New machine arrived!

[John Hill]

No, not my mill but this little Adept lathe....


DSCN0294 by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr

Quite cute eh?  It is very small and arrived in a shoe box complete with a sewing machine motor,foot controller and a small bench vice!

It is in very nice condition but none of the accessories are there.  The chuck is of course non original and the spindle has been changed too, this one has threads for the chuck and nothing else, no taper, no centre.

The spindle bearings are quite sloppy (yes, I know about not clamping the adjusters and breaking the head stock) and the front one has been fitted with a brass bush but it is sloppy too!

Maybe I will make a face plate for it and put it on a shelf, one modification I might do with my new mill is take those bumps off the base that stop the lathe sitting steady on a flat surface.

[dsquire]

John

That little Adept lathe looks like a keeper. You probably have great plans to recondition it to like new condition.

I know that you just built a new house and big new shop. I am kind of worried that you might be getting a bit cramped in there with all the new tool acquisitions you have been making. I could possibly help by storing the new mill for you if you find yourself short of space. 

Cheers 

Don

[John Hill]

Oh, yea sure Don.....

Well this little lathe is quite a bit smaller than my Drummond lathe which is quite a bit smaller than my 12x36 lathe from the Peoples' Generic Lathe Factory so I guess I am on the right track!!!  You are right though, the mill will take up quite a bit of the available space but I think it will be worth it.

I dont think I will be doing much to the little Adept lathe except to make it look nice and maybe use my new mill to give the poor wee thing a stable footing after these 75 years of so!  The Drummond will get a nice paint job and being in otherwise good condition it will be set up where it can do the little jobs.

[Bogstandard]

John,

I picked up a couple of those little adept lathes a few years ago from car boot sales at ten pounds each. A quickie clean up and stick a small motor on them and they were ready to go.

Very limited what they could do model engineering wise, but they were perfect for my model boating mates to knock up small fittings, and they are still in regular use doing just that.

There is nothing wrong with these tiny old lathes, as long as you don't expect too much from them, and the Adept is a perfect size to keep as a display model.

Nice one


John

[John Hill]

A bit more than a tenner John!  They are maybe not as common in NZ but they are not rare either although a fully kitted "Super" went recently for about two hundred quid equivalent.

I have a nice piece of english oak that I am sure it will feel quite at home on.

The previous owner told me he used it to convert BA screws to miniature coach bolts for the model horse drawn carriages he makes, I am sure it would be ideal for that and I assume the swinging  compound would make rounding the heads off a cinch.

[Bogstandard]

That is a perfect use for these basic little lathes. My mates usually just use files and gravers for shaping things and only use the saddle and top slide when a fair amount on metal requires removing.

A great addition to you collection. But as your collection is getting so large, you should send me that crappy little Adept shaper you've got, as I know it is no use to you. I don't mind paying the postage, just to get it out of your way.


John

[John Hill]

A great addition to you collection. But as your collection is getting so large, you should send me that crappy little Adept shaper you've got, as I know it is no use to you. I don't mind paying the postage, just to get it out of your way.


John

No way John,  Sally Shaper is the only machine in the shop with a name, she is my little darling and no way can you have her, not even if you offer Bandit in trade!

Did I tell you I made an auto downfeed for Sally:-


downfeed by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr


autofeed by aardvark_akubra, on Flickr


It works very well too as she usually gets very pouty if I ask her to do a vertical cut under manual feed.