Lathe Identifier

Hello Ladies & Gents,

Ive just signed up to the forum so hello to you all, can anyone help in the identification of this lathe I’ve just acquired, there are no markings or stamps on it anywhere, I would like to get it running better as there is quite a bit of play/slop in the cross slide and I would also like to see if I can get the gearing back together for the lead screw operation, I’m not looking for anything with extreme accuracy but if I can get it functioning better that will do me for starters. Any help/info will be much appreciated.

Kind Regards

Liam

Hello Liam,

Just giving the thread a bump.

Someone will come along soon.

Have you looked through the lathes.co.uk site ?

Link

ATB,

Daniel

Greetings, Liam

I assume you are in the U.K. [the clue is in the mains wiring], but I suspect the lathe may have been an import model: so far as I am aware, most flat-belt British lathes did not use the 'inverted vees' bed design.

MichaelG.

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P.S. This is an interesting read:

https://archive.org/details/lathebeddesign00hornrich/page/n4

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 11/08/2019 07:29:41

It looks a bit like a Colchester but isn't quite like the ones on the lathes site. It is probably '30s but although you didn't give much detail looks to be around 10" swing. With that and the T slots on the saddle it is probably a small industrial or garage lathe. There are quite a number of these made by local manufacturers in small runs copying the general features of the age.

Edited By Bazyle on 11/08/2019 09:17:24

Thanks for the link.

I liked the comment that "the battle between vees and flats has given rise to much fruitless controversy".

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Could be a suitable motto for this forum [?]

MichaelG.

Liam - have a look at the lathes.co.uk webpage for the "IXL Leader". There is a photo on there of one from the 1930's, looks remarkably similar to your machine. The machines were mostly built in Germany hence the continental appearance.

The Colchester similarity is also interesting as I have an IXL lathe (dismantled at the moment), with a cast IXL name plate. and definitely an IXL Leader bed The odd thing is that my machine is a gear head and the headstock is either a VERY close copy of a Colchester roundhead Master headstock or IS a Colchester headstock re-badged.

Keith

Nice one, Keith

MichaelG.

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**LINK**

http://www.lathes.co.uk/ixl/page2.html

Many thanks for all the information guys, much appreciated, Keith I have had a trawl through the lathes.co.uk but was looking at the British models page, I think your right in that it is an IXL, I know for definite that the motor and housing bracket isn’t original as the chap I bought the lathe from fabricated the frame to house a 3rd party motor which didn’t come with the lathe itself, Bazyle the swing is 4 inches (does look a lot longer in the pics) and the bed is 28 inches. MichaelG I am indeed in the UK (Dorset) I should of put that in the listing 😵, many thanks for the link, I shall have a read this evening. I just need to trawl the internet for all the info I can get on this and see if I can get it back to as near original as I can for decent money so if anyone has an IXL in there possession I would appreciate some detailed pictures of the headstock gearing to see what I need 😁 Once again many thanks for all your help in the identification and info posted, very much appreciated.

Best Regards

Liam

The apparent absence of micrometer dials on the slides is a clue to its age but you might well want to fit some.

It is interesting to see the position of the half nut engagement lever on your example compared to the picture on the Lathes site. There is sometimes an comment that having it on the left is 'English pattern' cf Myford although in practice it can be either side depending on the whim of the designer. That they made both pattern's is unusual.

You should send some pictures, particularly of the saddle to Tony at the Lathes site so he can add this variation to the archive.

I was thinking of adding those Ega, any recommendations on where to purchase some? Bazyle I did send the pictures to Tony at Lathes as that was my 1st point of call before I found this site, sent them twice to him for identification but got no reply, maybe on holiday or just busy?? As I was hoping he might have some assembly docs on the lathe 🤞

Liam Hutson:

I think that this sort of upgrade is usually a shop-made effort calling for some straight forward turning and dividing. GHT's MEs Workshop Manual may give you some ideas about how to go about it. You would need to identify the leadscrew pitch of course and decide whether to go for radial or diametral marking ie whether a given depth of cut is off the radius or diameter of the work. From your photos it looks as though one problem would be the location of a witness mark.

I see from the link to Tony's website that on some of these lathes "cross and top slide were fitted with, for the time, generously dimensioned micrometer dials" and it would be helpful to know how the manufacturers approached the problem. He can be very helpful but does say that his email load is very heavy.

I can't suggest a specific source of an existing item and, apart from the cost of such things bought as spares, there might be some reluctance to sell them for use on a "foreigner".

Both variants are already shown - at the bottom of the linked page and on the home page.

Interested to see this lathe seems to be an IXL.

I owned for a while a larger lathe badged IXL, which from Tony Griffith's site was German-made, but by Ehrlich, and IXL was a dealer putting its own plate on things.

Many thanks for all the info, much appreciated.

Well looking at the pictures of your lathe ,yes l agree its an IXL as for model l do not know ,but the bed an tail stock etc looks like my IXL 6" model AKT from 1920 and running with its old over head set up,thou not used a lot now ,well till this week when the good old mL7 threw its toys out of the pram,but thats another story ,mybe will think about giving the ixl a tidy up this winter and indeed mounting the motor like your lathe,as over head drive makes it a pain to fit the lathe in another place,but good luck with your lathe.

john

Hi John, many thanks for your input, would it be possible for you to post some pictures up here (or PM them to me) for the headstock on yours and more specifically the backgear setup? It would be a massive help as I can’t find any detailed pictures online, I do have the different sized gear wheels but I might be missing some other components and as you have an IXL it would be a massive timesaver if I can actually see how the gears are installed to see whether I need to fabricate any other components to get them to work, thanks in advance.

Kind Regards

Liam

Hi. I know that this is an old thread, but it seems to include people who have (or had) one of these IXL lathes and some of you may still be out there. I have recently refurbished one that had spent too long outside, but I have a question......

Is it possible to install a continuous belt, in which case how do I remove the spindle? the casting is continuous (no half shells) so the spindle must come out to the left or right. I have dismantled the bearings at each end but can't see how to remove the spindle. I don't want to hit it or press it because I don't know what's inside.

Any help is welcome

Alan

There is an Invicta IXL lathe on ebay at the moment, quite well equipped. 3 bids £79, at the moment. It seems to be more or less identical to yours. The gear cover has the name details on it..

Regards. Mike Potts.