I stole a lathe!!!

[Holt]

Last weekend i went to see an old Danish machine company lathe, it was missing quite a few parts http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=17615.0 this week i have been thinking if it was worth the effort and money to restore it. meanwhile i was searching the web for another lathe, and suddenly yesterday afternoon a new advert came up "Good and old lathe for sale, motor dismounted, otherwise in working condition $580" (well the price was in Danish Kroner but i exchanged it to USD) i went to see it today,and it turned up to be a Colchester / Clausing Triumph 7 1/2 x 48 (15 x 48 in the states) a bit rusty on the bedways, but nothing a bit of TLC (and some new bearings in the motor) wont cure, it have lived in a tractor and machine shop, and have never done production work. I bought it on the spot, and are going to collect it on Saturday

This sketch from lathes.co.uk shows how it looked like once,
And here is what it looks like today

I am going to make some modifications, i will post it as i go along

 

[Peter.]

Nice score. I bet it will clean up just great.

 

[steamer]

that's a better direction I think!

the money is short.....

Dave

 

[arnoldb]

Thm: That IS a nice score Holt

;D Guess you'll have to bring out the elbow grease soon to clean it up!

Kind regards, Arnold

 

[willburrrr2003]

Nice, a beautiful old machine you have there!! I will follow it's restoration with definite interest

Regards,

Will

 

[metalmad]

Nice one buddy
Pete

 

[bronson]

I look watching old lathes get cleaned up. Good find hope it works great for you.

Bronson

 

[Holt]

I do think it was a good score,and i can't wait to get it into my little workshop and start cleaning it up, i only paid a little bit more than the asking price on the Danish Machine Company lathe, but this one is in a whole other league,and cant be compared in any way.
what should i do with the paint, once i have it cleaned, on a car, i would wax it, but do i do that on a lathe, or are there other tricks to keep it from attracting dirt like a magnet?

Holt

 

[n4zou]

what should i do with the paint, once i have it cleaned, on a car, i would wax it, but do i do that on a lathe, or are there other tricks to keep it from attracting dirt like a magnet?

Don't do anything to the paint except to wash it with soap and water. That lathe is painted with lead paint. The only way that paint can harm you is if you eat it or start sanding or grinding on it to remove it for a new paint job. For me an old lathe should look like an old lathe in it's original paint. It took many years to bring out that patina and you should cherish it. If you do remove the paint do it when chemicals so you don't end up with lead dust everywhere.
If you are going to let it sit for long periods of time cover it with duck canvas which will keep dust from collecting on it. Don't use a plastic cover! Plastic will hold moisture which will collect on the lathe and cause moisture problems. The cover needs to breathe. Before you throw the canvas over it coat all bare metal surfaces like the bed ways with grease. This will keep them from rusting.

 

[steamer]

YUp it's a good bet the paint is lead based. Chemical stripping is an option....as is giving it a good chemical cleaning and painting right over it! ;D

Dave

 

[user 4735]

Holt

I wish you luck in your project!

I have a Colchester Student and have found the Colchester user group on Yahoo useful - see:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ColchesterLathe-User/

I do not know your expertise in rebuilding machine tools, but there is a lot of information available on Colchester on other internet forums in addition to the user group and Tony's Lathes.co.UK site.

Dennis

 

[Holt]

Thank you all for your comments and advices, and thanks to you Dennis for the link, i will surely be joining when i have the home ready for the new one.

I have been working with lathes for 30+ years, and done maintenance and small repairs, but never done complete overhaul. I have access to a range of different machines, mostly cnc mills, i could in fact place the whole lathe on the bed of one of our large mills ;D

One of the first modifications, once the mill is in working order, will be a QCTP, and some tool holders.

Another one will be a DRO, i have a rotary encoder for the main slide, and an Heidenhain glass scale for the cross slide.
I need to convert the sine wave signal from the glass scale to a square wave TTL signal, but it don't seem, that anyone knows how to build an inverter, i might have to buy an Heidenhain interpolation box

Holt

 

[Noitoen]

I need to convert the sine wave signal from the glass scale to a square wave TTL signal, but it don't seem, that anyone knows how to build an inverter, i might have to buy an Heidenhain interpolation box

It's not so difficult to convert the sine/cosine output to square wave. The cheap magnetic scales use this method because the N/S poles are spaced exactly 0,5mm. apart. You need a little amplifier to shift the sine/cosine wave centred on 2,5V so that the top peak goes around 4,8V and the bottom around 0,2V. Since the 2 outputs from the encoder are "shifted" 90º apart, a simple microcontroller with a pair of 10 bit analogue inputs can easily calculate a resolution of 0,005mm and generate a pair of square waves.

I have somewhere a schematic for this amplifier I can look for if you are interested. I still haven't got to the microcontroller's final stage since I plan to build the complete display but I've tested the "proof of concept" and it works.

 

[Holt]

I am very interested in your schematic, i have been searching the net, but only found out that it should be a Schmitt trigger to avoid electric noise. I have been working with electronics at repair basis, not as developer, however i can make PCB's. and solder components.
I will try to use the Mach3 cnc program for the DRO, maybe a little overkill, but the program is free, when you limit it to 500 lines of G codes, and i won't be using any G codes for the DRO ;D

 

[coopertje]

Congratulations Holt! Seems like a very good and rigid machine you got there. And there is no greater satisfaction to finally work pieces on a machine that you have overhauled!

Have fun with it and hope to see your progress on the machine over here, I will be following along for sure.

Regards Jeroen

 

[Holt]

Well, the lathe are in the workshop, and have been for a couple of days, it was too wide to enter the door, so i had to remove the doorframe :-\

Here it is loaded on the trailer, this is NOT a normal Brenderup autotrailer, but a modified one with a reinforced middle section, so it was safe to roll the lathe off with two pallet lifters (or whatever they are called)

Here it is passing the first obstruction, a 14 cm high edge, normally here is a ramp, but it cant take the weight of the lathe

these machine skates is Gods gift to people moving heavy loads, a lathe can be moved with one hand on these things

This jack isn't bad to have either

At last! It's in the workshop, ready to a overhaul, i think i will start with mounting the doorframe and door, it's going to freeze tonight

 

[steamer]

woohoo1 woohoo1

 

[dalem9]

To keep things from rusting I mix about 6 parts wd40 with any 1 part of oil , then spray it on . It will leive a thin coat of oil after the wd40 dries . Hope this helpes . Dale

 

[CMS]

Nice lathe score, but I think that I like the big MF's in the background just as much.

Craig

 

[lathe nut]

WOW, great looking lathe, always room for a lathe and such a great deal, more lathes the better, will be looking, Lathe Nut