Author Topic: Edgewick Mk2 Lathe cross slide thread purchase  (Read 5172 times)

Offline Montegoman

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Edgewick Mk2 Lathe cross slide thread purchase
« on: October 02, 2021, 03:52:28 PM »
Hello Everyone  :wave:

This is the first time on this site, please be gentle.

I've owned an Edgewick Mk2 for the last 40 years, it might be more.
I see there are other people who also have these old lathes.

The reason for making contact at this time is that my old lathe is getting worn out, so I have been bringing it back to a usable state.
Edgwick do have a soft ways compared to other lathes, however they are also easy to rebuild.

I am now looking to purchase the cross slide left handed "english" thread, so that I can replace mine.
I have found a firm in the States who are willing to post them over to the UK, my question is, does anyone else want one?
Please let me know if you do.

all the best
Montegomand
 

Offline hermetic

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Re: Edgewick Mk2 Lathe cross slide thread purchase
« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2021, 04:29:32 PM »
Welcome to the forum!!
Have you thought about using a ball screw instead, cheap from china and probably less backlash as well, you would also need a nut for the screw thread. I am surprised you cannot get a lh screw in the UK!
Phil
Man who says it cannot be done should not disturb man doing it! https://www.youtube.com/user/philhermetic/videos?

Offline awemawson

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Re: Edgewick Mk2 Lathe cross slide thread purchase
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2021, 04:42:25 PM »
As Phil says, welcome aboard.

Ball screws can sometimes be a double edged sword on manual machines. The low friction can allow relatively small forces to turn the screw. So if for instance you have 'set the cut' on the cross slide and take a fair cut the cutting forces can reduce the depth of cut as you progress.

(This effect is even more pronounced on milling machines)

Halifax Rack and Screw will have the thread and nut.
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline hermetic

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Re: Edgewick Mk2 Lathe cross slide thread purchase
« Reply #3 on: October 02, 2021, 05:09:43 PM »
Nice one Andrew, I did not realise that about ball screws, some sort of friction damper sounds in order?
Man who says it cannot be done should not disturb man doing it! https://www.youtube.com/user/philhermetic/videos?

Offline Pete.

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Re: Edgewick Mk2 Lathe cross slide thread purchase
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2021, 03:15:30 AM »
I've made several cross slide screws and nuts what are the specifics of the Edgewick?

Offline Montegoman

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Re: Edgewick Mk2 Lathe cross slide thread purchase
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2021, 04:30:38 AM »
Hello Thank you for replying, Pete, Awemawson and Hermetic

I have made contact with the Halifax company, however the price difference between a one off special compared to an, off the shelf item from the states is worth the postage.
Posting a second or more threads would split the postage costs, if anyone else is interested.

I must admit as I am getting older turning these small handles are becoming a trial, in fact I use a cranked ring spanner fed through the handle, thereby increasing the leverage, while turning.
It is now a lot easy now that I rebuilt the cross slide. However the cross slide thread does need replacing, the nut does not seem that bad, of course a new nut would be even better.
To answer Pete's question, I have the details somewhere. I shall have to look for it or do some measuring.

kind regards
Montegoman




Offline Montegoman

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Re: Edgewick Mk2 Lathe cross slide thread purchase
« Reply #6 on: October 05, 2021, 03:39:56 PM »
 
Hello Pete

I think this is the size of the cross slide thread that is on my Edgewick. see below.
It would be good to find out what other owners of Edgewick have on their machines.
Is there anyway of contacting them via this website?

kind regards
Montegoman

Acme Lead Screw, 7/8 - 5 X 36" OAL, LH, Steel.

Offline vintageandclassicrepairs

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Re: Edgewick Mk2 Lathe cross slide thread purchase
« Reply #7 on: October 05, 2021, 03:49:51 PM »
Hi Montegoman,

I saw this guy on ebay offering repairs for "any lathe crosslide/compound screw & nut repair service"

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114223873072

quote from ebay ad....
 "UK buyers need to PHONE ME to discuss replacing your crosslide/compound/tailstock shaft and nut in detail. 01753 651923 9am to 1.00pm or 01753 654523 2.00pm to 5.00pm"

John

Offline awemawson

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Re: Edgewick Mk2 Lathe cross slide thread purchase
« Reply #8 on: October 05, 2021, 04:30:55 PM »
There are few on the forum with Edgewicks - @mattinker in France is one who springs to mind but there are others
.
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline Pete.

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Re: Edgewick Mk2 Lathe cross slide thread purchase
« Reply #9 on: October 05, 2021, 05:16:50 PM »

Hello Pete

I think this is the size of the cross slide thread that is on my Edgewick. see below.
It would be good to find out what other owners of Edgewick have on their machines.
Is there anyway of contacting them via this website?

kind regards
Montegoman

Acme Lead Screw, 7/8 - 5 X 36" OAL, LH, Steel.

36"OAL? That's 3 feet long. I think that's the screwcutting leadscrew. The cross slide screw should be a third of that in length.

Offline mattinker

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Re: Edgewick Mk2 Lathe cross slide thread purchase
« Reply #10 on: October 06, 2021, 08:31:59 AM »
Hi,
I've been busy elsewhere, I didn't notice this going through!

Edgewick cross-slide lead screw I can confirm it's a 7/8" diameter 5tpi left-hand thread, I don't remember the length, but that's the easy bit!

Cheers, Matthew

Offline Montegoman

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Re: Edgewick Mk2 Lathe cross slide thread purchase
« Reply #11 on: October 06, 2021, 04:21:40 PM »
Hello John and Matthew

Thanks for getting back to me.
From memory they sell the thread in multiple of 1 ft, thereby a 3ft length is required as the working length is 26" from handle to nut the other end, so to machine the ends to suit, you need a bit to put in the chuck, hence 3ft. Thank you for confirming the specification of the thread.

John I will try the phone numbers you have kindly provided.

This is another question, has anyone managed to get hold of/make a QCTP for an Edgewick??
Right now I am attempting to cobble together a single tool height adjusting post and holder to take 35mm cutting tools??

keep smiling
kind regards
Montegoman



Offline mattinker

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Re: Edgewick Mk2 Lathe cross slide thread purchase
« Reply #12 on: October 07, 2021, 03:55:47 AM »
Montegoman,

I would simply replace the threaded portion by cutting, turning down and threading the ends of the existing screw, drilling and tapping the new threaded portion, screwing, silver solder or pining to prevent unscrewing. I haven't done it yet, but I've bought the piece of replacement screw and bronze nut, all I need is a just a roundtouit!

Cheers, Matthew

Offline mattinker

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Re: Edgewick Mk2 Lathe cross slide thread purchase
« Reply #13 on: October 07, 2021, 04:09:18 AM »


This is another question, has anyone managed to get hold of/make a QCTP for an Edgewick??
Right now I am attempting to cobble together a single tool height adjusting post and holder to take 35mm cutting tools??

I put a French made (a "good chap", weird name!) QCTP on my Edgewick, I had to be make a a fixed tool post mount to be able to turn down the topslide to accept the "new" tool post!

Offline AdeV

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Re: Edgewick Mk2 Lathe cross slide thread purchase
« Reply #14 on: October 07, 2021, 01:55:07 PM »
This is another question, has anyone managed to get hold of/make a QCTP for an Edgewick??
Right now I am attempting to cobble together a single tool height adjusting post and holder to take 35mm cutting tools??

Hi,

I made my own :) Project log here: https://www.madmodder.net/index.php/topic,3453.msg37021.html

Despite many promises to myself to make it better, I've not touched it for 11 years, and it's still going strong!
Cheers!
Ade.
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Location: Wallasey, Merseyside. A long way from anywhere.
Occasionally: Zhengzhou, China. An even longer way from anywhere...

Offline Montegoman

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Re: Edgewick Mk2 Lathe cross slide thread purchase
« Reply #15 on: October 26, 2021, 03:34:16 PM »
I'm not sure if this is the correct place to put this info here or not.

How I restored my Edgewick lathe bed ways.

I had been nursing my old Mk2 Edgewick lathe for quite a few years, however it suddenly gave up, when I was trying to bore out a large aluminium casting, running the lathe in reverse.

It was so bad that I had to decide to scrap the lathe or try to repair it. The Edgewick lathe is a solid cast lathe; therefore it has cast in ways not replaceable hardened bed that can be bolted on.
I looked at the costs of replacing the lathe with something more modern, there was the crane-age cost to remove my lathe, plus the same costs again in getting a better lathe into the garage. Then there was the cost of a better lathe. This all added up to thousands of pounds.

What was there to lose, in trying to restore this gap bed Edgewick lathe which I had for about 40 years?

This is how I went about it.

I took out as much slack as possible on every moving part. I tightened up the saddle and cross slide as much as possible.

First I had to find out what the problem(s), were. It was quite obvious the far bed flat way was worn down but by how much? The top of the inverted "V" had no wear on it.
So I found a new sealed roller bearing that would roll along the top of the V. I bolted this to the front edge of the saddle via a strong piece of angle. I did this at the tailstock end of the lathe and checked the bearing was sitting tight on the V with feeler gauges.
This measurement was 0mm

I moved the saddle as far up to the chuck as possible, this allowed me to measure between the underneath of the saddle and the top of the flat way, and it measured 0.4 mm.
Ok, so I had to build up the flat way from 0mm to 0.4mm.




What with and how was the question. This turned to be stage one.

As an experiment I tried building up the weld on the gap bed part of the lathe, it soon became clear that the casting material of the bed affected the hardness of the weld. I ended up using a diamond disc on a Dremel just to grind the weld down, it took ages.
This now pointed to the only way to restore the lathe ways.

The obvious solution was to lay some weld onto the way, this I did. I used a 4mm stainless steel type welding rod, 309L-16.
This is an alloyed carbon electrode, designed for dissimilar metals. Welding between stainless and mild or low alloy steel. I used 2 rods crossing the way, down the full length.  Why this welding rod, the answer to that is, I had these rods already in stock.

I went back to front with the weld, (not down the length) leaving a gap between the welds, approximately 1/2" (13mm) between centres. That equates to 24 different welds about 1-1/4" (32mm) long.
With the embedded oil in the ways, the welding was not pretty but that does not matter. The hardest part of the welding was, getting the rod to start and trying not to lay too much weld on the ways, i.e. the more that is laid down the longer it is going to take to grind the weld down to the correct size.

The next problem was finding a small electric motor that was suitable to attach to the carriage. I found that a chainsaw sharpener motor was about right; it also had a flat grinding disc already attached to it. Setting this up took a bit of thinking about and quite sometime, especially getting the motor to move downwards towards the lathe bed, in very small measurements.
I purchased a 60 grit x100 diameter diamond disc to fit onto the motor.  I set the disc up level and square using feeler gauges.

Not really knowing if this method of flatten out the lathe bed was going to work or I not, I took the plunge and laid down the first 6 welds covering  6" (150mm) along the lathe from the tailstock end. This turned out to be a bit pointless as the way did not need any thickness added to this end of the lathe. However having laid down the weld, I had no choice but to grind it off but the weld was rather higher than I had set the diamond disc. It took ages to reduce the weld down low enough so that the carriage cleared the weld and would actually move forward with the motor attached. In the end there was no weld left at the tailstock end, however you can see the weld had penetrated the lathe bed.

I found that I had to move the carriage back and forth to allow the motor to cool down and allow the disc to flatten out after it had flexed over the larger lumps of weld. I saved quite a bit of time by using a grinderette on the higher welds in front of the carriage before the diamond grinding disc came along to bring the weld down to the correct height.
The weld closer to the chuck was showing signs of it working, it had gained a few thou, or what ever that is in metric. I moved onto the next section to be welded and repeated the process, until I got to the gap bed and when the motor touched the chuck it was time to stop.


I then had to take a chance and take the motor off the carriage and then run it right along the bed to see how it reacted, it went along very smoothly.

Now to see what happened when the lathe was put into reverse, this turned out to be stage two.
The carriage rocked backwards which was not good but it was flat and not climbing out of the dip in the far side flat way anymore.
The front inverted "V" way had also warn away on the inside face, so when the forces pushed the carriage backward into the damaged face, the tool cut into the material.

Ok; how to temporary fix this problem? Having used the roller bearing on the carriage vertically, could it be used to stop the side movement on the carriage, horizontally? The answer is yes. Again I attached this bearing, which was attached to a piece of angle iron to the front end of the carriage.
This will only work If your lathe bed has a flat straight solid edge in the middle of the lathe running along the full length of the lathe.
If you are lucky to have this setup, this vertical surface needs to be cleaned off, so it is smooth and flat, i.e. no lumps or bumps or hollows, as this method is only has a "point" loading location, not the full sliding surfaces of the carriage.

I set the carriage as far back as possible to take out All of the slack in the movement of the carriage, I then fixed the bearing up, good and solid, hard against the vertical face of the inner lathe bed. This worked, now the carriage has very little slack movement, when in reverse and the cut is the best I have had for years.

As already mentioned this is only a temporary fix, the lathe bed front inverted "V" will now need welding and regrinding just like the rear one but now the carriage is useable and quite accurate. Fixing the front way should improve the accuracy of the carriage even more.

I hope the above information is of use to someone else who has the same problem as I had with my lathe.

All the best
Montegoman.

Offline awemawson

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Re: Edgewick Mk2 Lathe cross slide thread purchase
« Reply #16 on: October 26, 2021, 03:49:20 PM »
Full marks for lateral thinking, but conventionally you'd scrape the bed down the 0.4 mm and adjust the lay of the carriage to suit having scraped its base to a good fit.

I'd be rather concerned that the welding would distort the casting.
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline russ57

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Re: Edgewick Mk2 Lathe cross slide thread purchase
« Reply #17 on: October 27, 2021, 12:47:52 AM »
Can turcite (?) be used to fill wear like that? Seem to remember something like that, but not sure it is a diy proposition. Sounds like physical removal is not trivial.

Regards
Russ

-russ