Need help with Antique Lathe

Re: Need help with Antique Lathe-Long Reply

Doug Leite

>Joe,

The main questions are;

1)what do you plan to turn on this lathe

2)and what is the swing dia? I assume the 36" is bet. centers.

You must also realize that with that type of bearings, you will be limited to slower speeds.

That said, in answer to your questions.

1) The lateral play could be taken up a little by carefully machining, or filing the mating surface of the cap so as to reduce the diameter of the bearing. In the old days, Auto engines used babbit bearings with shims between the halves to facilitate reducing clearances. Any chance that this has shims? The end play can be adjusted by the round nut on the back of the front bearing. In the pic. it looks like there may be a setscrew in that hole? If so, loosen it and turn the collar (nut) a little at a time. Remember that you must provide some space for oil. Talking of oil, I don't see any oil cups on the caps. These bearings require a good film of oil all of the time.

2) I would reduce the threads to 1 1/4"-8, as that is a common size that accessories are available for. I would always aim to have the largest possible threads as that adds regidity.

3)About the taper, when the thread is reduced in size, it also needs to be shortened to fit the length of the new accessories. What I mean is that a 1 1/4" nut is shorter then a 1 3/8" nut. If you plan on making your own faceplates, or even buy them or chucks, the thread must be shortened so that it does not bottom out. What I mean is that it must register on the face of whatever, not bottom out on the end of the shaft. Now, when the shaft is shortened the 1/8" or so, the taper becomes shorter and it will provide material for cleaning up.Clean up the rust as best as you can using a wooden dowel with a slot cut in it with an Emery Cloths trip in the slot and wound around the stick. You can buy a #2 MT reamer from various sources and using cutting lube, place it into the tapered hole and bring up a 60 deg. center to support the tail end of the reamer and assure alignment. With the spindle locked, turn the reamer slowly clockwise while applying light plessure with the tailstock to feed the reamer in. DO NOT TURN THE REAMER COUNTERCLOCKWISE AT ALL. That will dull it instantly.

Aloha,

Doug in Hawaii

Re: Need help with Antique Lathe

Ken Grunke

>You have a nice project to work on, I'd rather have something like this than start from scratch.

Lateral play is definitely something you don't want, if you mean radial (across center, perpendicular to the bed). The bearings, or at least the inboard bearing, is worn at the horizontal center.

If there is any space between the bearing halves, and between the bearing cap and main casting, then you might be able to tighten the bearing cap enough to get rid of some or all of the play. It's very important to have shims between the cap and main casting to be able to tighten the caps hard without squeezing the bearing journal (the area of the shaft inside the bearing). If tightening the cap causes drag on the spindle, you need to add another shim for each bolt. It may only need a .001 or .002" shim, but it's good to have a selection of shim stock from .001 to probably .010".

If the bearing cap is bottomed out on the main casting, you'll need a new split bearing. Can't tell you where to get one, but I'm sure it's available somewhere or at least the bearing stock to machine one.

You may not have to worry about the outboard bearing unless it's really bad in which case a new inboard bearing will wear prematurely if the outboard end flops around at all.

As Doug said, you can adjust the axial play with the threaded collar behind the inboard bearing. But if it's bottomed out, you'll need to install a washer between the collar and the inboard bearing rear surface. This was the case with an old Oliver patternmaker's lathe a friend owned, and we couldn't get the big outboard handwheel off the shaft so I machined a split washer 1/4" thick to fit in there, the two halves were screwed together edgewise.

You are lucky to have V-pulleys instead of flat-belt pulleys, flat belts can be a pain and aren't too easy to find.

Re: Need help with Antique Lathe

Bill Hale, Woodspinner

>Joe

Unless you have a special feeling for this lathe it sounds like a money hole. By your post you are going to have to pay for all of the fixes. As you have found most machinests don't want to do this kind of work and will tend to over charge you.

Sorry for my thoughts but I have done it and wished I had not wasted the money. Sell it on E-Bay and buy a good lathe.

Good turning and be safe

Bill

Re: Need help with Antique Lathe

Brad Vietje

>Joe,

I have an old lathe too -- probably about 100 years old.

There should be a way to get rid of all the play in the bearings, especially lateral. Are these babbit bearings ? Some lathes had oil-impregnated bronze, with a little cap that would be filled each day with oil, that slowly seeped down into the bearings. Babbit bearings can be re-poured, and will have no play at all. Your options may depend on where you are. I'm in rural farm country, and there are a number of people around here who can cast babbit bearings. Most any good machine shop should be able to do this, too.

As for the spindle nose, my old lathe is 1-3/8 x 8, which is pretty uncommon. I have 2 faceplates and an 8" machinist's chuck, so I may stay with that and have a special insert made for a Stronghold chuck. You can have an adaptor made, but if you do machine it down, I'd strongly suggest taking it down to 1-1/4 x 8, which is a standard for which chucks are readily available. 1.25" is quite a bit stiffer than 1.00".

You might want to request some help from one of the machine tool forums.

Safe Spinning,

Brad Vietje

Thetford, VT