Newbie UK...South Wales...

[rdstars]

Hi all,

Just another newbie, was pointed to this site by another forum member off another forum. I was looking round for more of a hobbiest forum with members that use hobbie tools.

I started searching for advice on Mills which kicked up a big debate on what I needed but ill get into that on another post.

Right this is me:

I like potering about in the Shed, Bikes are my life, built an RD350 Hybrid, trying to get tooled up, got a Smart & Brown SAB 9" but the crossilde has tight spots and carnt get it fixed so will be selling this but will replace it.

I know not alot on machine work but admire seeing other peoples work, I like to watch these little home built engines on youtube as that realy blows me away with peoples skills.

Well thats me.....

[spuddevans]

Hi there welcome to madmodders.

If you are having problems with your lathe, why not tell us about it or say whereabouts you are and maybe there will be someone close to you that could help?

Anyway, we're glad to have you on board, the only thing we ask is that folks post up pictures as 


Tim

[rdstars]

I guess ill do as im told 

Pics:

My RD350 I built, its far from finished but its t&t and runs fine, lots to redo.



My Thunderace:



My Smart & Brown, ive tried to get help with this but hounestly am beat:









Built my own 3D Backround in my fishtank:





My current project, my shed/workshop build, nearly finished: 28' x 7' roughly.









Well I hope that is enough pics 

[Darren]

Hi there and welcome to the forum. I'm glad you found this place and sorry I didn't point you here myself as I did reply to you on the other forum 

There is a chap on here that can tell you all about your Sable crosslide probs, but he doesn't speak much. I'll see if I can give him a poke for you 

[Brass_Machine]

 Hi 

Welcome to the collective

Nice job so far on the RD power valve. Got one of those in many many pieces. The engine is actually going into another frame eventually. Getting fitted into a Hawk GT (Honda Bros to you). What SSSA do you have on there? I can't make it out in the picture.

Eric

[RichardShute]

Hello rdstars,
Darren has prompted me (not sure about being poked <G>) to comment on your S&B lathe. I have a Sabel which is essentially the same machine other than the QCGB and I have stripped and serviced it extensively. I haven't seen your other posts on this subject, so can you explain the problem in more detail? You say it has 'tight spots', that leaves plenty of scope for interpretation, but I don't think it should be a reason to sell the lathe. Is it tight once per revolution of the handle? That might mean a bent feedscrew or perhaps some minor damage to the feedscrew thrust bearings (plain face bearings).

The cross slide is pretty simple and I doubt that it can't be fixed. If it is tight at different positions it could be due to contamination and surface damage in the slide. It is obvious the cross slide in the photos is not original, it is too short and there is no top/compound slide, so there may be some other aspects that are non-standard, but I expect you can simply slide the cross slide off the back of the carriage. Slacken the gibb strip screws and just wind it all the way back till the feedscrew stops working and then slide it by hand off the back. This will give you the opportunity to check the feedscrew in isolation and have a look at the dovetails on the carriage and the matching area of the cross slide.

Has Darren mentioned the Yahoo S&B group? Have a look here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smart_and_brown_lathes/

If you sign up there you can download a copy of the rather minimal manual for the machine and also the spares list which is useful as it has sectioned drawings of most of the machine.

Rgds
Richard

[rdstars]

Wow only posted three times and had more help than anywhere, gess this could be the forum for me.

Anyway I dont know how to multi'quote so ill do them one at a time.

[rdstars]

Hi 

Welcome to the collective

Nice job so far on the RD power valve. Got one of those in many many pieces. The engine is actually going into another frame eventually. Getting fitted into a Hawk GT (Honda Bros to you). What SSSA do you have on there? I can't make it out in the picture.

Eric

Hi Eric, Just wondering what is an SSSA?

[rdstars]

Hello rdstars,
Darren has prompted me (not sure about being poked <G>) to comment on your S&B lathe. I have a Sabel which is essentially the same machine other than the QCGB and I have stripped and serviced it extensively. I haven't seen your other posts on this subject, so can you explain the problem in more detail? You say it has 'tight spots', that leaves plenty of scope for interpretation, but I don't think it should be a reason to sell the lathe. Is it tight once per revolution of the handle? That might mean a bent feedscrew or perhaps some minor damage to the feedscrew thrust bearings (plain face bearings).

The cross slide is pretty simple and I doubt that it can't be fixed. If it is tight at different positions it could be due to contamination and surface damage in the slide. It is obvious the cross slide in the photos is not original, it is too short and there is no top/compound slide, so there may be some other aspects that are non-standard, but I expect you can simply slide the cross slide off the back of the carriage. Slacken the gibb strip screws and just wind it all the way back till the feedscrew stops working and then slide it by hand off the back. This will give you the opportunity to check the feedscrew in isolation and have a look at the dovetails on the carriage and the matching area of the cross slide.

Has Darren mentioned the Yahoo S&B group? Have a look here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smart_and_brown_lathes/

If you sign up there you can download a copy of the rather minimal manual for the machine and also the spares list which is useful as it has sectioned drawings of most of the machine.

Rgds
Richard

Chears Richard,

Well the S&B crosslide or top piece is not original and the compound slide would be great, also the S&B takes up loads of room for how little it can swing. Been told it has a rare 3 jaw chuck on it. I dont have hardly any tooling for the lathe eather.

The slide is worn in the center, you can adjust the gib screws so its nice but then its a little to tight far in or out, adjust for the outers and its to loose in the middle. I skimed my ally faceplate that is home made and put a rule accross it and you can see light in the middle. Not sure if the saddle is say correctly as you can see when turning a little movement in the tool post.

I gess with a spair compleate sadle and everything attached it would be a great lathe. I have seen a friends Emco Compact 10 with full DRO and I do like that, or was thinking of following the Myford crowd as in the ML7. Seams like there is alot of parts avalible for them and also able to handle alot of work.

[Brass_Machine]

Hi Eric, Just wondering what is an SSSA?

SSSA = Single Sided Swing Arm 

[rdstars]

Hi Eric, Just wondering what is an SSSA?

SSSA = Single Sided Swing Arm 

Ahh right, its of a VFR 400 nc30. To wide for the frame, some people mod the arm to fit but that puts the arm off center / not square. I modded the frame to fit, it does all ride true but still nothing like a modern machine.

[RichardShute]

Well the S&B crosslide or top piece is not original and the compound slide would be great, also the S&B takes up

loads of room for how little it can swing. Been told it has a rare 3 jaw chuck on it. I dont have hardly any tooling for the lathe eather.

The slide is worn in the center, you can adjust the gib screws so its nice but then its a little to tight far in or out, adjust for the outers and its to loose in the middle. I skimed my ally faceplate that is home made and put a rule accross it and you can see light in the middle. Not sure if the saddle is say correctly as you can see when turning a little movement in the tool post.

I gess with a spair compleate sadle and everything attached it would be a great lathe. I have seen a friends Emco Compact 10 with full DRO and I do like that, or was thinking of following the Myford crowd as in the ML7. Seams like there is alot of parts avalible for them and also able to handle alot of work.

Ah that does explain things a bit. It's true the original tin base is quite large and in a limited workshop that can be significant. If you decide to sell the machine you might find it relatively valuable to make sure that you include the base as many have been scrapped for just this reason and some people are keen to get one. You are evidently able to assess the machine wear and what you describe can only be resolved by either a re-grind or possibly some hand scraping so you may prefer to take the replacement machine route rather than starting another project. If you wanted to do so, a Boxford or Southbend 9" cross slide should fit straight on and on top of that a compound slide from either of those machines. They come up regularly on fleabay. The chuck is less common than a P-B, but don't expect to retire on the sale proceeds.

You will get a lot more lahte-bang for you buck if you avoid a Myford, they have a cult status and attract disproportionately large price tags. British iron might be a Boxford which is very similar to the S&B, but with a much smaller base for a near identical machine and certainly the older original large Emco's were nice, but I have no experience of the modern Chinese made ones. There are heaps of machines available so that would be a whole thread on its own and I expect my comment above might draw some fire so I'll shut up for now.

Richard

[Brass_Machine]

Ahh right, its of a VFR 400 nc30. To wide for the frame, some people mod the arm to fit but that puts the arm off center / not square. I modded the frame to fit, it does all ride true but still nothing like a modern machine.

NC30... nice little bike. We unfortunately didn't get any of the 400s here in the US. The ones here are grey market. I think the FZR400 may have been imported, but I am not sure.

I saw a post somewhere where someone did the same type of mod putting a late model R6 swinger on a RD (RZ here). He modded the frame to take it. Would like to see pictures of your work sometime. As you can see... I am a bike nut 

My project is to put a hybrid RZ (rd ypvs) engine in a Hawk frame... using some Blade forks and a 600rr swinger. The engine will be a mixture of Banshee and RZ... hopefully 535 ccs of screaming 2 stroke love.

Eric

[rdstars]

Ahh right, its of a VFR 400 nc30. To wide for the frame, some people mod the arm to fit but that puts the arm off center / not square. I modded the frame to fit, it does all ride true but still nothing like a modern machine.

NC30... nice little bike. We unfortunately didn't get any of the 400s here in the US. The ones here are grey market. I think the FZR400 may have been imported, but I am not sure.

I saw a post somewhere where someone did the same type of mod putting a late model R6 swinger on a RD (RZ here). He modded the frame to take it. Would like to see pictures of your work sometime. As you can see... I am a bike nut 

My project is to put a hybrid RZ (rd ypvs) engine in a Hawk frame... using some Blade forks and a 600rr swinger. The engine will be a mixture of Banshee and RZ... hopefully 535 ccs of screaming 2 stroke love.

Eric

Just a quick one, if you want to read over some nice projects then the US RD Forum is a great site, my project is up on there. Also loads of advice on different ways go to with your motor etc.:

http://www.rzrd500.com/phpBB2/index.php

Kelvin

[Bernd]

Welcome rdstars to the collective. 

Bernd