The Craftmans Shop > New from Old

Boxford back from the dead

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AdeV:
Just a quick update tonight: It turns out that staying up until 1-2am, then getting up again at 6, and expecting to do a decent day's work in between, is a young man's game...  :Doh: So tonight, I'm retiring to my pit early...

So: Jim - thanks! But reserve judgement until I've finished... It might all still go horribly wrong!

Seadog - again, thanks! I actually found the detent ball, not sure if it was in there all along and just fell out when I removed the handle, or whether it'd fallen out a while back and was embedded in the grease  :scratch: I put the handle back in after taking the shaft out, and it makes a lovely "click" at either end of its travel now - but it seems unlikely the ball has sat in the grease this long without disappearing, so I'm none the wiser. No sign of any spacers on the shaft, unless you mean the big eccentric mounts. There was a good 1/8" to 3/16" of longitudinal  movement in the back gears, so maybe the washer is missing. It'll be easy enough to turn up a little spacer to go in there.  I didn't get the front lever off, I think I'll clean up the insides of the headstock first, so I can see what's going on on the other side.

Finally, I took a quick look at the apron; nothing untoward there, it's pretty simple, with just the half nut and the threading dial and the carriage handle/gear. The half-nut works exactly as expected. If you recall, I was concerned about backlash in the carriage wheel. Turns out, most of what I was feeling was actually the handle moving on its shaft, like it's a "D" shaped shaft with a bunch of wear in it. Then there's also the driver cog, which is quite worn, and has a little movement within the driven cog. So a new cog, and whatever I need to do to rectify that shaft wear, should result in a nice tight carriage handle (what's it called? Somehow that doesn't feel like the right name).

There's only a couple of pics from tonight and they're still on my phone, I'll extract and add them to this post tomorrow. they're not very exciting anyway.

Last comments: I'm going to keep the spindle nose original, I think; unless it's already been done. It came with 3 chucks and a faceplate, which seems like plenty to me. If they work properly that is....

nrml: Paraffin, I'll give that a go, I have some kicking around. I've got a few other solvents and nasties about as well, so something ought to work!

Chipenter: I just measured my spindle register, and it's coming in at exactly 1.4985ish on the verniers. I'll need to mike it to be completely sure, but I'd say it's pretty close to bob on 1.5". Interesting the SB should be 10 thou bigger - maybe you've just got a big nose? :ddb: :lol:

seadog:
No sign of any spacers on the shaft, unless you mean the big eccentric mounts. There was a good 1/8" to 3/16" of longitudinal  movement in the back gears, so maybe the washer is missing.

I'm sure there should be a thrust washer at each end. However, I can't see them in the parts list. There shouldn't be any appreciable float in the back gear.

BTW, if you're not aware of it, this is the link to the Boxford spares pages. Most of the engineering drawings are quite poor quality.

http://www.boxford-software.com/spares/3656menu.html

chipenter:
No the spindle register is 1,509" spec ,

AdeV:
Thanks for another great link Seadog, much appreciated.  :thumbup: Some of their bits are a bit pricey though - £68 for the carriage handwheel pinion!! I think I'll make one...

Anyway, tonight I decided to tackle the tailstock. This was completely seized, with a dead centre firmly rusted into it. However, after liberal applications of GT85, I managed to get the handwheel off. So that was a good start... The back also came off fairly easily, once the two retaining grub screws were removed, allowing me to squirt a load more GT85 down the back. This was enough (when the handwheel was re-fitted) to break the leaadscrew thread loose. Interestingly, it's not an ACME thread, but just a normal thread. Possibly a Whitworth, but it may also be a UNC. The bronze nut has, unsurprisingly, got considerable wear, so a new one will have to be made. That shouldn't be a problem, once I extract it from the barrel. I don't have the tools here to do that without marring the leadscrew shaft, so that's a job for the real workshop tomorrow. After filling the backside with more penetrating oil, and clamping the rusty dead centre in the vice, a few gentle twists broke it loose. After that, a socket extension bar proved to be the perfect diameter to tap out the tailstock barrel, With the exception of the last 3/4", which is a bit rusty, it slides remarkably well in the bore. So all in all, I'm happy with that. All I need is a base, and I think I'll make one of those. Unlike most Boxford tailstocks, this one is supposed to have a bolt that protrudes into the central cavity, and is tightened/loosened with a spanner; rather than the usual cam operated mechanism. I plan to make a hex-headed bolt for this which will take a lever, so I get the convenience of not needing to find a spanner, but without having to make any modifications to the original part.

Last up, I took a quicky look at the saddle and slides. These actually look to be in reasonable shape, excepting the dreadful cross slide handle, and some rust on the micrometer dials. There's also the to-be-expected backlash and wear in the screws. With a favourable wind, these will just need new bronze nuts, which I should be able to turn up myself.

So... now I've looked at all of the bits of the lathe, and after the disappointment of the headstock foot/countershaft plate, I have to say, the rest of it doesn't actually look too bad! A bit of rust which hopefully a nice gentle acid bath will address; plenty of clean-up, and the mechanical bits should be good to go. Fixing the foot will be the biggest challenge.... Now that I know this lathe is (mostly) a true survivor from the very very early days, I intend to try to repair the castings. That will be my biggest challenge. Fortunately, my lathe has the aluminium feet rather than the cast iron ones, which will make it conducive to TIG welding.

Tomorrow I'll take the whole machine down to the shed and get it in the parts washer, so hopefully I can see how to dismantle the rest of the headstock. I'd also like to get the saddle apart, and thoroughly clean, press the countershaft bearing off and get a replacement ordered, and maybe turn up a spacer to cure the end float on the back gear.

Just a couple of piccies for you tonight... the exploded tailstock, and the saddle after I found the release for the the top slide & managed to get it spinning.

allanchrister:
a Fantastic project and I wished sometimes I lived in the UK and could go searching for resurrection candidates like this. Unfortunately, I’m in Pakistan for 80% of my time, on a major Chinese funded and constructed infrastructure project in the wilds of Kashmir/Punjab. Most of you believe that Chinese equipment is dodgy, well, so is their civil engineering...... :bugeye:

BTW, when I was at college training to be a QS, a standard imperial brick was 9”x 4-½” x 3”, so you were close and had the right proportions. The French still measure areas of brickwork in roods, I think. I guess someone is going to be Googling this, but not me.....

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