Member postings for Lathejack

.....................Wonders will never cease, an old BSA with some oil pressure. Running from cold it produced about 25 PSI on a slow chugging idle speed, with just over 40 PSI on a slightly faster idle. With about 3000 RPM it produced around 70 PSI.

A 1972 version of this engine I tested a few weeks ago gave 70 PSI at a slow idle speed, these have an uprated cast iron oil pump which is not so easily damaged or worn.

I also repaired one of the engine sump plate threads and replaced the 1/4 inch cap screws with studs and nuts. The studs have been made long to accommodate a new, thicker alloy sump plate I plan to machine from a billet of aluminium. This is a common area of damage and bodgery. I knew the home workshop would turn out to be useful for something.

Edited By Lathejack on 15/06/2015 19:30:46

I've been fiddling with my newly acquired BSA again, changed the oil and thoroughly cleaned out the oil tank as there was a bit of oily sludge in the bottom. Sent a small camera into the engine internals where I could get it and it is as clean as a whistle.

So I popped it in the van and took it for an MOT, which it passed. Not bad for an old rattler bought from an Autojumble.

Mark P.

Hope you enjoy your new VMC, they are quite quite good machines for the home workshop. I have owned my Taiwanese made version for around 17 years and have only ever considered getting rid of it for one of the bigger versions.

Jon.

I also have a verticle bandsaw which has the blade running on the side of the blade guide bearings instead of on their circumference. It's always irritated me and I am not sure why on earth they would make them that way, other than maybe there might be less of a problem with debri being pulled between the bearing and blade.

Bob.

Yes you maybe right, I could end up wanting more, I do have a soft spot for BSA four stroke unit singles. Funnily enough, in all my years I had never ridden a BSA single, or any other BSA for that matter, until last Sunday afternoon

Your collection is a very interesting one, the Humber's must be quite rare.

John.

I agree, this bikes reputation was made by the owners of the day. Mostly young boy racers who thrashed them and neglected them, and who probably couldn't afford to maintain them.

But nowerdays they are ridden in a more sedate manner and fussed over with umpteen oil changes of the finest slippery stuff. There is much less chance of that aluminium alloy conrod punching it's way through the crankcases, for which they were famous.

JA.

Hopefully the bike will be reliable enough to keep me on the streets for a while, and yes I agree, the old ones are the best, certainly for me.

Jesse.

There were a couple of C15's for sale as well, plus a trials C15. I might have bought one or two of those as well, but I ran out of time.

I packed in motorcycling almost 25 years ago after owning a mixture of British and Japanese bikes from the 1970's and 80's. This BSA is maybe a final fling at recapturing a bit of those years. I don't want a larger capacity bike anymore so this is just dipping my toe in the water, so to speak.

These Starfire 250's are one of the better British lightweights, with excellent frames and brakes plus 12 volt electrics. I have fancied owning one of them for over 30 years despite the engines reputation for fragility.

As I walked round the Autojumble I didn't think there was much chance of coming across a bike I had always wanted, and definitely not a mostly original one in good condition than worked and ran well at a fair price. But there it was! 

Edited By Lathejack on 08/06/2015 14:19:34

Edited By Lathejack on 08/06/2015 14:23:33

Well I manageg to get away from home for a few hours on Sunday, so off I whent to the Newark auto jumble. I ended up buying this BSA 250 of 1969 vintage. It should keep the home workshop busy making new bushes, shafts and whatnot I'm sure. It runs and rides really well.

Edited By Lathejack on 08/06/2015 12:12:09

Some of the best stuff I have bought is definitely the Taiwanese 6x4 inch metal cutting band saw, and the bigger 7x12 version made in China. These take all the toil and misery out of workshop activities, hacksaws! Pah!!

Also the replacement three phase motors plus inverter drives for most of my machines, they are simply fabulous, transforming noisy, vibrating and rattly machines into silky smooth machine tools.

And probably the Taiwanese made Warco VMC turret mill built in the late 1990's which I have owned for almost 17 years. Quite a bit of rework was needed but I have always liked this type of mill for use in the home shop. The current slightly heavier built Chinese made versions are quite a good buy.

Some of the worst gear I have bought in the past, and still have, is a Vertex badged K4 milling vice, and unfortunately a new Warco 1330 geared head lathe.

I went there today, and plan to go on Saturday as well. The show was quite good, pretty much the same as last year. I didn't see College Engineering Suplies there, so not sure if I missed them or they are not attending this year.

I bought a ticket in advance online this year, to beat the queues as it suggested on the website. But so had many others and as there was only one entrance for all visitors, other than traders and exhibitors, there was still quite a queue.

I went to look at an item on one traders stall with a view to buying, only to be told it had been bought by another trader the day before and was now on their stall at a higher price, you've got to be quick in this game.

Anyway, it's a great show with plenty to see and squander your cash on, well worth a visit.

I fabricated and Tig welded this fuel tank at home a few days ago. It is for a 1946 AEC bus, a vacuum is created in this tank which then draws fuel from the large main tank that I made at work a while ago. The welding set I used for this tank is a low priced Giant branded 200 amp single phase DC Tig Inverter.

This welder with the old and badly scorched shroud has done prolonged cast iron welding repairs on a full size steam roller, using nickel iron electrodes as filler rods with the welder in Tig mode.

Hello Nick.

I bought a new "budget" 5C collet chuck several years ago, I cannot remember if it was from Chronos, Rotagrip or Warco, but I did buy the collets from Warco.

I also bought a plain type chuck and fitted a separate D1-4 backplate. The very finely ground 5C chuck was low priced at around £100 back then, and even the chuck key main body and tee bar had both been precision ground between centres.

I have not used it for quite a long while, but if I get time tonight or maybe tomorrow I will fit the chuck to my 1330 lathe and check its accuracy and let you know. However, the Warco 1330 lathe I have has the not uncommon problem found on some low priced new Chinese lathes with Camlock spindles, which is the tapers mating up well before the flat mating faces of spindle and backplate do.

This can cause chucks to be pulled up out of line, which might be why I stopped using it until I got round to sorting out the fit of the backplate on the spindle, anyway I will take a look. But the 5C chuck is very well made and operates very smoothly, although for the past few years I have been using ER type collet chucks as they have a better gripping range on Metric and Imperial including undersized bar, and are much less bulky with the work closer to the spindle.

Edited By Lathejack on 30/04/2015 22:26:48

Edited By Lathejack on 30/04/2015 22:29:31

Edited By Lathejack on 30/04/2015 22:30:31

Hi Robin.

I bought a new Giant 200 Amp Single Phase DC Tig/Arc Inverter set a few years ago, I still have it and it works fine although it is not used too regularly. It has done prolonged cast iron welding repairs on a full size Aveling & Porter steam roller in Tig mode, and it also operates extremely well when stick welding in Arc mode.

It came complete with a good quality Tig torch and has a more robust, solidly made and quality feel than the new and much more expensive Clarke Arc/Tig 155 set I had from Machine Mart.

The Clarke was Italian made but was tiny and toy like with sloppy control buttons and was really just an Inverter Arc set that could be used as a basic scratch start Tig, but the Tig torch had to bought separately at over £100. I quickly got rid of it and bought the Giant 200 which I am using at the moment to Tig weld a new small fuel tank for a 1940's AEC single decker coach.

Opinions, reviews and experiences of the Chinese Giant brand are, as you say, mixed, but that is also true of most Chinese made machinery, including the Chinese made lathes a lot of us own and use.

Well today, for the first time in around 25 years since I packed in bikes! I rang up about a motorcycle and arranged to go and view it tomorrow. It's a 1972 BSA single.

Since I set up my workshops over 20 years ago with machine tools I haven't had an old bike to tinker with. So if I buy it the workshop will be just the job for making all those bushes, valve guides and other bits and bobs that can be made for old British iron.

It's a far cry from all the glorious British and Japanese bikes I used to own throughout the 1980's and early 90's, but it will recapture a little of those great days. If I enjoy owning it a might buy just one more to go with it, maybe a Triumph T140 Bonneville of 1979 to 1982 vintage. That was the bike of my dreams as a teenager, and at 18 I finally bought one and owned three of them over the years, followed by a 1975 T150 Trident, what a handful that was.

Yes Malcolm, that would be appreciated. I made this batch of new piston rings for a flat twin stationary engine a while ago, four compression rings and four oil control rings for 56.5mm bores. I have heat treated them but have still not gapped them because I was waiting for a better method than just filing them, so your method could be just what I've waited for.

Ian.

That's a very nice lathe you have there, I remember them here in the UK. Warco used to sell them as the 1327 in the 1990's, the last quoted price was, I think, £3800. They also did two geared head versions during the same period, one with an open Norton type gearbox like yours, and another with fully enclosed box which cost around £5500 back then. My £3000 when new Warco 1330 is the Chinese version of that one.

The BH600 that Bazyle refers to is a Chinese made version of another good quality Taiwanese made lathe that Warco used to sell in the 1980's, I think they called it the 300B, or something similar, and these were also marketed as LAM and Lantaine elsewhere. These had the rare feature of a triple V bed, with the carraige guided by two V ways, as on Boxford and Southend, this feature was lost on the Chinese made version.

Sorry if I sound like a lathe geek or anorak, but I probably am.

Back to Craiges potential purchase of a new lathe. £1600 would get you an 11 x 28 lathe from Toolco, with a three feed gearbox and powerfeeds plus variable speed, 26mm spindle bore including both chucks and steadies. This 1128 lathe is the equivalent of Warco's 280.

Russell has a point in that you would be hard pushed to get a new lathe with a full screwcutting and feeds gearbox for £1500, but you can get something usefully close. The BH600 type machines that Bazyle mentions were not too long ago around £1600, but look at the price he quotes now. Toolco recently got a long awaited batch of them, and they priced them at £2100, all gone now though!

Edited By Lathejack on 17/02/2015 20:35:25

Hello Bazyle.

The only downside to that type of quick release spindle flange is that whenever it is fitted the spindle bore is reduced to 21mm, the Chester, SPG and I think the Sieg C6 are all the same in this respect.

I agree, the SPG SP2129 is a good buy. It is a version of the Warco WM290 lathe but with some differences. It is 11 inch swing with I think about 30 inches between centres. SPG ran out of stock last year and said they may or may not get some by May this year, so I didn't mention it.

The price they quoted last year included delivery, three and four jaw chucks, fixed and traveling steadies and the stand, and maybe a face plate. It also has a 38mm spindle bore and sometimes even a D1-4 Camlock spindle nose. It also has a much heftier tailstock with a larger diameter quill than other 290 type machines, but does not have the latest inverter type speed control, just the simpler variable speed as some others still do.

I was all set to drive over to SPG and pick one up last year, but at the last moment they emailed me to say the latest batch they had received did not have the Camlock spindle, just the plane flange type, so I abandoned the purchase. But I am keeping a look out for them this year.

Edited By Lathejack on 16/02/2015 21:48:11

Edited By Lathejack on 16/02/2015 21:50:42

Thanks to good old China, it is easily possible for Craig to get the new lathe he wishes for, and for the price he wants to pay.

£1500 is enough for a new Chinese made lathe up to 10 inch swing by 22 inches between centres, fitted with not only a quick change screw cutting and feeds gearbox, but also power feeds built into the apron giving powered cross and longitudinal feeds independent of the leadscrew thread.

Most of them have a very simple gearbox with just three feed rates, sometimes called a semi gearbox. But along with the separate powerfeeds built into the apron, this is still enough to quickly flick between a few thread pitches and from threading to fine longitudinal feeds, cross feeds and back again without constantly having to manually alter the change wheels. Only when the thread pitch or feed rate needed is outside the range of the gearbox do you have to resort to altering the change wheels.

Chester Machine Tools and SPG Tools both offer slightly better versions of the 10 x 22 lathes. Their machines are fitted with a gearbox giving nine feed rates, so this will further reduce the need to alter change wheels. They are also fitted with a quick release headstock spindle flange that does not require the securing nuts to be removed as on some, but just slackened, and a collar turned a few degrees to release the chuck, or whatever, complete with drive pins and nuts.

The price of the Chester lathe, which I think they call the DB10V Super with either enclosed or open type gearbox, has unfortunately just recently increased by £300, bringing it to just over £1500 complete with chucks and steadies. The SPG Lathe, I am sure they call it the SP2124, is I think just under £1000 with delivery, but the four jaw chuck and steadies are extra, but would still cost less than £150.

All the current Chinese 10 x 22 lathes offered by Toolco, Chester, SPG, Amadeal, Pro Machine Tools and Warco use mostly similar major castings, such as the bed, carraige assembly and headstock, and all have variable speed and power feeds with the leadscrew thread only engaged for thread cutting. Some use a separate feed shaft for the power feeds while others use a key way cut along the leadscrew to power the feeds. The Warco version also has an improved motor and inverter drive for the variable spindle speeds.

And as already mentioned, there is also the smaller 9 x 18 or 9 x 20 lathes which have gearboxes with nine feed rates and longitudinal powerfeed, but no power cross feed. These lathes have been produced for many years now.

Just over a year ago I saw Warco displaying a 10 x 20 lathe with an all geared 12 speed headstock plus power feeds and a quick change screw cutting and feeds gearbox with 15 feed rates and well within Craig's budget. But they don't seem to have advertised it since, and asking one of their salesmen about it at last years Warwickshire Show was a waste of time as he was clueless.

Anyway, I am sure Craig will find what he wants somewhere.

Edited By Lathejack on 16/02/2015 18:56:26

Edited By Lathejack on 16/02/2015 19:01:09

Hello Jack.

If you have no luck with Amadeal, or are faced with a long wait for them to be back in stock, then you could try SPG Tools in Hinckley. They offer the same lathe as the Amadeal 210, SPG call it the SP2109 and appear to have it in stock at the moment, and with a useful saving in price. I have no connection with SPG or any other supplier.

Most of the other suppliers such as Chester, Toolco and Warco do a similar version of it, and with varying prices and accessories included. But the Amadeal and SPG versions are just about identical in that they both have a geared high and low speed range, controlled from a knob on the front of the headstock, in addition to variable speed control. I think most of the other versions have a high and low range selected by swapping drive belt positions, also with variable speed.

I did see Amadeal at the Harrogate Engineering show a few years ago, but they haven't attended since, has anyone seen them at other shows?

Edited By Lathejack on 15/02/2015 21:21:50