Show Us Your Lathe

[Kludge]

Not so neat to the eye of the Bride

Neither of my previous two had any appreciation for the finer things either. That's why one of the rules for the kind of search for #3 is to accept that the shop is an essential part of the apartment.

But to me its all part of paradise. Have to yard it all back to the little cubby holes to make room for the kids suspension rework. He buys the propane to heat the place and I give directions. Current aray of perfectly placed items are for the motor change over from the "hate swapping belts" to a variable speed DC job for the little 109.

A treadmill motor perchance?

BEst regards,

Kludge

 

[lathe nut]

RKLopp, I might go back and offer her more if it is still there, is the serial number on the end of the bed ways, tanks, Lathe Nut

 

[Mark-One]

G'day. I have 2 machines now:

Unimat DB200 on loan from my uncle

And what I believe is an older (or at least more heavily used) SL1000 that my dad just got back from a long term loan

Either machine works for me, though the tail stock on the SL tends to bind, and no amount of futzing with it has fixed that. Tried setting the handwheel back and installed some thin teflon washers. Took it apart for cleaning/oiling. It just gets really stiff after I've been drilling for a bit.

Fixed the motor on the DB, which suffered a sudden death last week. Pulled it apart and went chasing wires with the multimeter. Turned out to be the switch. A little contact cleaner sprayed into it fixed it right up.

I can't foresee outgrowing either machine for a long time, which is good since I've no space for anything larger.

Here's the work/play bench

No room to the left or right either

 

[HS93]

I had one for twenty years and sold it because I was buying what I thought was a bigger better machine, big mistake , sorryest thing I have done as i make a lot of small parts in brass and it was ideal , as you are lucky enough to have two you could set one up to mill if you have the extra post, or try and get hold of one its also handy to drill with. I keep looking on eBay to replace mine but they are eathere tatty or want mega bucks for them. shame , ill find another.

peter

 

[Captain Jerry]

Here is my lathe.

Only two things worth noticing. It is bolted down to a piece of steel that is 3" x 5" x 18" that weighs about 65 lbs (30 Kg or about 2 Slugs). I don't know the source of the steel. I found it in the basement of an old house that I bought and used it as an anvil for years. It is great for mounting the indicator using a magnetic base. The other item to notice is the replacement motor from Blue Ridge Machinery. A little pricey but Wow! what an improvement. Try not to notice the broken lense on the digital indicator. Boy, are they fragile!

Here is my mill. The steel base makes a huge difference in stability.

The whole thing sits in an old cookie sheet. Great for containing lube, coolant, and chips. BTW, does anyone else use turpentine for lube/coolant on aluminum? Smells a lot better than kerosene.

Best to all
Jerry

 

[joe d]

Here's my Taig... had a lot of fun with it so far.

Note the mod to the tail-stock ram, it's much easier on the hand now compared to the factory flat bar stock handle

Sure do wish somebody would post plans for a ball turner so's I could pretty it up some... :big:

Cheers, Joe

 

[fdew]

I am amazed at the variety of lathes out there.

Here is mine. Bought it used about 15 years ago, Most of the non consumable tooling came with it. 3 jaw, quick change, 5C, face plate, live ct, ETC. I have been pleased with it.

 

[Kludge]

Seeing the SL-1000's reminded me of something. Mine has an aluminum base but someone I know has a zamac one available and may have a cast iron one from a DB-200. (He is a fountain of the unexpected and is almost, but not quite, as terminally weird as I am.) Would there be any advantage to swapping out my base for one of the others or should I leave well enough alone? I kind of like the idea of a cast iron one; it's magnetic. On the other hand, there was probably good reason to swap away from cast iron (aside from cost) of which I'm unaware.

BEst regards,

Kludge

 

[Mark-One]

G'day

I know the parts are supposed to interchange between the SL and the DB. Though I tried swapping out the tailstock on one for the better one on the other of the 2 I have and the centers don't line up in the vertical.

I don't know how easy or not this is to adjust, so I switched back and spent some time trying to get the ram on the not-so-good one working at least half-assed decently (and it does now, half-assed that is).

Maybe a base exchange would go off well, or maybe it would be more trouble than it's worth?

 

[kvom]

Finally got mine in the position I want:

 

[Maryak]

G'day

I know the parts are supposed to interchange between the SL and the DB. Though I tried swapping out the tailstock on one for the better one on the other of the 2 I have and the centers don't line up in the vertical.

I don't know how easy or not this is to adjust, so I switched back and spent some time trying to get the ram on the not-so-good one working at least half-assed decently (and it does now, half-assed that is).

Maybe a base exchange would go off well, or maybe it would be more trouble than it's worth?

Mk-1,

Maybe you could mill 2 strips off each side of the base and then replace them with strips and countersunk screws loctited in position and bring the base up to the correct height. for the headstock centre. It's an old trick I've used when repairing large steam engine double ported slide valves which were flopping around in their guides due to old age and worn valve rod guide bearings.

Hope this gives you ideas. ??? ???

 

[Mark-One]

That's not something I had considered... Gives me something to think about

Meanwhile I've been futzing with the tailstock some more. There was a burr on the ram that was causing it to catch slightly. A fine file took care of that. For the rest.. I found a brass washer worked better than my teflon ones. I think I need the extra space between the handwheel and the frame. It doesn't glide like the other one does, but I no longer have to wonder if I'm fighting to get a drill into something or fighting the tailstock itself.

 

[BMyers]

My South Bend 9" JR.
looks tiny behind the PW Model B

 

[C.BRAXMAIER]

How, do i post a picture ???

 

[Ora Banda]

Hi!

My Myford ML10 circa 1970's... and still going strong... except for the motor that has finally given up this weekend.



John

 

[rake60]

Welcome to HMEM John.

Nice Myford!

Rick

 

[Ora Banda]

Thanks, Rick... I started in model engineering many many moons ago... took a break for 30 odd years as the family came together and now getting back into it.

I've treasured my little Myford for all those years from new. It is in mint condition... except the motor which packed in just last weekend.

I bought my Myford for 85 UK pounds... way back in the 70's... the replacement motor alone, today, will cost me more than that! But it's worth it

 

[Maryak]

John,

Welcome to our forum.

Best Regards
Bob

 

[swinz]

Here's my Warco BH600, has it's limitations but a great lathe for the money.
Ideally i would like to upgrade to a Colchester in future but I'm a bit short of room as the lathe shares a single garage with a Bridgeport, a workbench and a motorbike.

Paul.

 

[jackary]

Here is my old lathe a Chipmaster, circa 1956
and which, I have refurbished and repainted. The bed was fairly well
worn so I spent some time trying to re finish the bed by hand to
achieve most of its original accuracy. I have added tee slots
(bolted from underneath to the original cross slide) to accommodate
a top slide of my own design. I also added a rack feed tailstock.
The original motor and variator have been replaced by an inverter
controlling a new 1.5hp 3 phase motor. The speed control
potentiometer is housed inside the on/off/reversed lever, to change
the speed just rotate the black knob. Apart from the wear on the bed
the machine was in reasonable condition for its age and it now runs
very well. I think that the Colchester Lathe Company must have been
proud of this machine, deservedly so.

[/img]
Regards
Alan