Member postings for Bob Sillitoe

I have been doing a bit more digging. Here is an advert for a similar collet holder. This one does have a tapered arbor, morse or otherwise. It also needs special end mills with a latch on the end. I guess it was a rival to the Clarkson Autocollet.

and here is a picture of the factory where they were made,, sadly some years after it closed

I have concluded that the holder is no use to me. I don't have a machine that it would fit and I don't have any of the special endmills, so it doesn't have much going for it! If it was of any use to anyone please send me a message and we can see if we can sort something out.

Bob

Well spotted it is Clare. My mothers maiden name was Clarke so I just read it as that!

I have recently found this chuck. The box is labelled Clarke Precision Chuck. It comes with 3 collets which screw into the nut and the arbor is 0.75in diameter. It might be useful but I don't know what for! I wonder if it would be used on a lathe or milling machine and I am a bit surprised that it doesn't have a taper of some sort on the arbor. Anyone seen one before?

Thanks

Bob

When I got my Southbend lathe a few years ago I simply replaced the 3ph motor with a single phase one, which works fine. However I have recently refurbished a milling machine, with this I have put on a 3phase motor with variable Frequency Drive - it works great and if I was doing the lathe now I would do the same as the variable speed would be useful at times.

Regards

Bob

Thanks for all the advice. Sounds like non-ferrous tips should be the next tct experiment for me.

Hi All,

Thanks all that seems quite logical.

So the follow up question, and I don't know why anyone would want to do it, but if a TCT tool was ground so that it didn't cut so well, would it generate more heat and then give a good finish at lower speeds and feed rates?

Bob

More out curiosity than need I have recently purchased a Tungsten Carbide Tipped lathe tool. Consistent with what I have read, it needs much higher speeds and deeper cuts to make it work well. Does anyone know why it needs different conditions to a HSS tool?

Thanks

Bob

Hi All,

Finally my Alexander Master Toolmaker rotates! I still have to refurbish the vertical and slotting heads but at least it runs. It has had a very thorough clean and it has a new 1.5kw motor and VFD. The VFD is brilliant, I wish I had one on my lathe now. I still have the original 1.5hp 2 speed motor, if anyone wants it let me know.

Here are a few pictures

Thanks to everyone for your advice.

Bob

Hi Phil,

I got the machine for free some 30 years ago from the company my father worked for and which was closing down. At the time I didn't really need it but it was too good to miss. It came with the standard vertical head, slotting attachment, two speed motor and it had the roller bearing upgrade for the spindles. We connected to a static three phase convertor but it never really worked very well and the machine soon fell into disuse, it wasn't really touched for 25 years.

I have the receipts for when the machine was first purchased in the late 60's. At the time the total cost was £1900 which Google tells me is over £30,000 in todays money.

But now I am restoring it, new motor with VFD, freed up the X and Z travel and generally degreased it. There is really nothing wrong with the horizontal head, I was just wanting to take it off to see what was inside. So now on the basis of if it isn't broke don't fix it I am just going to put it back together. I can then get on with sorting out the VFD, never had one of those before.

What am I going to make on it is the question my wife keeps asking. At present I haven't a clue apart from possibly making a new toolpost for my Southbend lathe.

Thanks for everyone's interest.

Bob

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the youtube link, very useful for all sorts of things. On my Alexander even if I removed the horizontal shaft I still wouldn't be able to slide the head forward because there are two pins at the back of the head which are used to locate the support bracket and they would foul the machine as the head is moved forward. The pins are a press fit so probably not easily removeable. It might be possible to slide it off backwards though. However I really don't want to remove the shaft to find out.

Here is another link I have found which includes an extract from a Deckel manual which shows how to tilt the head before sliding it forward. no shaft removal required. This is what I have been trying to do but with no success. Is my Alexander different - I have no idea!

https://hyllest.wordpress.com/2012/11/04/pulling-apart-a-deckel-fp1/

Thanks

Bob

I have removed the support bracket. If I slide the head forward (or backwards) something somewhere hits something, so it will not slide off. I have seen pictures of heads removed from Deckel machines that still have the spindle in situ, so on Deckel's at least it doesn't need to be removed. The Deckel instructions are to remove the gib strip, to then lift the head on the gib strip side and then to lift the whole head off. I just cannot make this work on my Alexander, I can lift the head on the gib side but I still cannot lift it off. It could be of course that I am not strong enough!!

Hi All,

I have the Southbend version of the lathe, with the correct backplate. If I buy a new Boxford chuck and back plate can I discard the new backplate and fit the replacement chuck to my Southbend backplate?

Thanks

Bob

Hi All,

The refurbishment of my Alexander Toolmaster is progressing quite well. It now moves freely in the X and Z directions and I have fitted a new 3ph motor. Not been able to test it yet as currently do not have the power sorted out.

I now need to sort out the Y direction travel but I cannot work out how to remove the horizontal spindle carrier. Please can anyone advise. I have attached a couple of photos.

Thanks

Bob

I think I now know why my machine does not have a sight glass. The machine has the needle roller bearing option and apparently these are packed with grease and so are not lubricated by the gearbox oil.

Bob

Hi All,

I am wondering if anyone can give me a bit more information about the bearing of the horizontal cutter spindle is lubricated. The description I have is taken from Alexander Operating Instructions.

If I am reading them correctly, first you will the gear box with oil followed by the pockets around the spindle. It then seems that you never need to fill the pockets again, presumably they are topped up from the gear box. How does this work, is there some sort of pump system?

Also the manual states that the oil level in the pockets can be checked through a window on the front face of the head. You will see below that on my machine there is no such window! All other pictures I have seen of both the Alexander and the FP1 have this window. My machine was made in 1968 and the manual I have is the one that came with it. My machine was made in 1968, perhaps there was a design change around then. So how do I check the oil level in my machine?

Thanks

Bob

Phil

That is a good suggestion. Is the blue strut in the corner of your photo part of your lifting frame?

Bob

Hi All,

I only joined this forum a couple of days ago and I am really pleased about the interest and advice I have received already. I think I have concluded that I shall go down the new motor/VFD route as it will give me the most flexibility.

Now that you have given me confidence that I will be able to successfully re-power the machine. I am going to very slowly strip it down and clean it up. If I end up with a machine looking like Phil's above I will be very pleased.

Firstly though I need to buy lots of cake so that I can bribe some friends to help me move the machine into the middle of my garage/workshop. I am sure that my wife will not mind squeezing past it to get to the freezer!

Bob

Until I saw the post from Phil, I hadn't really thought that fitting a single speed motor was a viable option, although I only have the geared vertical head.

I wonder if it would be possible to fit a a pair of stepped pulleys so I could change the speed by moving the belt.

Hi Ian & Chris,

Thanks for your thoughts. From what I have read it is very hard and probably beyond my skills to convert the existing motor to 240v.

Chris - can you remember what power of replacement motor you used? I was wondering if I should go for a bit more than 2hp.

Bob

I am in the very early stages of thinking about refurbishing an Alexander Milling machine which has been virtually unused for about 30 years. I don't think there is very much wrong with it apart from needing a good strip down and clean. Before I do though I want to be sure that I will be able to run it. I only have a single phase supply but the machine has its original 2hp two speed three phase motor which is physically enormous.

I think I have three options

1) Get a rotary 3 phase convertor. These are very expensive and would it be sensible to get one when I am not even certain the original motor is OK.

2) Replace the motor with a new 3 phase motor and a VFD. This would be much cheaper but installing the new motor would require a bit of work.

3) Replace the motor with a single phase motor. This is the cheapest option but I would lose the 2 speed facility and I would still have to do work to fit it.

I would love to hear people views.

Bob