Arriving Soon.

DannyC

DannyC

0
I couldn't help myself (too much money and not enough brains probably).

I have allowed the Department For Work & Pensions to buy me the item below with last months Govt pension money.

It should be arriving on Monday. A step up on the Chinesium Mini Lathe; British made and >45 years old.
So it may either be "clapped out" or "nicely run in". I hope it is the latter.
The seller described it as being "in excellent condition", but the paintwork suggests otherwise.
Why did I do it when I already have the Chinese mini-lathe (I am also asking this question of myself)?

Well mainly because the mini-lathe struggles a bit on the larger items and sometimes stalls on not-very deep cuts, and "parting off" has to be done with the parting blade upside down and the lathe in reverse.

This is an Imperial Lathe with all of the threads we are used to on bikes available via a simple gearbox selection.
It has power traverse as well as cross-feed so is a big step up on the Mini-Lathe.
Being "Back-Geared" it's 1HP 3-phase motor will have enough torque for any job I can think of throwing at it.

It will (of course) need some upgrades like a Quick Change Tool Post, but I need to wire up a VFD to provide a Single-Phase to Three-Phase conversion for the motor in order to even see if it runs properly.

Wish me luck! ;)


My-Box-Ford.png
 
Wow a real mans toy.....
So
a) DO NOT send me the Chinese one !!!
b) hopefully one of the lathe people on here will be along shortly to
  1. tell you how to commission it
  2. what to look for when assessing it's faults
  3. how to improve it
c) ... and enjoy.

In the mean time I am STILL awaiting my rims to be shipped , good job I don't need them yet ;)

Paul
 
stormbird said:
Wow a real mans toy.....
So
a) DO NOT send me the Chinese one !!!
b) hopefully one of the lathe people on here will be along shortly to
  1. tell you how to commission it
  2. what to look for when assessing it's faults
  3. how to improve it
c) ... and enjoy.

In the mean time I am STILL awaiting my rims to be shipped , good job I don't need them yet ;)

Paul
Click to expand...
Too late "Wing-Tung-Clank" is already in a crate. ;)
 
As Paul says the very nice man that sold me the lathe has a mate that moves stuff, and for £150 he offered to have it moved here.
I had a quote from a machinery moving co. and they wanted almost as much as I paid for the lathe itself.
 
From the photo, I see something missing - Hopefully, you got at least one chuck with it......
Otherwise, it looks pretty good, and not neglected - It looks new enough to have a ball or roller bearing spindle :)

The quick and rough check for condition, is to run the carriage up close to the head stock, then snug up the carriage stop (square head screw to the right of the cross slide), just enough so that you can still move the carriage.
Then try and crank the carriage toward the tail stock -
If you can do it the length of the bed without it binding, your lathe bed is in really good shape.
If it starts to jam up part way, then you know the ways are worn near the head stock (the usual area), to some degree, and must plan accordingly.
But even if the ways are a little worn, it's not a deal breaker, it just means you need to account for the taper, especially when turning something critical.

Anyway, you probably know all this, but I'm just used to dealing with old machinery (all I can afford), and not everyone is.
 
3 very nice gentlemen have just delivered the lathe I bought on e-Bay. :D
It is a little Boxford AUD (Serial Number 12161) and it appears (to my eyes anyway)to be in pretty good nick.
The ways are sound and unmarked, the slides are all silky-smooth and with no discernable backlash.

IMG-20240108-114018-355.jpg

It came with:
An engineers surface plate- goodness that's heavy.
A full set of cutting tools (mostly unused).
A set of 24 collets and two collet arbors, but no drawbar.
A set of 4 tool posts and tool-holders of different style/flavours.
A micrometer carriage stop.
A standard carriage stop.
The backplate on there has an index (72 position) and an index pin mounted on the headstock. Don't think that was standard?
There is a backplate for clamping items to as well, and a drive dog.

Thanks undertoad, I will give that a shot.

I will give it a clean and lube and sort out a VFD (3-phase). Really pleased I am.

UPDATE:
I just took another look at it, and....
In the centre section of the cabinet I found:
A Pratt-Burnerd 4-Jaw Chuck
A fixed Steady.
A travelling steady.
The draw bar for the collet set.
 
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Wow! It looks like you got a nice, well-equipped machine - Ready to work, once you get it powered up.
That it came with so much tooling is a huge bonus, as that will often double the price of a used lathe.
And a surface plate, even - It will come in handy, both for the lathe, and of course, for the mill you will buy, next.......
"Going down the rabbit hole" is an overused term, but very true when it comes to machine tools.
 
undertoad said:
Wow! It looks like you got a nice, well-equipped machine - Ready to work, once you get it powered up.
That it came with so much tooling is a huge bonus, as that will often double the price of a used lathe.
And a surface plate, even - It will come in handy, both for the lathe, and of course, for the mill you will buy, next.......
"Going down the rabbit hole" is an overused term, but very true when it comes to machine tools.
Click to expand...
I already have a micro-mill :( maybe I need a proper one? LOL.
 
From the Serial number it looks like the lathe was made in 1962.
Awaiting the re-wired motor (should be next week).
I have got new V-belts to go on it from motor to primary drive shaft and from primary to intermediate. The T-link belt looks OK (which is good because they are £100+ each).
Despite it coming with various tool-posts they are all single tool affairs so I have ordered a Machifit Quick Change toolpost and 6 tool holders, which is what I have on the mini-lathe.
I snagged another set of cutting tools on Banggood so I can have both machines equipped without juggling the tool-bits between the two.
The plan is to rip out all of the existing 3-phase wiring and make one of these control boxes.
Probably be quite some time before I can use the thing in any real sense and I don't have any specific projects in mind.
I think I may be working on the "better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it" principle.
Well, that and it's my money the government gives me every month.


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Today the Machifit AXA wedge style Quick Change toolpost that I ordered for the new lathe arrived. :)


Shock-Horror! This thing is a beast, the baseplate is 12mm thick and 63mm square with the post screwed into it.
The T-slot on the Boxford is only about 40mm wide so I cut 2 x 12mm strips off the base so it was of a width that would fit.

But No! :( The T-Slot in the Boxford cross-slide can only take an item only 7mm thick.

This is where having 2 lathes is a boon. I put the tool post in the Mini-lathe centred it up and took the require material of the bottom side and off the toolpost itself; it all now fits snug as anything. :)

IMG-20240120-152234-427.jpg
 
I recently did this for a new AXA post for my old Sheldon.
Since I had a big chunk of scrap steel, I used the mill to make a big T-slot nut to fit the top slide.
Just a different way to deal with the same issue :)
 
undertoad said:
I recently did this for a new AXA post for my old Sheldon.
Since I had a big chunk of scrap steel, I used the mill to make a big T-slot nut to fit the top slide.
Just a different way to deal with the same issue :)
Click to expand...
That was my initial thought, but I don't have the tap to make the required thread in a blank bit of steel.
So I took the "alter what you have" option instead. :)
 
I confess, I actually bought a tap to do it - I would have thought it was a special metric size, but it was really just a 9/16 x 18NF, for that size tool post. I found a decent US made one on Amazon, for $7.09 - Cheap enough, but I'll probably never use it again :rolleyes:
What I did find, is that you can run a 9/16" fine tap through a 1/2" hole in mild steel, by going slow and using much lube.
Which was a good thing, as I didn't have exactly the right bit, and I didn't want to buy one that I'll also never use again ........
 
Motor is back today. :)
It is now wired up for 230v Delta and has been tested by the rework shop.
Struggled to get the motor back on its hanging bracket and I am not sure the replacement belt I bought will be tight enough.
I measured the outer circumference of the old belt and ordered that size. When you lie the two belts on top of each other they are identical, but I have doubts on the belt tension.
The motor cradle is positioned exactly back where it came from on the hanger. We shall see. :)
 
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