Kerry AG lathe

Hi

Well I have discovered a odd thing about the Kerry , maybe Kerry did this for some reason.

There is a layer of cork between the bed and the base . Why ? This pic is from the lathes uk site .

My Kerry also has a 3/16" thick cork gasket as indicated on the pic .

If it isn't cork, then its some kind of insulation.

Edited By hth on 14/05/2016 13:55:18

Edited By hth on 14/05/2016 13:56:10

Hi Hth,

This interested me because i too have seen this type of material before, it's an unusual kind of gasket which is kind of like moulded "rubber impregnated cork" material. I have these on a B56 imperial framed motor and i think it's for insulation purposes.

Michael W

Hi Michael Thanks for the reply

Would the cork upset the process of leveling the bed and keeping the bed level . The lathe bed would be sitting on a lump of jelly ?

Isn't it just a gasket to prevent coolant going down the fixing bolt holes? I set my lathe on a bead of silicon between the bed and the drip tray for the same purpose.

Andy

Too thick to be a simple gasket and that would need the fixing bolts decently tightened up rather than almost loose as is Kerry norm.

Its not cork. As Michael W says its a composite gasket material, probably of the type known as controlled deformation with very non linear squidgy characteristics. The stuff goes up solid at quite modest loads but prior to that can shift around to effectively fill gaps and separations. Unless the fit is really poor its very easy to get the same level of support as obtained with two nicely matched surfaces. Serious over torquing can destroy the effect which is why Kerry hold down bolts are not much over hand tight, something around what you'd get using a decent size screwdriver via a socket I believe. The material is also glued on both sides to help stop any further squidging.

Theoretically it ensures that the bed isn't stressed by the cabinet if that isn't properly seated on the floor. Probably mostly intended to protect against goings on during transport & setting up but presumably equally effective if the cabinet feet aren't evenly loaded. Naturally the bed would be set-up unstressed at the factory with the cabinet on the level. If it works as advertised I presume there is no need to level the machine as reasonably even loading on the feet should suffice to keep the bed stress free.

When you get down to it most of the heftier factory type lathe stands are stiffer than the machine be anyway so levelling in the usual bench lathe sense really isn't applicable. Harrison claimed their L series machines could just be plonked down on any surface good enough to support all the feet.

Clive.

I have a Kerry lathe, and, yes, it is supposed to keep the bed from being stressed and deforming.

(somewhere I have some sales pamphlets, one of which was put on the kerry yahoo group a long time ago)

Thanks to everyone .