Workshop top tips

The quick change tool post and tool holders are great my lathe came with 2 quick change posts and 12 tool holders, make jobs a lot easier when you can change tools that are already set up.

Ashley

I am considering buying a single phrase electric lathe but I cannot make my mind up which is right for me, a Myford Lathe would normally be ideal but I want to skim the face of 12” discs to bring them back to life again.
The other lathe on the market is the Chester with the large gap bed, but as these are made in China, (need I say more :?: ) and are not of the top quality of other lathes, I am doubtful of purchasing one, especially the one with the milling attachment which I understand had a gear drive, with wait for it PLASTIC gears :!: :shock:
A belt conversion is available for the above, but I do not want the added cost, so would probably go for a separate milling machine.
Anyone have any input on Chester lathes :?:

Bernhard said:

Anyone have any input on Chester lathes :?:

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I have two, one in Darwin and one in New Zealand (long story)
I do not remember any plastic gears, they are a good machine and will out perform (swing) much larger machines.
The compound being able to be repositioned is good also but not having a powered cross feed makes it not so good for your application.

Here are two projects from that NZ machine both for TL1000S's.
Clear clutch cover with no outer fasteners (a first) http://s30.photobucket.com/user/manurew ... t=2&page=1
GSXR1000 slipper clutch to TL1000 drive gear (a first) http://s30.photobucket.com/user/manurew ... t=9&page=1

Speaking of shop lathes, I just finished a project this summer that was much like restoring a Norton. This is a 1945 Atlas lathe sold by Craftsman (Sears) back when the US made good stuff. Lathe is 12 x 18 and a joy to use. I am teaching myself. This is a deep money pit sorta like an old bike. There is always another tool, attachment, or replacement part you need.
Jaydee
Pic:

That is a beautiful old machine, the dial gauge is a great idea too.

Looking good. I just got mine functional today. It's also an Atlas, don't know the exact year yet. I think it's a 9 x 36.
Slowly working on getting it fully sorted and functional. Then once time and warmer weather allows I will paint it.
I spent $200 today on carbide bits and an axa tool post kit. I see more money being spent in the future.

When I started looking around for a lathe, I contacted the (then) local Myford agent here in 'straya, for a quote and delivery lead time, on a well specified Myford Super 7. After I picked myself up off the floor, I started looking for alternatives. The end result was that I got a perfectly adequate Chinese lathe, of about the same capacity as a Myford, but with some modern features that the Myford didn't have, for just over AU$1,000 with a five day delivery. It's a big place Australia and lathe shops aren't on every street corner. Now that $1,000 compares very favourably with the over $15,000 I was quoted for the Myford. The Chinese lathe is now approaching it's 10th birthday. It's done everything I've asked of it without a failure. No doubt the Myford would have done the same, but $14,000 buys a lot of tooling! Sure the Chinese machine probably isn't as well made as the Myford, but then I've heard some bad tales about them so who knows.
I would love a Hardinge, Smart & Brown, Schaublin Dean Smith and Grace etc etc but sometimes (I'm told) it's important to be practical!!
Oh, and by the way I got one of those mills with plastic gears, that machine was used for 7 years, when the unbroken gears were changed for a belt drive, the changeover took about 20 minutes!
cheers
wakeup

An excellent source for second hand laths are schools and technical colleges that are replacing equipment.

They often have very little work.

Get to know your local second hand machinery seller and wait.

johnm said:

An excellent source for second hand laths are schools and technical colleges that are replacing equipment.

They often have very little work.

Get to know your local second hand machinery seller and wait.

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There are some ex school/tech college machines available, but you have to be really really careful. Many of the machine have been out of production for a long time, 20 years plus, they probably don't have any spares readily available and whilst the spindles will not have been turning for many hours the machines will have been used by beginners with all that that entails. If you want another restoration project, as well as your Norton, this can be a good way to go, but it's time consuming and can be expensive.
I was recently in my local machinery supplier and they had an immaculate 9" Hercus (Australian copy of a South Bend). It had been used by one person in a University, he had used and kept it very carefully, it had lots of optional accessories. They wanted A$1,800 for it, probably twice what a typical similar age machine would be from industry. It was immaculate. Within 20' of it they had a brand new Chinese machine, which had they same sort of accessories, the same work envelope and some modern features (variable speed, quick change chuck, collet chuck) that the Hercus didn't have. The Chinese lathe was cheaper than the Hercus.
Even more than old motor bikes, old machinery can be a money pit. Very satisfying but very expensive.
cheers
wakeup

The plastic gears that I was earlier referring to are in the milling attachment of the combined lathe/milling machine.
I have not seen any more of the above Chester machines advertised, as new, I am bearing in mind that they are only for the hobbyist , you can do small jobs on a big lathe but (strictly speaking ) you can’t do large jobs on a small machine-see below.
The Myford factory shut its doors for the last time in 2011, (Yet another good machine tool maker bites the dust )
but here in Blighty there appears to be an abundance of second hand lathes & parts at the present time.

Turning 12 inch on Myford lathe‏;
Here’s how to increase the ability to turn 12inch disc on a 6inch Myford, its home made and you could just about increase the turning ability on any lathe (within reason!!!) provided you can reverse the motor:

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/2ivuCRavE8I/maxresdefault.jpg

I had wondered what to make this from, a sleeve from a Moto Guzzi Eldorado final drive at first but a spare Norton Commando headlight spacer kept things in the family.

All:

I recognize that part! It is a top hat spacer for a Smiths speedo drive, soon to have a new life on a Norton in Texas!

Thanks Les!

Slick

All good Robert.
Its up to Australia Post for the next leg.

Need to clean up your hands and the workshop's a long way from soap and water? Just spray some CRC on the dirty bits and wipe off with a rag.

Cutting a cable with a hacksaw. Place the cable in a wood sandwich in the vice and saw through the whole lot.

Need to crimp something, but do not have a crimper or proper sized die?

Take two pieces of flat stock or square rod, clamp together, drill a hole in the seam slightly smaller than the part to be crimped, separate, place halves over part to be crimped, and squeeze with a vise.

Slick

Stuck for a shim washer? You can make shim washers from even the thinnest shim stock if you have a drill press and a lathe. Roughly cut out some shim stock of the right gauge/thickness slightly oversize with scissors/snips. Clamp between two pieces of steel or aluminium plate and drill through the plates. You now have the bore or ID. With an appropriate length of studding, clamp the shim stock between two nuts that are slightly larger than the finished OD of the shim washer, mount in the lathe between centres and machine down the nut/shimstock 'sandwich' to the desired OD. Undo the nuts and you now have a new steel/brass shim. You can make a number of them in one go using this method. If you need a hardened shim, substitute with a carbide drill and carbide cutting tool.

Texas - I like the home made crimping tool - neat.

Want to protect plain steel, such as drill press tables, lathe ways, etc, from rust, but not coat with oil?

Use a paste wax such as Simonize. Works great on firearms as well.

Slick

texasSlick said:

Need to crimp something, but do not have a crimper or proper sized die?

Take two pieces of flat stock or square rod, clamp together, drill a hole in the seam slightly smaller than the part to be crimped, separate, place halves over part to be crimped, and squeeze with a vise.

Slick

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Great idea Slick...... First thing that popped into my mind is the cheap and cheerful flaring tool that can be used if sizing permits....

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/FLARING-TOOL ... 23353daec3

I guess this never made it, I mailed a Moto Guzzi fuel cap trim ring to the USA two days after and it arrived end of last week.

Time Warp said:

All good Robert.
Its up to Australia Post for the next leg.

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No workshop tips but looking at making a tool post grinder to resurface a flywheel that some genius attacked with a hammer.