Pittler lathes

I've just rescued a Pittler lathe from a shed. The previous owner bought it a few years ago with the intention of learning metalwork but never got it up & running, he could not fathom how the headstock gearing fitted together so it was abandoned.

It was recently on Ebay but it ended and nobody bid so as it was only 20 miles away I went to have a look. It was in a tiny shed with the countershaft on the floor behind it but I manged to have a look.

As it was not running I was very wary so made him a reasonable offer and he accepted it although he had also relisted the lathe on Ebay.

It's the actual B2 lathe with serial number 1253 as shown on the Lathes.co.uk website. I did Email Tony Griffiths to ask when it was (presumably) sold by him but not had a reply yet.

It has an overhead countershaft and somewhat complicated looking pullies and belts which at present are not all connected as I have no idea what goes where. A full set of gears and worms, both steadies, faceplate etc all numbered 1253 plus several chucks, tailstock & headstock items with drawbars, indexing equipment and three boxes of various tools.

It was in desperate need of oil so I made sure everything was tended to and got it up and running in no time. Everything is there, nothing appears missing so I'm quite happy with it as a second machine to my Holbrook model B8 which is right next to it!

Edited By vic newey on 18/05/2019 16:43:19

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I ended up offering £900, only after getting it home and sorting through the boxes did I find that nothing important was actually missing, I've just received the 1941 ME hardback book, it has five sections on the Pittler by the same author. I also want the 1940 issues so looking out for them

Edited By vic newey on 18/05/2019 19:47:50

Edited By vic newey on 18/05/2019 19:51:25

Classy machine, Vic

... Well saved !!

MichaelG.

The famed Cherry Hill also uses a Pittler.

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If it's any consolation it was extremely difficult to get the lathe out as right in front of the shed was like an obstacle course as a huge new building is going up right in front.

Luckily for me my son has access to a flatbed with tail lift and it took 3 men to struggle to get the lathe over to the lorry. Without having access to that I would not have bought the lathe

I would also add that it's not really ideal for a beginner and the head and tail stocks do not have a modern morse taper so nothing easily available will fit.

In fact I'm not sure myself what the fitment is actually called, can anyone advise?

Edited By vic newey on 18/05/2019 22:34:52

Vic,

Browsing around ... I found this page: **LINK**

http://www.remark.me.uk/pages/workshop/projects/models/pittlerconst.html

The last line of which mentions: ...

the series of articles by Geo.Gentry in Model Engineer vols. 82 & 84

It might be worth you looking-out for those.

MichaelG.

Here are some more photo's. I have assembled the countershaft to include the belt tensioner, it works via a fulcrum and suspended weight. The uprights fit directly onto special round brackets on the back of the lathe casting as an original optional extra provided with the lathe

The crossbar at the top has a keyway and the pulley is free to slide along in line with the topslide whilst the shaft is turning when using certain accessories.
In the ME issues of 1941 there are a series of 5 articles on the Pittler, all by George Gentry. The 1940 issues have the first parts of the series which i've not got yet.

The other photo shows the/hand part of the lathe, a countershaft on a lower bracket connects with the indexing device. Another indexing device fits at the headstock end and has four discs with it. These are called 'knife edge' types, there are 100 cuts around the rim, later types had 4 sets of holes & a plunger.

Mr Gentry describes in great detail of how the indexing works although I'm still somewhat confused. He describes this shaft is for auto power feed and another means to drive the lead screw for minute indexing. This lathe appears to have the extra long traverse of the cross slide he refers to in one of the pages

Edited By vic newey on 25/05/2019 16:49:50

Edited By vic newey on 25/05/2019 16:50:30

For anyone with a Pittler who may be interested I have added a load of new Pittler lathes photo's to a Google website

https://sites.google.com/view/pittler-lathes/home

Edited By vic newey on 04/12/2019 13:31:15