Member postings for old mart

Ketan of ARC is well aware that old fashioned customer service pays dividends, so few firms understand this.

I was a member of the Smart & Brown group for some time, it was invaluble for technical information and had many photographs of all S&B lathes.Such a shame it has come to an end.

The trouble with getting large er collet holders for a small mill is the cost of cutters over 16mm in diameter. The big ones are generally longer and take up valuble Z axis room. That is why I opted for er25 with a maximum of 16mm years ago and have never regretted it since. If a mounting plate for using the er collets on a lathe is also on the wish list, then the bigger the better, as then the collets will be also used for workholding. I hold 18 and 20mm cutters in R8 direct collets, and have 25mm indexible cutters with turned down shanks to fit in them also. Above that are 40, 50, 63 and 80mm shell mills. With your small machine, 40mm would be the largest the power could run.

Model A lathes are not cheap unless they are close to scrap, and you have to factor in the weight, 3/4 of a ton. 1024 models are even more expensive and heavier. The cost of a VFD of 1-2 kw to run one from single phase domestic power supplies is added expense.

I would be wary of just removing the studs on a light vertical, the motor makes it top heavy and it could rotate unexpectedly with bad results. I would put a bar in the spindle and raise the knee until blocks could be secured to the bed each side of the bar to restrict any rotation.

The clamps on the LV at the museum only require tightening about 12 ftlbs to fully secure the top end.

There should be a gap of about 1/16" in the clamps where the bolts go through, it should be obvious if the casting is fractured at either, or both clamping points. Also, the two SHCS which secure the head to the bar should be checked for tightness, if loose the head can move about slightly.

Edited By old mart on 26/10/2020 14:24:16

Welcome to the forum, Paul, there is information on the model L on the "lathes UK " website. A lot of good work can be carried out on one of these lathes despite its basic specification. As it doesn't have a saddle, and relies on the compound, you will need a lever type indicator on a magnetic base to check the alignment before turning anything parallel. The degree scale is not sensitive enough.

Unfortunately, unless you know quite a lot about lathes, this model is rather too basic for a beginner to cope with.

Edited By old mart on 26/10/2020 14:00:57

Edited By old mart on 26/10/2020 14:05:58

I bought a 24" square cast iron table a year ago for a bargain price, but after getting it in the back of my Corsa D, I hurt my left shoulder and it still isn't right. The plate just fitted in the car without dropping the rear seats and very fortunately, there were four 3/8 unf holes through the top. I screwed in lifting lugs and got it out with the engine hoist at the museum. It is very useful. For home use, I would recommend the biggest second hand plate that can be managed and afforded. With a cover on most of the time, it is a worktop not a liability.

Buying the machine is just the start of a money pit with these hobbies.

I sold my Mitotuyo digitals, 0-1, 1-2 and 2-3 because I didn't use them enough, they went for bargain prices. I can manage a manual metric or imperial mic perfectly well enough on the rare occasions I need one now. Most of the measuring I do now is with a digital caliper, and the Mitotoyo one gets used when the accuracy is important.

I have had some of my posts deleted even when they were totally innocuous, when listing some of the totally stupid mistakes made by advertisers on the ebay site by certain overzealous moderators on this forum.

The actual length of the stylus on lever indicators is only of importance if they are being used to measure something. Even then, experimentation with known thickness materials can allow calculation of the error. Use to set concentricity on a rotating workpiece such as truing up in a four jaw independent lathe chuck would not matter at all.

Sorry, I didn't have much to do with them actually. In the fitting shop we had some surplace new ones given us which had been cut in half and they made excellent parallels. I think they were German make. There are lots available on the unmentionable website which might be identical in dimensions to yours.

Straight edges do come up for sale regularly on the unmentionable site.

Thats a good choice, it has the slight jaw lift problem which can be minimised by making sure the moving jaw has the lowest ammount of play without actually locking up. The plates which hold the moving jaw on to the body can be removed and the clearance can be reduced for a tighter fit. You can test the actual ammount of jaw lift by clamping a thick parallel in the jaws while it sits on a pair of parallels resting against each jaw. One will be loose after tightening the vise. A set of parallels should be on the essential to buy list if you don't have them already.

Sorry, I am not sure what you mean by "main support bar", is it the part that supports the vertical head?

Which model of TS is it?

Edited By old mart on 25/10/2020 15:57:10

You have made a good choice for your mill. Which one are you getting?

Those guideways look exactly like the ones used at work for machines. You may be able to get new ones and save a lot of bother.

Do these things actually sell at the prices asked?

John was well respected, not only in Blighty, but on the other side of the pond as well.

There was a time when a billion was a million million, but now it is a thousand million.