Member postings for Victor francis

Thank you. There is no external capacitor, so I am assuming it has an internal one?

Hello everyone;

I posted a few years ago asking for advice on a small watchmaker lathe I bought, my skill is hammering metal by hand but enjoy making small parts for vintage turntables and tonearms.

In essence, I know little about precision measuring and complex lathe work.

Moved to a small flat, a hovel, and the electrics are far from perfect. The lathe knocked the internet router off every time I switched on or off, so I plugged it in on a different circuit and all was well for a couple of hours.

The motor has suddenly started stuttering, it sounds as if it's about to start then slows down and starts again. This goes on cyclically but never spins properly.

It's a 220v 0.7 amps 1/15 HP motor, with a condenser.

I could really do with some advice and would be grateful for all suggestions.

Cheers,

Victor.

Edited By Victor francis on 27/09/2023 17:59:26

I am pretty certain that the top of the RDG cone measures 12mm, the dead centre exactly 1/2.  Seen as both cones are of the same lenght, 1/4, my dead centre's angle is bound to be greater.

Unfortunately, I cannot measure the angle until Monday, but they are most certainly different.

Kind regards,

Victor.

Edited By Victor francis on 02/11/2013 19:04:54

Hello Neil,

Thank for the info. I have been looking at the sheet and see what you mean.

Strange that there is so little information about such things online, just goes to show how rare some things are.

It might also be that the lathe was not made in the UK, I know nothing of its provenance apart from the fact that the last owner built live steam engines. Of course.he did not build the lathe. I wonder how old it actually is.

What attracted me to the lathe is how unique it looks, the downside is that the tooling seems as different to the norm as the lathe is.

On Monday,I willbe able to get the dead centre measured properly, this is bound to be of help.

Kind regards,

Victor.

Hello Michael,

Yes, I did think about making some sort of adaptor but seen as I intend using very small drill bits, I worried about loosing concentricity, The brass suggestion sounds good, I do have some stock here.

The best solution will probably be to get my uncle to make me an arrbor and see if it works out, if it does, it should be simple to make some collets. eventually, I will have to learn to make such bits myself

Kind regards,

Victor/

Thanks, Steve. You are probably both right, made by a machinist in his spare time. That would explain why he didn't spend too much time on details like removing the tooling marks from the carriage.

Kind regards,

Victor.

Hello Roy, are you referring to the diameter of the threaded part? I am not sure abot the thread but its diameter is1/4.

I will take the dead centre to be properly measured on Monday, hoping that this will be enough for my uncle to understand via email and make me a suitable arbor. Unfortunately, the caliper I have here leaves a lot to be desired.

Kind regards,

Victor.

Hello Neil, thank you for your kind offer, you have a PM.

Bazyle, yes, I have seen the programs you speak of. I intend familiarizing myself with them and eventually to be able to cut some threads! One of the strangest things about the lathe are the feet, they appear to be the only item on the machine which has been cast. They are made from an alloy.

At some point I intend getting the bed reground, there are a couple of dings and the carriage is a bit stiff towards the middle of the bed. At this moment I am stilll learning.

I initially thought that the chap who made the lathe had used a "off the shelf" headstock bearings and spindle and tailstock collet holder and merely built a machine around them. Now I suspect he may have in fact made everything from scratch, very impressive.

I am assuming he made a wider angle on the collets in order to improve precision. The four jaw chuck you see on the machine is an Adept but looks as if he might have modified the thread to fit the lathe's spindle.

My intention is to keep the lathe and get some tooling made for it. The carriage had a lot of tooling marks made by the milling bit. So, although the machine is nicely made, it looks as if it was very much made as a functional item rather than just a study piece. I have been slowly scraping the marks in order to bring out the metal's sheen.

Thanks again to everyone who has kindly offered advice. Next on the list is understanding how to cut a thread on a machine with no reverse.

Kind regards,

Victor.

Hello John,

I reside in London UK. Yes, the headstock spindle is hardened, the tailstock spindle appears to be softer.

Most of my tools consist of hammers,will have to get a thread gauge and a good quality caliper. I sometimes do work for a studio that employes a skilled engineer,will have to get him to check the thread and exact angle of the cone. I assume that the chap who initially made the lathe used a a ready made headstock spindle and bearings and tailstock collet holder. However, I am not sure, he may have made every single part himself.

By the way, there is no keyway in the dead centre.

You are right, there is no thread indicator and the only gears I have are those you see in the photograph. There are also no calibration marks on any of the parts,except on the crosslide where some engraved lines are present.

I have tried chucking the dead centre in and copying its angle , with a bit of practice I should be able to eventually get the taper right.

It's a nice little machine but most certainly built by someone experienced enough to not need calibration marks.

I have already stripped and cleaned everything, so I am fairly confident in taking it apart. When it came to me it was in a very neglected state.

Regards,

Victor.

Thanks,Michael, I shall have a look at the sheet. Meanwhile, if anyone has any further advice it will be greatly appreciated.

If most of the collets have a 40 degree agle, then I will definitely have issues getting something ready made .

My best option would be to get something made. My skills are still not good enough to make something myself but I do have family in Scotland who run an engineering plant, ex Rolls Royce engineers, so they should be able to sort something out.

Time to buy a good quality caliper and measure my dead centre properly.

Regards,

Victor.

Hello Michael.

The diameters of the dead centre's shank  and the RDG arbor are both exactly 8mm. The angle of the cone is  greater as it is the same length as the RDG's but wider on top. This is why it will not sit tightly in my headstock collet holder.

Kind regards,

Victor.

Edited By Victor francis on 01/11/2013 20:21:58

Thank you, Michael.

Yes, I also think that it's worth the effort. Just need a suitable arbor for the tailstock and it will do for the wee jobs I have in mind.

Buying collets from the bay and making a new drawbar is probably the only solution. Thing is that the headstock spindle also accepts the same collets as the tailstock, so I really wanted to try finding out exactly what type of collets I need before modifyng the tailstock.

The top of the RDG collet measures 12mm, my dead centre 4/8. The RDG arbor feels as it may have too much play, even if I made a drawbar for it. Bummer, I waited three months for the arbor and chuck to become available on ebayuk.

I know nothing about the lathe's history, it was bought in the UK but this does not guarantee it was made here.

Regards,

Victor.

Hello Les,

Thank you fro the links, I shall have a look at them.

I have managed to upload some photos, it was very easy and user friendly. Very impressed.

Hello,

Thank you to all for the suggestions, and for you welcome. My apologies for the newby questions, I am an artist and have worked with metal all my life but I beat it into shape, rather than use machines.

I have taken some photos of the lathe, but it seems to be a homemade job so this is the main problem!

Nevertheless, it is a beautiful little machine, I honestly feel it is worth the effort, even just out of respect for the chap who put so much work into making it. It was in an awful state when it came to me having being neglected by its new owner for many years.

The headstock spindle is threaded but can also take collets, bearings are phosphor bronze conicals, The machine itself is made from fabricated steel..

The reason for buying something so small is lack of space, The bed measures 12.5".

The width of the top of the collet is also different than what RDG sales a standard, Mine is wider and appears to be different .

Yes, I am pretty sure the theaded part on my dead centre is 4/16, the RDG is M7, just spoke to someone from RDG who tells me they only stock that thread for 8mm lathes.

I did think that making a new drawbar would be the solution,problem is that the RDG arbor's top is slimmer than mine so it has a fair bit of play.

By the way, I was told that the lathe is able to screw cut, but it has no reverse so again I am a bit lost.

Could someone advse me on how to post photos here? Thanks again for all your advice, it is much appreciated.

Kind regards,

Victor.

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post so aplogies if it's in the wrong section.

I have recently bought a tiny lathe which looks to be homemade, but fairly well.

The lathe came with a dead centre but no drilling attachment in the tailstock, it takes 8mm collets. so, I bought an 8mm arbor with JTO taper and a small chuck, but the arbor will not screw in my drawbar,

The arbor has a M7 thread, my dead centre thread is 4/16, even the top taper appears to be wider. I did ask the seller whether it would fit my lathe, but there you go.

I would really appreciate the help, finding out what arbor I actually need has been near impossibe as none of the collets decribed online seems to have a 4/16 thread,

By the way, the lathe looks to be made in the 1950s in the UK, with backgears and screwcutting ability.

Thank you in advance.

Regards,

Victor,