Member postings for Ian Rees 1

Edited By Ian Rees 1 on 31/12/2015 12:38:07

I was wondering if I could adjust the eccentric bit on the lever to make the pins and gear engage a bit better but it's looking more and more like this machine needs some proper attention, rather than a lot of quick fixes.

Thanks for the replies, Bazyle, you're spot on, again.

Some pictures (hopefully). Sliding gear engaged, disengaged and the control knob.

Edited By Ian Rees 1 on 30/12/2015 17:56:46

No, it's the other way around on this one, if you leave it engaged and engage the backgear at the same time, it locks the spindle (although I've been warned not to use this for tightening chucks etc).

To anyone familiar with a Mk1 Boxford, this would be easily understandable (I hope), even with my dreadful explanation.

I've asked the question in the Yahoo group as well. The more I use this machine, the more I think it needs a thorough strip and clean. I'd do the same with any stationary engine I bought but I'm not so sure about putting a lathe back together.

After the great advice I got on here earlier regarding feeds on my Boxford, I decided to give it a try. Everything was going well, I was just taking tiny cuts and using plenty of fluid. I increased the size of cut, marginally (we really are talking small cuts here, less than 0.5mm off the diameter, as I'm trying to get a feel for the machine). Then she started to labour a bit and all of a sudden made a horrible crunching noise so I stopped everything.

Apart from a minor stiff spot in the gear train, I could detect no real problems there so I tried starting up again with the leadscrew disengaged but the same noise happened. I've traced the problem to inside the headstock casing, there's a sliding gear to put the main drive in neutral before you engage the backgear, this locates the belt pulley with two pins that fit into holes on the face of the gear. I've looked at this part before and thought the pins didn't go into the holes very far but just assumed that was the design. Now it seems my fears may have been right.

Sorry for my lack of the proper terminology for these parts but what can I do to get my lathe turning again?

Do I need new drive pins? Or does something need adjusting?

Thanks Richard, it seems I'm missing a 46, although I'm not sure how important that will be, I'm not expecting to do much screw cutting. Some of the gears do look a bit different to others and some even have S&B cast into them, I'm guessing they may be from a Smart and Brown, who also did a version of this lathe. During my late night googling sessions I have found lists of gears that were included with these lathes, and I seem to remember some sizes were repeated but, as with all my internet searching, I can't find the same information again.

One more question, should the gears have a washer between them and the nut? There's various washers in the rusty old Oxo tin that the gears came in and one washer that came off the leadscrew that has been (rather badly) filed out so it fits over the key. There was also a stepped washer on the stud and I'm assuming the stud gear that meshes with the tumblers, as well as the tumblers, are left as they are and not to be fiddled with?

A point to remember, this total gear count includes all the removable gears from the lathe as well as the spares.

Thanks for the replies, especially the link about levelling.

The test piece I did was just held in the chuck, if I look carefully at my (very basic) spirit levels, I seem to be detecting a very slight twist in the bed. The Boxford and South Bend manuals both suggest levelling the cabinet rather than the lathe bed feet. I think I'll make sure all 4 bolts are torqued to the same level and then use some plastic wedges to see how good I can get it. This may remove my fears about bed wear as well (something I forgot to mention in the original post).

The lathe had to come apart into two big chunks (cabinet and lathe) for transport. After trying to get the cabinet as level as possible, everything had to be moved when, during the initial motor testing, there was a big bang and we tripped one of the RCDs on the consumer unit. We eventually re-wired the parts that needed it and changed the motor start capacitor and it all works fine now. I also made sure the mating faces of the bench and lathe were cleaned before everything went together but I may have bolted one end down tighter than the other.

This has all been very exciting for me so I've probably done everything in the wrong order and I'll need to go through it all and check everything properly.

I've got myself a Boxford CUD, serial number suggests that it dates from around 1959. I'm not sure if it's had a hard life or if it just hasn't been looked after terribly well. The more I look at it, the more I want to totally strip it down and do a full restoration! Anyway, that's another topic. I've got a lot of questions to ask so I'll start with the ones in the title.

After much searching, and exercising parts of my brain that haven't seen action in a long time, I believe I've answered my first question myself. I wanted to know about finishing feed speeds using the leadscrew on the CUD. The plate on the machine says the finest thread setting is 160tpi. The spec sheet I found on the internet says the CUD is available with 10 feeds (as well as all the screw pitches) from .0063" - .0156". I've assumed that the measurements are distance per spindle revolution and my limited maths says that 160tpi is very close to .0063" per rev. Am I right?

Can the feeds be slowed down any more than this or is this ok for a finishing feed?

Next up, the change gears. This lathe was in a bit of a state when I got it, luckily what looked like a little rust on the bed turned out to be dried on grease and oil so that cleaned up ok. Unfortunately the tooling that came with it was in need of thorough stripping, rust removal and oiling. I cleaned up all the change gears yesterday and logged down all the different ones I got with the machine. I was wondering if anyone can tell me if this is a full set or not. Here goes..

First all the ones with the smaller, keyed bore.

16t (x2), 24t (x2), 32t (x2), 36t (x2), 40t, 44t, 48t (x2), 52t, 54t (x2), 56t (x2), 60t, 80t

The ones with the larger, non keyed bore are.

80t, 54/18t and 72/18t.

Finally, the levelling issue. I tried a little simple turning on a 1" piece of bright mild bar, it's not a proper test I know but I was taking small cuts along the length and then decided to measure it. The end nearest the chuck is coming out smaller by 0.11mm over a distance of around 4". This doesn't sound acceptable to me. My spirit levels are too basic for this sort of job and I'm struggling with what to use as wedges, I don't like the idea of wood as the humidity can be a bit changeable in the workshop.

It's sitting on concrete but the workmanship involved in the floor leaves a lot to be desired. If anyone has any hints or tips on levelling a lathe, I would love to hear them

I'd better stop rambling there, thanks for reading

Thanks Steve, yep I joined the yahoo group even if I'm not quite sure how to use it. I did manage to find some good files there though. I'm the other end of Sussex from you, nearer Hastings. I seem to end up around those parts quite often when my brother and I are picking up engines, although we've both been warned not to buy any more until we've moved a few projects on, sometimes a deal comes up that's just too good to miss

Thanks for the link Bob, I've been reading through that one for a while now and even ordered myself a copy of "How to Run a Lathe" by the South Bend latheworks. I think I'll start a new thread for my Boxford questions, don't want to upset any moderators

Hi, my name is Ian. I am in the process of installing an old Boxford CUD lathe in my workshop.

I'm not strictly a model engineer, my brother and I restore I/C stationary engines and show them locally rallies. We are both in the process of setting up workshops to hopefully earn a little money on top of our hobby.

I studied engineering after I left school and worked for a short time in engineering after that but drifted away from it. Now after a break of nearly 20 years, nearly 15 years of that running a gardening business, I've decided to get back into it.

I've been searching the net trying to find out more about my Boxford and seem to keep ending up here so I thought I'd join up.

Thanks for reading.