a collet arrangement to lock Into the spindle bore...and there is still a bucket of cutters and an ice cream tub Full of more taper stuff to look through...oh and it appears to have thebfull, original set of change wheels plus 1 or 2 extras but I have to go through them later to check what is actually there

Oh and I got a mini band/scroll saw with it as they were scrapping it, so that's going to my father wood shop as he has been wanting a bandsaw for a while now...

Sadly didn't take any pictures yesterday as quite frankly it wa overwhelming with 4 guys taking turns to bring me bits of tooling and ask 'is that for the lathe' every few mins but a very kind and friendly family that ultimately is glad the lathe has gone to a home where it's going to be used.

Only thing I didn't manage to get was a VFD for it, as it was actually run of its own dedicated 3 phase incoming supply, so have ordered one that should be here by end of next week hopefully. Gives me a chance to get it set up and clean the tooling up I suppose. Oh and probably could do with a fresh drive belt if anyone knows where I could get one. I can measure it in a bit and see what it is

 

[BrokenBiker]

And the best news of all. I've just found the metric change wheels

 

[Arc Tourist]

Great to have so many accessories tooling with it. Saved you countless hours of your life trying to find them for sale somewhere.

 

[arther dailey]

@BrokenBiker , you probably need to start a new thread showing lathe etc etc , well done nice to get a good bit of kit eh.

 

[BrokenBiker]

@BrokenBiker , you probably need to start a new thread showing lathe etc etc , well done nice to get a good bit of kit eh.

Will do definitely, just manipulating it into the shed.

Need a questio. Answered about motor though, motor plate is attached, best pic I could get but it clearly states 1 phase 230v...

Now when I disconnected it I removed 2 red, 1 black, 1 grey, 1 yellow and 1 blue wire plus an extra green as an earth for the metal flexible trunking..

But this plate clearly says 1 phase 230v...

Anyone any ideas or can I just wore this motor direct to 230 via the switch box on it?

 

[MetalMonkey]

Are you sure that it isn't a 3 instead of a 1? Does the motor have any capacitors strapped to it?
When you say you disconnected it, was that the wiring to the lathe or to the motor, and what did you disconnect from where?
Is the motor in the picture the drive motor or on an ancillary such as coolant pump?

 

[BrokenBiker]

Are you sure that it isn't a 3 instead of a 1? Does the motor have any capacitors strapped to it?
When you say you disconnected it, was that the wiring to the lathe or to the motor, and what did you disconnect from where?
Is the motor in the picture the drive motor or on an ancillary such as coolant pump?

It is only stamped with a single 1, and I disconnected from a breaker and contactor from the wall. That contactor fed the main Motor and the coolant pump which has been removed for easy of transport. It definitely states 230v. I am almost Into the shed with it so as soo. As its sat in its final resting place I will pull the high/lo switch and start switch off and see what wiring looks like.

Also, the motor I'm looking at is the main motor that feeds a belt to the gearbox that then drives the main belt to the spindle

 

[BrokenBiker]

This the entire wiring disconnected from the wall that feeds lathe motor and coolant pump

 

[BrokenBiker]

Th data plate reads

Volts -230/50
Amps - 5.8
PH - 1
RPM - 1400
HZ - 50
BHP 3/4

I'm wondering was it replaced?

So the story goes, the old chap worked at British aerospace and 50 years ago this lathe was being decommissioned for unknown reasons, so he offered them something in the region of a few quid for it, they accepted and he brought it home bit by bit over the course of a few weeks, then the table in a van with the help of 4 blokes to shunt it about. He then Fully rebuilt it and has used it for the last 50 years to Potter about with small projects mostly for the garden.

Now, I'm wondering if the '3 phase' that was written on the box i disconnected it from was used more as 3 single phases, as i just pulled everything out of a chocolate block below the main contactor, but from that single box, was the 240v work lamp, the coolant pump and the lathe motor.

Have I gotten lucky and actually have a single phase smart and brown? Well I say lucky, I've just spent 70 quid on a vfd thinking it was 3 phase

 

[jimbo84]

Going off the details you’ve written above it’s a single phase motor you’ve got there, happy days. He probably swapped it when he brought it home so he could run it easily off his garage supply.

 

[BrokenBiker]

Going off the details you’ve written above it’s a single phase motor you’ve got there, happy days. He probably swapped it when he brought it home so he could run it easily off his garage supply.

It seems that way. Strange that he had a box on the all labelled 3 phase, but for all I know ow he nicked it from the factory

It's almost in place but I'm callingnit a day, the engine hoist needs to be returned soon so I will bar it in place tomorrow after work, get after the wiring and get some chips made, new thread to follow with all the tooling ad I don't know what half of it is, some of it will be for sale as it seems to be milling related and I have no use for it, plus some weird bits as well

 

[Agroshield]

This as much a question as a statement, but is 3/4 hp a suitable size of motor for that machine? To me, it seems a little underpowered for the quality of machine.

The lathes page here suggests 1 1/2 hp.

Smart & Brown Model A lathe

What I am saying, I guess, is find out what is the right motor and have that in your head before spending too much time and trouble on the motor that's in there.

 

[BrokenBiker]

This as much a question as a statement, but is 3/4 hp a suitable size of motor for that machine? To me, it seems a little underpowered for the quality of machine.

The lathes page here suggests 1 1/2 hp.

Smart & Brown Model A lathe

What I am saying, I guess, is find out what is the right motor and have that in your head before spending too much time and trouble on the motor that's in there.

It seems to have worked in the lathe for the last 50 or so years, that's about all I can say at the moment. It is a huge motor physically so I'm hopeful it has the torque needed

 

[RichardM]

It's "home", it's safe, that's all you need to concern yourself with now. Have a beer and relax.

 

[BrokenBiker]

It's "home", it's safe, that's all you need to concern yourself with now. Have a beer and relax.

I wish it was that easy, had to return the hoist to cardiff, Take all my lifting tackle and timbers back to my crane in caldicot then return the van to Bristol and load it for tomorrow

Now it's bed time as I'm in work tomorrow at 3am

 

[Martin-Sy]

I wish it was that easy, had to return the hoist to cardiff, Take all my lifting tackle and timbers back to my crane in caldicot then return the van to Bristol and load it for tomorrow

Now it's bed time as I'm in work tomorrow at 3am

I'm tired just reading that!

Well done, that looks a really good acquisition.

 

[BrokenBiker]

I'm tired just reading that!

Well done, that looks a really good acquisition.

I can't quite believe that this post started a week ago today with me looking for a rough idea of an upgrade for my chinese mini lathe...and now 7 days later I have an incredible condition tool room lathe with more tooling than I've ever seen...this is the beauty of forums like this.

The most amazing part is, that if i hadn't picked this up yesterday, it was all being weighed in at the end of next week along with a powered scroll saw that is now in my father's wood working shed that needs nothing except blades.

im hoping tomorrow is a quick few roof truss lifts in work and then I can get back and sort the wiring, get it spinning and start a proper post about it as there are a few things I need to know regarding operation and maintenance

 

[Gregb23]

Looking forward to the posts and especially further details of the milling attachment and dividing head. Very jealous about the tooling, I'm missing the change wheels for mine.

 

[Agroshield]

...especially further details of the milling attachment and dividing head.

The dividing head is a standard Myford one that someone has added to the machine.