Member postings for H D

I bet there is plenty skilled people around Swindon where I live.

I have been to Swindon maker place - really nice machine shop. With people who know their stuff.

The problem is spare time and state of my projects. To work there I would have to: find the free slot, load in what I need to do the job, drive whole 10minutes ....

To be fair - I do not like to use somebody's tools it is bit invasive.

I may take my little beauty for consultation there (I wonder what the doctor will say) but I rather keep my works at my place where I have access to all my tools and I know where all is placed.

Howard - I do agree - a lathe will be better than drill (never tried - previously if I needed something being cnced, machined, welded - I sneaked in a dwg, cnc program to the workshop... I do not have workshop in my new company ) I am project engineer and I have spend a lot of time with machine operators to squeeze every bit of functionality out of the machine.

Bazyle - I may do the reduction in not far future - I have loads of quite ok s/s shafts laying around, ply I have is not that great but I do have offcuts of oak worktop - hardwood should be ok. So far I have spent my pocket money for RandA itself, so I am not planning for more expenditure (apart maybe 4 independent jaw chuck). I have scavenged lots of nice materials that would be thrown away otherwise (dc01/cr4 steel, 304, some ali, acrylic, pet, pc all that mainly up to 5mm sheets). I could use some of nylon - I guess I will have to purchase that.

Edited By H D on 04/12/2021 11:09:10

cont.

2. Have a look into slides and try to cancel excessive movement without spending money (mainly assessment)

3. Make a tensioner - with pulley machined on the lathe - to cancel unnecessary vibrations from there

4. Do some work (axels, spacers for my wheeled robotic platform WaRP)

5. Return to slides with possible replacement components...

6. Refresh main screw/saddle (trying to avoid a visit to the orbit in search of the spring)

Taking into account other rolling projects... I am set for next 6 months...

Good one Bazyle - always wanted to be an astronaut,

Have been thro all the RandA posts - there are snippets of info. May be useful in time.

I am not going to put all apart at once as I need it to do some job for me first. The plan is:

0. Find some time from other works (house build project, heat recovery unit project, christmass special projects)...

1. I am going to make a good sturdy place for it (destination is brick wall mounted heavy counter top - should do as a base initially) and fix it down.

2. (need to run - will finish later )

Hi all and thank you for advice.

Some things I do know some I did not. In any case It is good to have a reminder. I am not complete engineering newbie.

Other matter is English it is not my first language so for example things like grease and lubricant even if I do know technical difference I may misuse the words... I would not misuse them on the machine

Regarding movement on the slide screws - I do not mean clearance - I mean MOVEMENT (in big letters because it is quite amount ) about 1mm

Lots of books proposed to be read... I am rather hands on person - somehow with touch I learn better. I will follow some of the the suggestions.

Model making - I am not model maker - I purchased the lathe to make couple of components for my robot/rover. I knew it will be steep learning - especially when buying lathe for rebuild. But rebuild/refresh will teach me a lot.

Yet after initial fun - I see that I will be using this for much more. And watching how material is shaped by the tool is mesmerising.

Photos as promised - it does not look that bad - but the devil is in the details.

BR

HD

Thank you for welcome Clive.

I do not keep high hopes for thread cutting facility to be fully restored. Quick search on ebay for parts resulted in 0 listings. As it was released under other brands maybe I will find some replacements among Winfield Grayson Zyto but it is cross checking exercise.

First good advice would be what chuck I can fit there. I need 4 independent jaw chuck for it as this one has only 3 "outer" (do not know the term) non-reversible jaws (inner set is missing). I will take some dims soon. This will be really helpful as at some stages of the machining I need to fit rectangular work piece not on the center line (don't want to play with shim pads or others stuff).

Cross slide and top slide have movement in screw axial direction - so I guess it will be the case of fitting new nut/thread (I did not have a look inside yet to see if there is correction in that direction - to exited to play with it and unfortunately discover more things that are to be fixed).

Saddle/lead screw is probably a good cleaning job and greasing.

Paint to be stripped.

Belt need a proper tensioner pulley (first job on the lathe?).

Motor would use a bit of service too.

I will post some photos soon.

Best regards

HD

Edited By H D on 02/12/2021 15:30:53

New to forum, new to manual lathe.

I do not know in depth terminology,

Did some cnc lathe programs 20 years ago...

Couple of days ago got my "new" RandA A

Actually (go figure) it is not new and is in quite bad shape.

But it cuts - tried on ali bilet - does the job - I guess it is nuke proof beauti.

It is enough for me - I am not searching for microns, but...

I would like to fixit a bit.

There are almost no gears to transfer power to lead screw.

Lead screw works ok with the saddle - no much unwanted movement - could be bit smoother movement.

There is huge movement on cross and top slide.

I cannot move the tail stock...

That is it for an introduction of Me the beast and the RandA beauty.

Appreciate any word on how to start with this lathe to bring it to proper state

as this piece of history (lathes.co.uk provides nice story but no technical advice) deserves