Britan Lathe - New Lathe Day

This thread is gold dust

Ady1: I'm glad you find the thread interesting.

Dave: Brilliant! You're absolutely right, the mystery bung does indeed appear to be from the pneumatic bar feeder tube. I can't see I'm ever going to need a spare, but I will clean it up and tuck it away in corner of the Britan tooling draw in the workshop.

Thanks for the confirmation of changing centres. Here's a picture of the revolving centre:

The female centre seems in pretty good condtion, the other two centres less so. The bigger of the two male centres has two rather neat concentric rings in it. Presumably this was not standard. In due course I'll probably clean up the centres. I am slightly puzzled by the threaded screw that goes in the back of the centre. If you nip it up then the centre stops rotating which seems pointless. I wondered if it was a means of ejecting the centre without tapping via a brass drift. I did try that but I think you'd badger the screw slot on the end in pretty short order. Using a brass drift seems much better.

Again you're correct, there is indeed a small V-belt from the auxiliary motor driving the hydraulic pump. I'd better stack the belt along with spare drive belts I got when originally purchasing the lathe.

At least I've now got a few 'watchers' on my two Ebay auctions for some Britan bits. I'm optimistic that the bits will sell, even if not for much. I haven't sold that much on Ebay, but things generally seem to hot up at the end of an auction. I suspect that most people seach using 'finishing soon' and make a last minute bid.

Regards,

Andrew

Hi Andy.

Re:Bung. No idea why you have a spare. It's never going to wear out, is it?

Re: revolving centre. The threaded screw is something which I have never seen. We used to drift ours out with a brass or ally rod. Not done on the machine but over a vice or hole in a flypress. As we had three or more revolving centre bodies we didn't change them too often. The were three male and three female centres as standard equipment. NONE had concentric circles from new, yours are worn. As it's a revolving centre and damm hard to wear (because it turns, unlike a fixed centre) I guess that it was in use and somebody got careless and hit it with a tool, probably the back edge of a turning tool.

I made-up some special 'bungs' that I pressed the centres into, this allowed me to machine far larger dia tubes etc.

Quick tip. When setting the machine, set the revolving centre first. Then you will know where and at what length to set the stop/s. Then set the tooling to the available spare space.

Regards

Dave

Dave: I've got no idea why I've got a spare bung either. It just came with the collection of other tooling. I doubt it's saleable, but sods law says if I get rid of it I'll need it.

Ah well, the threaded screw will have to remain a mystery. The screwdriver slot has evidence of use, but as to what for, who knows. I've got a flypress so I can use that for inserting and removing the centres. The smaller centre is just plain worn. The two rings on the larger centre look very neat, almost as if they were machined. No doubt your explanation as to cause is correct. It'll be no problem to machine it back to pristine condition. The female centre looks to be in pretty good condition; presumably it didn't get used much.

The next project is to clean up the roller box and make an extra couple of rollers. I've got the rollers for smaller diameters, but not the set for larger diameters.

Regards,

Andrew

I've bought yet more Britan accessories. The package came via ParcelForce, along with a neat cord handle for the convenience of the postie. Never seen that before:

Here are the bits:

The dinky little collets in the front are for the 3/4" Britan, as opposed to the larger 1-1/4" collets behind. There's also an home-made adaptor to allow the use of the 3/4" collets on a 1-1/4" machine. The two tap/die units on the middle right are only fit for scrap/spares, but there is a range of useful die holders. I'm not sure what the adaptor, top immediately to the right of the large collets, is for; it takes 1-1/4" collets and has a fairly powerful square section spring in it. If it's homemade, it's very well done, nice machining and ground in all the right places.

Regards,

Andrew

I have just purchased a britan 4 wheel grinder 3 phase but cannot find any information about iy anywhere, I know from previous forum posts there was a member who did an apprentiship there. I wonder if anyone has any information

Well, this thread is a few years old, but thanks to it, you guys made me fall to the britan repetition lathe and recently purchased two of these.

Initially I was planning to get 1-1/4" model, but there where only a couple listed on ebay(the place where I usually look and buy) and they where incomplete. Like missing rear tool turret, missing splash guard, missing this, missing that. Then one came up with everything it was equipped by factory(as far as photos show on the net) including bar feed and some tooling, but in was the 3/4" model. It was listed for a gran but the seller lowered the price after two weeks to 700. Then I thought to get this one to get acquainted with the machine and maybe if some other 1-1/4" appears to change it.

I did contacted the seller to ask questions, who was a great lad, and he answered all of them the best he could(he had no idea what he was selling, other than "it's a lathe" and kindly sad that he is willing to drop the price to 600. So, this made me really think about it. Then after a few days he contacts me and says that he had enough of all the buyers(dreamers)and I am welcome to have it for 500. And with this he tripped all my switches and I went ahead to make the deal.

I have to tell you, that I had no idea how I am going to transport the thing, but thanks to this forum(especially Andrew, thanks!) I knew that the lathe is not heavy. Looking more in detail at the machine photos it doesn't have to many parts, so I might be able to disassemble it, load it into my small estate car and drag it home, even in two runs if it's necessary.

Took my imperial spanners and not the allen key set, that I forgot home(had to buy a cheap set from screwfix) and drove there to see the little machine. The seller was extremely friendly though he might had doubts in me that I will, or not, be able to take the thing apart and load it into a small estate car.

My time slot was 4 hours and took the lathe apart in one hour and 40 minutes or so, all loaded into my small estate car ready to follow me home in one run.

For those who are interested, the lathe comes apart in the following bits: headstock(one man can lift), tool table(small hoist, or two men), base casting(two men, not heavy, just bulky), the two legs(one man), motor(small hoist or two men). The auxiliary unit was still in the base casting at the loading moment but it did fall out on the way home. Good thing that I've layed a liner in the car in Case oil comes out(some did). The base casting is made of aluminium, the legs and the head two.

Got home and started assembling the next day. The legs I pressure washed and wiped of the base casting interior as it had some dust and oil mixture, had to clean the top from the brass swarf put it back together and it is ready to make some parts.

Meanwhile giving the TLC to this little machine a 1-1/4" model appears on eBay on auction. And I went for this one too as it sold for less(400) then what I paid for the 3/4" model. Fair bit of tooling, quite a few collets and rack, bar feed, etc. Dragged it home the same way as the other one, though I was heavily surprised by the size of the collets and the rack, something I wasn't expecting to be so big(almost ran out of space).

Now giving the TLC to this one, barely assembled the legs to the base and already had to make quite some restoration, some new parts, few fittings, screws, hinges, cables cut everywhere, auxiliary cam that actuated the compressor is broken(it was stated in the description that it packed up though). Working on the head now, but it just makes me sad really, I don't know if they had no collet spanner or they where rather using a chisel and hammer while setting this machine. The two holes for the spindle collet nut is just hammered to twice the original size. And I just got started, I can already see that there are multiple moving parts that need restoration, joints rebuilt, new bushing and so on.

The 3/4" model looks brand new next to the 1-1/4" Now I don't know how other 1-1/4" models look like. My rough guess is that they are much sought after because of the larger spindle capacity and they just got more used through the years. Something to keep in mind if anyone is looking to buy one if these and large spindle capacity is not needed.

Another thing that buggers me, is that the 3/4" model has a clutch, the other doesn't. Does anyone knows, if this was an extra on these?

Oh.. and about collets, what material where they made from? And I know you can make them from mild steel, but in today's world where prices for mild steel and a proper carbon or alloy steel is not much difference(at least to me) it would worth to make them from the right stuff. Read that there is someone here on the forum who worked at this factory, but can't remember who it was.

Thanks for reading!

All comments are welcome

Well so it is, never knew that. I'd just assumed it was cast iron. The lathe will be lighter than I imagined; although I've never found a definitive spec for the weight.

Not sure what you mean by a clutch? My Britan has a lever clutch to engage high or low speed ranges, but that's not the same as a clutch to stop/start the spindle. These were production machines designed to run continuously. With operators on piece work I doubt they would have used a clutch to stop and start the spindle on a regular basis.

I don't know what the collets are made from. I'd guess a medium carbon steel and hardened to something like 40-45Rc.

I had some 3/4" collets, but sold them yonks ago. Good luck and have fun with your lathes. I assume that all accessories, apart from the collets, are interchangeable between the 3/4" and 1-1/4" machines?

Andrew

Hi Andrew!

I haven't run either of them yet. I'd imagined that it's a start stop clutch, but now it makes sense. Thanks! And not to overly worried in this case if it's missing on the 1-1/4" model

Yes, as far as I can see, all accessories are interchangeable. The small toolholder collets, as well as the die holders, centres and most bits and bobs. I am just looking to most of them trying to figure out what it does, where it fits, but I found stuff that's probably some other lathes tooling.

The 3/4" came with quite a few shop made blanks of tool holder collets. And some with the 1-1/4" as well. It's seems that they get lost easily.No wonder, they are so small...

The only difference between the two is the headstock and the bar feed tubing that is larger on the 1-1/4" than on the 3/4". And the clutch that is present on the small, but not on the large.

I will try to upload some pictures later.

Do you still have yours?

A major task ahead, figuring it all out and not chopping your fingers off in the process

Take your time and good luck, have sent you a PM

I noticed a few come up on ebay recently but only one looked like it had the bits and they all looked well used

Put as many pictures as you can into an album in here, including from weird angles which show rarely seen surfaces

There's not really much out there on what is a very interesting and useful little lathe

Edited By Ady1 on 25/08/2020 15:47:57

Pictures would be most interesting. I do still have my Britan. It gets used regularly, mainly for knocking out custom studs, bolts and nuts for my traction engines. So I'm not really challenging the machine, but I sure wouldn't want to make the parts without it. Of course building two engines means lots parts. So far I've made at least 300 1/4" BSF full nuts and 50 or so locknuts.

Andrew

Hi everyone,

We have two of these at our work place, but misplaced the manuals as they've never been needed. A saw an earlier post way back from 2012 that says have you downloaded the manual and partslist - I was just wondering whether these downloads were still available?

Kind Regards

I think Britan are still trading, last address I have got is Unit 3 Goodwin business park CB8 7SQ.

That now seems to be a retail park!

They're long gone. The name on my Britan manual is Britcam Tools and an address in Cambridge on what is now Castle Park. They shut down and formed Britan Machine Tools in 1979, who I think were based in Newmarket. There was a further sale to Arden Machine Tools, based in Birmingham, in 1985.

When I bought my Britan there was a company (may well have been Arden) who had spares, although you had to look hard on the website to find the information. Arden now seems to be dissolved, although I don't know when. So it looks like there is no longer any support.

Andrew

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MichaelG.

Thanks Michael, long before I bought my Britan. So they must have sold on the spares, but I can't find any trace on the internet.

Andrew

I'm still lurking on here, so if I can help in any way, just ask.

The Britan 4 wheel grinder was a nice bit of kit but had non -standard size grinding wheels both in diameter and thickness if I remember correctly.

Andrew, glad you used your machine for what it was designed for

Cheers

Dave

Dave: That's good to know, thanks.

I've never seen one of the Britan 4 wheel grinders but for ages there was one on Ebay. It seems to have disaapeared, but I don't know if it was sold or the seller got fed up.

I'm aware that I'm not pushing the Britan anywhere close to it's capabilities. The last items I made were for work; a batch of custom lockscrews for D-type connedtors converting from a Japanese standard M2.6 thread to the more common 4-40UNC. The next job will be custom flat head rivets for the chimneys on my traction engines.

Andrew