British empire lathe

Edited By Spencer Ord on 09/08/2018 16:28:01

Can't see the pictures

Nick - you need to login to see the pictures.

Regards

Norman

I'm logged in & I can't see them either. Normally I can see pictures in posts without needing to log in.

Brian

Edited By Bodger Brian on 10/08/2018 09:07:11

Defo no pictures

The pictures are in his album, not his post.

You don't need to be logged in.

I looked at those pictures and assumed - wrongly, it seems - that it was a different lathe as it was titled "Mellor lathe". Similarly, I assumed there were no pictures in the thread as there isn't really a British Empire anymore!

John

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I would concur with your original assumption, John

Probably only Spencer can clarify.

MichaelG.

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Start with this forum's most-needed FAQ : **LINK**

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=103028&p=1

MichaelG.

That's a great start ... Now, if you wish to load them into a post, just use the camera icon on the top row of the posting window.

MichaelG.

I've seen a few Empire lathes over the years, some of them looking very much like South Bends, not sure about British though, I had a feeling they were made in Belgium. They all appeared to be decent quality machines. Dave

Had a Mk 2 version like that many years ago. Duff front bearing on mine which I had to change to get any sort of decent work out of it. Big Timken taper roller cost more than the lathe but still pretty reasonable really.

Objectively a fairly boring, bog standard lower end industrial lathe. Flat belt drive never really up to the theoretical capabilities of the machine. But at least drive slip reduced the chances of seriously damaging crashes.

Mondial design originally but pretty sure that at least some of the Mk 2's were UK made. As I recall it mine had made in UK stamped in a couple of places but it was a long time ago and memory is fallible. Tracing the actual provenance of machines made and/or supplied by Elliott Group tends to be "frustrating".

Clive.

There's a lot you can do today with modern belt materials. You can even run a Poly-V belt straight on those old flat pulleys with very good results. Even better if you have a second lathe to turn the poly-grooves in the pulleys. Unslippable then.