The Shop > Tools
Finishing problems
Darren:
Hi John, Ralph,
I took some measurements of the 7x12 bed
Length
Total 25"
Front of headstock to tailstock end 20"
Width
Head just under chuck 82.74mm
Tail 82.53mm
Difference 0.21mm/8.19 thou
Bed thickness for carriageway
Head back 8.57mm
Tail back 8.23
Difference 0.34mm/13.26 thou
Head Front 13.53mm
Tail Front 13.38mm
Difference 0.15mm/5.85 thou
As you can see, not too clever are they..
Ralph, small workshops, clutter, loosing things sounds familiar.
I have a mate in Holywell and often take the misus to Flint shopping.
So near enough I'd say.... ;D
bogstandard:
Goodness me Darren, that isn't a lathe, it's a banana.
It is no wonder you are having trouble with it. That needs some serious work to get it to be a precision machine, but nothing should be discarded until all hope is lost. Getting the bed casting sorted should be a fairly straightforwards job. The hard bit is getting all the other bits to fit correctly afterwards. You will most probably find that the saddle, head and tailstock castings will be in the same sort of ballpark.
They were most probably assembled by having a large number of each casting, and were swapped about until you got something that almost worked. Then it was stuck in a box, and sold.
If you need assistance, don't be afraid to ask. It is most probably only a good days machining worth to get it something like.
John
Darren:
Yes John, I didn't think it was too clever!
I sorta gave up with it, perhaps understandably you might think, and bought a Smart and Brown 3ph Model L lathe about a year ago.
This is a capstan lathe that came with a 6 position semi auto turret and a twin tool cut off slide. Great for small production work if you want to make many identical small parts. At the time it was just what I needed and did it's job admirably. 100 small parts in a hour is easily achievable once it's been set up which can sometimes take a while.
Since then I've bought quite a bit of tooling for the capstan so that job is now much easier thankfully.
Anyway, the important bit is that it has paid for itself easily.
Then I bought another S&B L lathe just for a compound slide and tailstock. Ever since then the mini lathe has seen almost no use. The compound slide looks ropey to say the least, but it is nice and tight and cuts superbly accurately.
Alas it's basically just a plain lathe, so no feed and no screw cutting facilities. It can also only make small length parts, max about 3" long up to 9" diameter.
It was only the other day I had my first go at cutting a thread on a lathe. For some reason I'd been putting this off thinking it would be a bit difficult. I was so wrong, the little lathe does this just fine with a nice finish too. I look at it sometimes and think what a nice dinky little thing the 7x is . If only it was a little better built.
I'm not knocking it, I think they are great and also think I was just unlucky with the build accuracy of mine. Others manage well with theirs, for a long time I just thought is was me.
Anyway, back to the issue at hand, yes it would be great to have an accurate mini lathe. If it was I'd never part with it. Ever !
As for needing help, I am not the one to put it right. I simply don't have the skills or tools needed.
One day maybe, but not for a while yet !!!
But, I have one question. I certainly don't expect anyone to spend a day machining out of sheer kindness, and I suspect you may fall into that category John.
So, as I am hankering for another larger lathe, ambitious? maybe...gotta push forward eh..would I be better off putting efforts towards that end or is a super accurate mini lathe worth having as well?
Genuine question as I do not know the answer to that.
Regards
Darren
bogstandard:
Darren,
As a lot of model engineers find out when they come to me, I happily help out, with no charges at all, except for the coffee, that comes at £20 a mug. Just joking of course, it is in fact £25.
Any lathe, no matter how big or small is worth putting time into. I have restored a few lathes, and my last one was a prewar Atlas, which I had used up until a few months ago as my only lathe, it kept me going for 15 years, and when I sold it, it was machining better than if it was new.
To me, your little lathe would always be a machining asset, and would really be worth keeping if it was put on the right side of good. I don't mind putting a few hours into it, F.O.C. If you could leave it with me, I could just plod along on it as and when I have some time spare. It takes up no room, so it could go into my back metal prep shop. The offer is there if you want it. I would suggest you have a private word with Ralph to find out my 'rules'.
Choosing a good second hand lathe is like walking into a minefield blindfolded.
In the UK, you can't go far wrong with one of the UD boxford range, preferably the AUD. They were the ones that were installed in schools and other educational departments, and if you can get one of those, they had hardly ever been used. They can be picked up fairly reasonably, and they are almost bombproof. It is a fairly easy motor swap to convert from 3 to single phase, but it is always worth considering putting a converter on them to run 3 phase from single. Imperial machines are the easier of the machines to get cheap spares for.
http://www.lathes.co.uk/boxford/index.html
John
Darren:
John,
I can see you are a man with a passion/obsession for tools. How can I say no to your offer !!
Wonderful, the "dinky" may stay with me yet,
Think I'd better I'll 'ave a little chat with Ralph about these "rules" of yours.. :hammer:
Darren
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