Anyone know about old lathes? *LINK*

Re: Anyone know about old lathes?

John Aniano in Central NJ

>Jeremy,

Since you asked on the handtool side, so I will answer here...

Looks like a nice lathe. I'd suggest that you might be able to unscrew the chuck unless it obviously is screwed with multiple bolts onto some sort of faceplate (often done on metal-working lathes). I really doubt the shaft is part of the 3-jaw chuck. Unless it is shrunk onto the shaft. I hope for your sake it is not... It really should be able to screw off.

The headstock bearings look to be a bit on the small side. They are not ball bearings, are they? They look to be maybe bronze or similar, so you might want to look to replace them if the side-to-side play is too great. This would affect faceplate turning mostly, not spindle turning quite as much. Good bearings help in all aspects of turning. Since this lathe looks to be on the small side casting-wise, I suggest staying away from really large faceplate turning. My own small cast aluminum wood lathe is also on the light side and although I have faceplates, I rarely use them.

A photo from the side would help understand the shafting and motor tension question. I guess that it is some sort of countershaft to get lower (and higher) speeds.

John

Re: Anyone know about old lathes?

Todd O. Cronkhite Native of Maine

>Jeremy,

As John said better pictures are need here to get a better look at the problem.

Any chance that a slightly shorter belt would do the trick on getting more tension on that slack belt?

Looks like a nice older lathe, but I fear that soon you will outgrow it. You have a lot of fun with this one none-the-less.

I built my lathe from a set of plans I found in a book put out my Wood Mag. I ordered the spindles and other hardware from Packard, whom I believe are now a sponser of WC. If you, or anybody else is interested in seeing these plans I'd be happy to photocopy them and send them to you.

Any Packard reps out there? I need a replacement upper pulley, and I wonder if you still carry it.

Todd O.

Re: Anyone know about old lathes?

Jeremy Osner

>Thanks John and Todd -- I have got the chuck off now and come up against the fact that the spindle is nonstandard in its diameter and taper -- over on the Turning forum people have been giving me advice about adapting it to standard dimensions -- and I am also thinking about using the chuck and files to turn a new drive center with the existing taper.

Could you go into more detail about checking the bearings? Someone on the Turning forum recommended this as well but I don't really know what is involved.

Checking the bearings

Bob Hackett

>Just thread the chuck back on for a grab point. Pull the chuck and spindle toward the tailstock and push away from it to check the endplay.Now grab the chuck and pull up toward the ceiling,also try to push it back and froth 90 degrees to the lathe bed to check for radial play in the bearings.If they`re solid type bearings(babbit or bronze)as opposed to ball or roller bearings you can expect a very small amount of radial clearance if they`re dry.Ball and roller bearing should have zero radial play,it would only cause chatter.

If you have some endplay(measured in thousands of an inch) things are good.If more than afew thou,it`s time to look for that exploded diagram to figure how to adjust it out.Are we having fun yet?

Mainely,Bob

Re: Checking the bearings

Jeremy Osner

>Doesn't seem to be any play at all, either side-to-side or endplay. I haven't quite figured out how to tell whether they are bushings or ball bearings despite all the advice -- when I look at the lathe head stock I see two joints that I would expect to have bearings in them (on either side of the pulleys); both joints are completely enclosed. Am I missing something? I don't really want to open the headstock up at this stage in the game.

No excessive play...

Bob Hackett

>no oil cups,no grease fittings?Sounds like you may have sealed,prelubed ball or more likely roller bearings.Looks like it`s time to move on to the custom adapter part of the show and then it`s on to turning.

Sounds like you`ve got a nice piece of old iron at a great price there.Could be a smokin` deal depending on what shows up with the spare parts that are coming.Hope I didn`t jinx your gloat there.

Mainely,Bob

Bushings vs. bearings

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>The outer diameter (OD) of a bushing is only a little larger than the inner diameter (ID). The OD of a ball or roller bearing is considerably larger than the ID, to make room for the balls or rollers and the outer and inner races that trap them between. The anomalous bearing type, which is VERY unlikely in this application, is the needle bearing, which has no inner race and very little (thus the name) rollers.

From the photo, it appears that there's not enough diameter around the spindle to accommodate ball or roller bearings, but I'd have to be looking at the actual cast iron, a little hard (with the weather and all, I really didn't want to drive over today).

Nothing wrong with bushings, except you have to be religious about lubing them.

Re: get thee hence!

paul womack

>Whilst some remrkable people inhabit woodcentral (and the Porch), if ya' want to know about an old woodworking machinery, neither is the venue of choice.

This is.

BugBear

P.S. They're mainly metal lathes, but this place is kinda' informative too.

Re: get thee hence to a great resource site!

John Aniano in Central NJ

>Paul,

Thanks ever so much for the oldwwmachines.com website link! I quickly found my vintage Shopmaster wood lathe listed for ~$50 in the catalog that was reproduced there! I purchased mine secondhand for $15 and although I have replaced the "lubricated for life" ball bearings in the headstock, it still works quite well. It is a lightweight lathe but I like it.

John