Member postings for Richard Kirkman 1

That seal I linked to has almost exactly the same number as the old seal, just one more zero. Maybe I misread it.

I've remade the gasket and it fits perfectly. Undersized holes in the gasket to make it stick to the bolts and be easier to install

Then I was playing in the headstock just moving the gear selector back and forth. I noticed it wouldn't move all the way. Turns out one of the bolts had come very loose! Very bad news. I must have not done them up tight enough when I put them back in. I've tightened them all very tight now, but its worried me quite a bit.

My dad and I bought an old non working ransomes mower(Ransomes 24" Mk8A) to restore together, £60 and local so it was a steal. It's from the 1930s but I don't know anything really about lawnmowers. My Dad wants to get it working, but I'd like to completely dissect it and make sure it's working perfectly so I can learn too. I might have to start a new thread for that.

Also, the paint on the traveling steady was just not going hard at all, even after putting it in the oven a little overnight with the heat leftover from cooking, It could still be taken off with a fingernail. So I've stripped it and reprimed it. This time I put a very very thin coat on, and it seems to have dried. It needs another coat of primer as i sanded it back, but then it will be ready to paint. I found a cheap paint sprayer, so I'm going to try to use that to paint the steady as a test and then hopefully the lawnmower too. I'm also going to get dove grey paint to match the lathe as I've changed my mind about painting it all red.

Edited By Richard Kirkman 1 on 17/05/2020 18:25:57

Thanks Herman, very useful, I'll go for a seal like that.

I got the numbers from the old seal, 16210037. I'll just find a new one with the measurements I took

Anyway. I started by trying to use a socket to push it out from the inside. This didn't work well as it just pushed out the leather and messed it up. Not a good start.

Immediately that stumped me as I couldn't get any grip on it any way or tap it out from the inside as it wasnt working. Too tight in there. So I resorted to using my rotary tool to cut away one section of the seal to release the pressure and allow it to come out

This worked quite well but I went a little too deep and took a lttle out of the bore, but that shouldn't make a difference really.

Then I measured

So we have

OD=1625 1 5/8ths

ID=1000 1 inch

T=a bit more than 350, probably 3/8ths

So, I'll find a standard size closest to that 1 5/8x1 5/8x3/8

Like This

Question is, do I want double lip or single lip? And whats the difference

Will a replacement be something like this

LINK

We have success!

Heated with a heat gun till it was almost too hot to comfortably hold, then just gave it a little pull and it went pop! Very easy. Unfortunately, as I pulled a little further, the inevitable happened, oil gushed out of the hole. So I quickly plugged it back in and drained the headstock. Not something I wanted to do for this, but necessary.

The smell is back, so that must be the smell of the gasket cement. Definitely recognizable for the future.

I even found the original gasket in there too. It was stuck on very well so I had to use a box cutter blade to slowly get it off, but now I have a template for the next one.

So, onto the main problem. The leaking seal. It has a set of numbers on it, but I can't seem to get it out easily.

The seal looks pretty shot. Looks like a leather one like the other one I replaced, but thicker.

I'll get the numbers from the seal

A few more pictures to Illustrate.

There seems to be some red stuff which I presume is the gasket material. I think the bolts had some red on them too

Red stuff doesn't scratch away easily. Someone could have added glue to stop it leaking at some point?

Shame, I was going to treat myself to a nice pair of stilettos

Last time I cleaned in there when there was only a bit of oil, they worked really well, so I don't think they need replacing.

Speed change shaft is looking very nice Herman. I'm glad I didn't have that much trouble with mine!

I had a nap to think on it then headed back out to try again. I managed to get it off, I pried it off at the bottom then undid the screw, while putting a block of wood on to keep it from snapping closed again, so it'll go back on more easily.

I'll see if I can get the spare brake shoes from Tracy. It's about time I messaged her again, it's been a month, but I was waiting on the bulb to arrive first so I could finish that chapter.

As for the flange/bearing thing, It doesn't seem to want to budge. So I put some penetrating oil on it and I've left it. The 3 screws that came out smelt quite funny, not like a normal grease but sort of sweet maybe? I don't know but it didn't smell normal.

I don't particularly want to order a new seal from the spares place as they'll probably charge a small fortune for something that I could possibly make myself? Or perhaps source from elsewhere cheaper?

All university work is done now, so I'm free to play for the next 19 weeks

Phil, it is not the same as Hermans, I have material on mine.

The leak is trickling down the lathe and pooling over time in the tray. You can just see a slight bit in here since I cleaned it the other day.

Leak is definitely coming from the inside of the brake

Covered in oil inside. Doesn't make for an effective brake, and makes my lathe messy!

This is where I get stuck. I need to remove the sprung bit, but I cannot seem to get it off. I tried taking out the bolt, but it doesn't feel quite right. There's a circlip on the shaft below that turns to push the brake out, but I don't see that helping disassembly yet. Any Ideas?

I've been working on making a tailstock die holder the past day or so. I've run out of material so I've ordered some steel from my local steel place. So I have a few days to stop this leaking

I also got myself a knurling tool, which arrived today, I tried it out and I'm very impressed, you get so much more grip on knurled parts. I think I'll have to knurl everything now

You can just see a drip below the spindle. It's not anything to worry about, I know, but if possible I'd like to sort it. Especially if there is a place for a gasket/seal

Edited By Richard Kirkman 1 on 16/05/2020 15:42:42

Solution played out perfectly, except from the oil that leaked out of the end. It was much easier to dismantle than to reassemble, but still not too difficult. It would have been much easier if I had drained the change gear box first!

Still, thanks a lot Herman, very helpful. The more info that's around, the more that it can help others too.

I took it off, cleaned a little, then put it back together.. I didn't want to lose too much oil. But it did make me want to paint it.

Still no LED bulb, 4 weeks since it was posted. I emailed and they've sent another one out last Monday, but now that's already late too! Looks like i'm going to be waiting a while.

I need to replace the gasket at the back of the lathe where the brake is, since that's getting oil in and becoming ineffective.

I also need to look at the other seals again, since i'm getting a bit of a leak out of the end of the main spindle. When I took this to pieces, it seemed like there were rings for a gasket of some sort and a space in the end cover for one too. Any thoughts on that?

Yes I have seen. Very interesting stuff, I wasn't expecting your spindle to be anything like that. Enjoying your thread a lot!

The gear was quite hard to get off. There's a locknut on the end of the shaft which must be removed, then there's a washer then the gear comes off. However, my gear was quite stuck. Eventually, after a lot of pulling and pushing and cutting my knuckles on the gears behind it, I managed to work it off. I didn't take out the other gear shaft, but If you have then it should be much easier access as I struggled and ended up pulling and pushing on the actual handle which risked damaging it. Luckily nothing broke for me, but it's worth mentioning.

Then, if memory serves, there is a leather washer behind the gear which acts as a gasket. My lathe was leaking from that shaft so I made a new leather washer which I made very tight to make sure it didn't leak anymore (1 month later, it's still not leaking) Then just reassemble in the opposite order.

Good luck

I'm not sure that yours will be the same as mine. I'll have a look at the pictures of yours

Okay fair enough.

Having the l0 taper screw on and off defeats the point of the taper though. So I don't think it screws off.

Could you try removing the whole spindle?

If by chuck cone you mean the L0 taper part, that's part of the main spindle, so the whole spindle must be removed which I have covered earlier in this thread. There is also a guide in the manual I sent.

Thank you, I'll be reading along, maybe even see if I can help at some point

In the picture of my limit switch you've posted, my wiring is wrong so if you do get one, don't do it like that. Do it like Phils!

I used 1mm thick nitrile rubber

It was plenty thick enough

A sheet of 500x500 should be more than enough to replace every gasket in the lathe

Good Luck Herman, I'm sure Phil will get you sorted if you get stuck.

Looking closely at the pictures of your lathe, it's definitely not identical to mine. The castings on the gearbox look different, letters aren't the same shape, and the two speed levers on the top of the headstock are running on a surface instead of being free like mine. It could be an earlier model, but I'm no expert.

I'm not quite sure why you're doing it with 3 contactors when one seems to work fine like in mine?

Anyway, If you do start a thread, please post a link here so anyone interested can see!

Couldn't really get enough access for a video

My wiring is exactly as Phil directed, so that diagram explains it all

The red blue and yellow come from the contactor and overloads in their specified place, then all 3 wires head out the back and up to where the cover switch is. At this point, the yellow goes into and comes out of the cover safety switch

The yellow then goes out of the switch and down the tube going through the lathe body

Then it heads through into the coolant tank

Orientation might be messed up, but i'm sure you can figure it out

In the coolant tank

Then out into where the drawer is

So the wire coming from the cover switch comes into the key switch, then heads straight back up along the tube, then up and into the limit switch.

I hope that helps a bit, happy to answer any questions or get pictures for anything. Just ask. I'm very interested to see how you will wire yours up.

Also, while i was taking pictures of wiring I did a bit of cleaning, brightened up quite well

Hi Herman, Just read through your thread. I'll try to get you as many pictures as I can, maybe a video if you're able to view it like my other videos.

Is it just the wiring of the limit switches that you need?

Nice to be helping someone else out for once...

On another note, it's 3 weeks since the light bulb was posted so I've emailed asking them to send another one out.

Meanwhile, I've been enjoying putting the lathe to use. I'm definitely getting more comfortable using the machine and I'm trying to consider my accuracy.

I had two hammer ends lying around, so I thought I would put them to use and make myself a small mallet from some scrap aluminium I had. I think It turned out quite nicely, even with a wood turned Bubinga handle. Not a typical mallet but interesting for me to try some setups.

When I was tidying up the machine after, I decided to stick my hand in one of the holes under the headstock. Turned out it was absolutely full of old swarf and grime. It's made me really want to take the headstock off and clean in there, but it seems a bit excessive. Anyway, it's interesting to see all the old chips, completely steel, no aluminium, and some of the swarf must have been at least 10mm depth of cut on the radius. So more clues that the machine has been used plenty. Surprisingly I didn't find any bolts in the hole, but I did pull out loads of shavings, I can't quite reach the bottom, but the machine is probably 1kg lighter

I'll get those videos this afternoon Herman

With regards to your last post on the Colchester forum, My wires are not free, they go through a pipe that goes all the way through the base of the lathe.

Edited By Richard Kirkman 1 on 08/05/2020 11:58:44

Emailed the lighting company and they said they've had delays of 2 weeks and more, so might not be here to test till next week. This Friday at the earliest.

If anyone's posting anything, don't use royal mail.

Just finished all the woodworking for the while, more lathe work to follow.

Still no lightbulb. Royal Mail signed for 1-3 days more like 1-whenever it comes. Hopefully next week. It'll be nice to have better light on the lathe. I need to finish a bottle opener for someone, then I'll clean up the light

Didn't get much done yesterday, but still progress

I took the door and cupboard off to clean inside, then I cut some bits of lino to go in the drawer and shelves to make them a bit nicer to use. It works very well. I had some left over from putting it in my tool chest.

Then I played around smacking the door and drawer with mallet to try and get them to close properly (there was more finess than that, but it was just playing)

Also, looking at the light, which needs a good clean, it might need some parts replacing or modifying. It seems that one of the arms has snapped. It still works fine and stays in place, but I think I may play with it as I clean it

Anyway, I chainsawed up logs yesterday afternoon, so I need to rough out 16 bowls for drying or they'll crack. That'll keep me busy for a few days