Member postings for Lathejack

Ah the poor thing, it certainly needs a bit of love. The chap I bought my Starfire off a few months ago also had a tidy and running 1959 C15, which he offered me at a fair price. I was very tempted, but decided to spend my spare cash on lots of spares and maybe another Starfire or a 441.

I do like C15's but despite the connection and what some people say, the Starfire is quite a different beast. Mine, although not fully sorted, is still enough of a delight to ride that I don't yearn for a bigger machine of the type I used to ride long ago.

I suppose as well as Ebay, you will soon be running around Autojumbles with a bulky rucksack on your back. Constantly apologising as you barge into other people and knock things over as you spin around looking for that spare part, as I have been every month at Newark

I see yours was first registered on the 9 May 1959. So as well as free road tax is it also exempt from requiring an MOT?

Edited By Lathejack on 31/10/2015 02:59:09

Edited By Lathejack on 31/10/2015 03:07:14

John.

Yes, the engine is from a B25ss Goldstar. These engines have some improvements over those built up to 1970. The main ones are an extra clutch plate to reduce slippage, a cast iron oil pump that replaces the zinc alloy type and a beefed up conrod. I dont normally buy complete assembled engines, so I broke a personal rule buying this. I will post some pics of what I found.

Just a few days ago I did learn about the need to line up the V mark on the cam gear, Instead of the dash. The oil in frame 250 and 500 BSA singles seem to be two of the most elusive and mysterious bikes in the UK, certainly to me. In all my years I have never come across any of them in use on the road. I think a large number were built for export. So it is very interesting to here from someone who actually owned one.

It's also interesting to here how it compared to the Honda XL250 of the same period that Phil above has. But there is no doubt that the Honda engine is far superior. They have no real trouble from big ends, conrods, oil pumps or clutches , they tend not to break and don't wear out too quickly. The poor BSA 250 on the other hand can suffer a little more with those problems, but I still love em and wouldn't swap mine, I think!

Edited By Lathejack on 31/10/2015 02:32:37

I mustn't let er indoors see this pic, but a few months ago when I bought this 1969 BSA after almost 25 years since I packed them in I couldn't resist bringing it indoors for an hour or two.

As I went about my business I would just stop and gaze at it, a little in shock and amazement at my sudden return to bikes after all those years. Despite the old bit of carpet underneath, it did not leak a drop of oil...............A couple of weeks ago I also bought this complete spare BSA 250 engine, from you know where. I am just starting to dismantle it to reveal all the horrors that lurk inside. This is one of BSA's last four stroke single engines from 1972.

Phil P.

Your Honda XL250 is a gem. The Japanese made some great looking trail bikes throughout the 1970's, far better than the later exaggerated, almost abstract styling that began to appear in the late 80's.

I also made a couple of brass boiler bands to brighten things up a bit.

The kit comes supplied with these quite good T Pettigrove facia boards...............But I decided to personalise it a bit, so I made some new facia boards shown below. The engine is also supplied with eight lighting diodes that should be attached to the back of the facias, fitting them and wiring them to the Dynamo is just about the final job.

Nearly finished now. The twisted brass canopy supports are in place, and they don't seem look too bad..................I also made and fitted a couple of leaf springs on the front axle, I almost wish I had stacked three of them in there, but they seem to look ok. The springs are cut and shaped from the steel banding used for packaging.

Thanks Neil, I could see what you meant and I do agree. Light metal pressings have been a favoured method of manufacture by German toy and model manufacturers for years, I just didn't realise they still did it to such an extent.

Looking around the web reveals lots of other upgraded Wilesco engines, some of which go much further than I have.

The canopy supports are supplied as shaped lengths of 4mm brass rod with a coil spring slid over to simulate a twist. The two U shaped frames with springs shown below form the rear and middle supports, the Y shaped frame is for the front support. The twisted brass sections are what I formed from some 4mm square brass bar...................I thought the brass bar might just break as I twisted it, but it was quite flexible enough to take several full turns without problems.................The rear and middle brass twist supports were formed and soldered to the chopped up Wilesco supplied brass rod..................A new front support was also made, a little more realistic than the Wilesco made Y shaped thingy. I originally used ordinary soft solder on the joints, but it had no strength and just snapped at the slightest contact. So out came the big guns and I silver soldered it which cured the problem.

Arceurotrade a good trustworthy company, really? I visited them twice last year during the Warwickshire Model Engineering Show. On my second visit I foolishly took two substantial cream sponge cakes with me, and you won't believe how quickly I was relieved of those two MASSIVE cakes!

Well, tradition or not, the model is what it is and concentrates on function more than form, which is fine. I am not really criticising it, just describing it as it is whether good or not so good.

The birthday present funds would not stretch to a similar sized Allchin or Mercer engine. I did expect to do some improvement work, such as the Mamod wheels which were ordered at the same time. But as sometimes happens, the more you look the more you find wanting.

If it were a gift to a much younger person then I would have left it as is. The lack of solidness and some detail would not have mattered to most of them. The working boiler, steering, steam engine with slide valve, Dynamo and lights plus geared drive to the rear wheel via a simple clutch would have been far more interesting than anything else. A much younger me would have been thrilled with it, particularly the steam engine itself.

The Mamod wheels are quite good heavy lumps. But the manufacturer may want to take a look at the lathes that produce them to see if they need tweaking, adjusting or replacing. The machined outer surface of the rims isn't very concentric to the bore of the hub. Also the diameter of the wheels varies across the width of the wheels.

See, I said the more you look the more you find wanting.

It's beginning to take shape, the new front axle leaf springs are yet to be made and fitted.......................A bit more progress with the engine assembled and fitted. Quite a bit of tweaking, flexing and adjusting was required to get the engine and rear wheel drive gears to turn smoothly without binding or tight spots......................Below shows the working Dynamo fitted, and a new Wilesco lever operated whistle from one of their stationary engines that replaces the kit supplied type. The working steering mechanism has also been fitted.

This self assembly kit is supplied with nuts and bolts to secure it together. The engine is also available ready built from the factory, but then it is secured together with eyelet type rivets. There is no difference in the price of the ready built kit or the self assembly type.

Yes MichealG, it is a shame. The only solid parts on it are the Dynamo, engine block and flywheel.

Below shows the new bronze smoke box with door and steering fork. The very simple pressed steel Wilesco smoke box is on the left.The almost complete new front end in the background, the new leaf springs not yet fitted. The Wilesco version on the right. Instead of pivoting on a pin the Wilesco axle rocks with the steering pivot shaft slopping from side to side in the top slotted hole.A bit of assembly finally taking place, with the replacement rear wheels and a bit of gearing installed shown below.

I purchased this new Wilesco traction engine kit as a birthday gift for someone of, shall we say, slightly more mature years. But despite it's price tag it was a little more crude and toylike than expected. So I have been remaking some parts to improve the look of it and give it a less toylike and higher quality feel before I hand it over to its new owner.The yellow front and rear wheels shown below are the ones supplied in the kit. As with most of the kit they are formed from thin steel pressings, this leaves them a little crude and unrealistic.

The red wheels are from Mamod and are far more solid and realistic zinc alloy castings. But they are a little smaller in diameter, so I machined up the solid bronze wheel rims shown, the rear ones are 100mm diameter. A single rear Mamod wheel with bronze rim weighs at least as much as the whole of the original Wilesco model.Here is the new front axle I made complete with the bronze rims and Mamod wheels. In the background is the Wilesco version, all made from thin pressed steel.

Hi Nicholas.

Thanks for the info on the previous Doncaster show, I was beginning to think I had imagined it. How time flies, it was over 18 years ago, I hope it is better supported in 2016.

I was very interested to hear that the Harrogate show is relocating to Doncaster next year. Doncaster isn't far from me so that will be handy, although I do enjoy the Harrogate site.

I can remember a previous Model Engineering Show at Doncaster, at the racecourse I think. It was over 15 years ago I am sure, and I can only recall the one event, does anyone else remember this? And was there only the one show there?

I can't remember much about it, but I do recall Myford were there, also Chester and Emco but no Warco if I remember correctly. A lot of the trade stands were for plastic model kits or radio control models.

Edited By Lathejack on 26/10/2015 20:48:50

Well today, around three months after purchase I finaly managed to take the BSA Starfire for a decent ride. I only risked it after fettling parts of the engine bottom end to ensure proper lubrication. Bank Holliday Monday was the target and it was finished and ready to go the night before, a trip to Thoresby Hall Festival of Transport was planned. But it rained heavily all the night before and most of Monday, so the trip was abandoned......................I had reworked the oil pump to give reliable high oil pressure, but the pressure kept dropping off excessively after a few miles on earlier rides. The pressure would only return to a healthy level after fiddling with the spring loaded ball type oil pressure relief valve. I had already fitted a new 5/16 steel ball and reseated it, but it kept failing. Later engines use a pretty much trouble free spring loaded piston type valve. But I cured it in the end, so far, and now have a reliable 60 - 85 PSI. Which so far has ensured the aluminium alloy con rod remains in the engine in one piece............................I also worked through the night until four in the morning to get other jobs and this new electronic ignition kit fitted. There are several brands on the market, this one comes with a 7 1/2 year guarantee. The Starfires performance is very good, although derived from the humble BSA C15, a C15 it is not. Now that project is sorted for the moment I must return to the model Red Wing stationary engine and finish that.

I have a 13 inch swing by 30 inch geared head Warco lathe that I bought new over 10 years ago. The headstock gears are exceptionally quiet in most of the speeds, even quieter than some new belt change lathes I have heard in the past. Since fitting a 3 phase motor the buzzy vibration and drumming noise have disappeared so that the oil splashing about in the headstock can be heard.

Ignoring my lathes dreadful quality of assembly by the factory, the headstock components themselves are very well made. The gear teeth flanks are finely ground with some of the gears hardened.

But the noise levels are not always consistent, one headstock can make more racket than another of the same model. As you go down the price range the internals may not be finished to the same standards.

I have never seen the gear head lathe that TPW is interested in being offered by anyone in the UK other than Warco as the GH 520, briefly, so it's a bit of a mystery how well they actually run.

Edited By Lathejack on 31/08/2015 16:01:51

TPW.

The Tee Publishing article may have been the one I read. Despite the Warco salesmans very awkward and unhelpful attitude and behaviour, I knew for certain that I had seen that lathe displayed on their stand.

It could be as Bazyle suggests and was just a sample machine to gauge interest, although i am sure it was fully finished in Warco's green and yellow paint job. For a fully featured gear head lathe it was quite compact, the 520 label referring to its 5 inch centre hight and 20 inches between centres.

Edited By Lathejack on 31/08/2015 15:09:19

This lathe was offered by Warco, or sort of offered by them. I saw it on display on their stand at Harrogate or Warwickshire maybe a couple of years ago.

Warco called it the GH 520, not to be confused with their larger GH 550 gear head lathe. But despite them having the GH 520 on display, and a short article I read about it somewhere that declared it as the latest addition to their range, it never seems to have been listed in their catalog. At a more recent show I did ask one of their salesman about it, but he denied all knowledge of it and just fooled about.

When I examined it at the time they had it on display it wasn't too bad. It had a plain type spindle flange, a 12 speed all geared headstock controlled by a rotary dial, power cross feed plus longitudinal power feed independent of the lead screw thread and a quick change screw cutting gear box with 15 feed rates.

I can't remember the exact price for it, but it was somewhere between £1000 & £1500.

A very nice machine you have there Jason. Warco and Chester Machine Tools in the UK have both offered that type of machine, not sure if they still do.

The Warco version did not have the gearbox on the milling head, just variable speed. The Chester version, called the Model T milling machine I think, did have the milling head gearbox plus variable speed and also a horizontal spindle. I think the table top is also hardened on them.