Progress report on my 'new' lathe!

[John Hill]

I have my little 3 1/2" Drummond flat bed lathe with me and while still waiting for a method to unload my 'big' lathe I will have to be content with playing with this one!

The lathe is circa 1908 and is very much complete, the major missing bit is the treadle and the big treadle fly wheel, I think I can live without those!

It has the stand and as far as I can tell a complete set of change wheels but not the optional 63t wheel used for cutting metric threads.

It has 3 and 4 jaw chucks although not original that are not modern Asian either, inside and outside jaws for the 3 jaw.  I dont know why by someone has made a really big chuck key which might point to poor holding, I have not had a chance to investigate further.

The original catch plate is there plus a face plate (maybe not original), the hand rest is there and a rather cute (original) travelling steady which is a 'D' shaped device that mounts on the saddle and takes wooden blocks that clamp around the work.

Only one of the gears is damaged and that has a chip off one tooth, unfortunately this is the smaller diameter gear on the spindle.

I bought it from a guy who was some sort of trader and apparently did not know too much about lathes.  He said that a lot of people had looked at it and shown great interest but none had bought it.  Possible explanations soon apparent!

He had tightened all gibs which would have given the casual twiddler the impression that the saddle was jammed and also the cross slide.  Also, the spindle bearings were so slack you could literally rattle the spindle by handling the chuck!

.........to be continued.

[winklmj]

 

[John Hill]

There is always someone!!!!   


Drummond change gears etc by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr



drummond lathe by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr

[foozer]

Heck with the lathe part, them gears look like a work of abstract ART, Tis beautiful

Robert

[John Hill]

........continued

The spindle bearings are tapered bushs with adjusting screws and just a moment or two was required to tighten them up a little now the spindle feels much better, of course I will not know if that is the end of the story until I get the lathe running.

The bronz nut under the carriage is quite new, and I found two other well worn ones in the box, but the feed screw is a noticeably worn midway down so there will always be a bit of backlash in that department.  I do not think I will be making a new feed screw any time soon.

Using the information on lathes.co.uk I can confidently date the machine as late 1907 or early 1908.

This lathe does no have a fixed cross slide, inside a slide is mounted on a pivot on the t-slotted saddle. Some previous owner has fitted a pin to lock the slide in the 90 degree position.  In 1908 they began fitting cross slides and a conventional compound slide.

to be continued..............

[sbwhart]

That looks like a lovely bit of machinery John
 


It will be nice to see how you get on with it.

Stew

[madjackghengis]

Hi John, as Stew said, that's a beautiful piece of machinery, makes me green with envy  , does the spindle gear need repairing, or will it work with a chip out?  I think I'd pull my eye-teeth in exchange for a fine piece such as that one.  I'm really looking forward to seeing it put ready, and being used.  I don't know what it's like there, across the pond, but with our economy melting down, scrap prices are so high, lots of old machinery and equipment that should be sold for what it is, has been hauled in piles, for the price of iron.  I saw a pile of probably fifty or seventy punch presses, half a dozen different lathes in different sizes, all dumped in a pile, with major breaking being standard among all the machines, and little that wasn't beyond repair, last time I was at the scrapper.  I hope you get that little lathe fixed and accurate, and are able to start using it soon.  She's a real fine looker and I really like the clutch, too. wish I were there to lend a hand, mad jack

[John Hill]

That looks like a lovely bit of machinery John
 


It will be nice to see how you get on with it.

Stew

Thanks, it does have some very nice visual features which I hope to be able to bring to you as we slowly get unpacked into this new house.

[John Hill]

Hi John, as Stew said, that's a beautiful piece of machinery, makes me green with envy  , does the spindle gear need repairing, or will it work with a chip out?

No, the chip is really just a bit off one corner of one tooth, it will not make any difference.

  I think I'd pull my eye-teeth in exchange for a fine piece such as that one.  I'm really looking forward to seeing it put ready, and being used.  I don't know what it's like there, across the pond,

 

Whadda you mean? "across the pond", the Pacific Ocean is a bit more than a pond you know!..

......... but with our economy melting down, scrap prices are so high, lots of old machinery and equipment that should be sold for what it is, has been hauled in piles, for the price of iron.

Same here, some farmers are even excavating their old dumping grounds in search of salable scrap.

  I saw a pile of probably fifty or seventy punch presses, half a dozen different lathes in different sizes, all dumped in a pile, with major breaking being standard among all the machines, and little that wasn't beyond repair, last time I was at the scrapper.  I hope you get that little lathe fixed and accurate, and are able to start using it soon.  She's a real fine looker and I really like the clutch, too. wish I were there to lend a hand, mad jack

I think the cluth arrangement looks particulary clunky and with everything held to the back of the cast tray by a couple of 1/4" bolts I would hate to see it flop around a bit and break the casting!  I will be mounting that underneath, somehow.



I am working on my laptop but I think I have found enough bits to start gettings pictures from my camera......wont be long now!

[John Hill]

Three shots of the head stock end!

The rather 'elegant' casting of the head stock and shows the adjuster screw for the tapered bearing bush, the clamping bolt for the swivel head and take note of those cute oil cups!


DSCN0280[1] by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr



From the back of the head stock, notice the end of the eccentric shaft in the foreground.  This is for engaging/disengaging the back gear.  Rather curious as this is the only Drummond lathe with this arrangement that I can find reference to, all the others use a simple slide and I cannot imagine the perceived advantage of this modification, assuming it is a modification and not from the factory like that.


DSCN0279[1] by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr



Another shot of the rear of the backstop, again showing the eccentric..


DSCN0278[1] by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr


.....................to be continued

[dsquire]

John

That is one nice looking little lathe. Glad to see that it made the trip safely with you. I look forward to watching you apply your TLC and bring it back to life. I don't envy you the unpacking job that you must have but it is always better than the packing up. Hope that you enjoy your new digs for a long time John. 

Cheers 

Don

[John Hill]

DSCN0273 by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr

As you can see, a very nice set of hand wheels all round!


However    the very nicely proportioned carriage feed wheel (the one at the end of the bed) has every spoke cracked, but it has not fallen apart yet.  I wonder how I can fix this????

[John Hill]

Some of the accessories that were in the box:-

There is a face plate down the bottom, thats not the original one but there is an original one in there somewhere.

DSCN0275 by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr
Thats a nice stack of cogs and all except one appear to be originals.


Sorry about the poor focus but this is the travelling steady, apparently one fitted wooden blocks drilled to suit the diameter of the work.  I have not yet found the mounting that this piece goes into..... maybe somewhere.  This would be original to the lathe.

DSCN0274 by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr

This dividing plate is not original but will no doubt be quite useful:-

DSCN0276 by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr

If has the two holes to match the pins Drummond used to lock the change gears pairs together.