Help with a boxford c

Hi,

I have just taken ownership of an additional lathe, a Boxford 'C' type. It came with several chucks and lots of change wheels and some other tooling and runs quite nicely, I haven't set it up completely yet as I want to clean and adjust as required but there is one thing that has me beat. It currently has what I think is described as ' T link belt' which uses metal pins as the link. I am not very happy with this type of belt and would look to replace it but....... I can seem to get the motion shaft or transfer shaft out. Has anyone here performed such a task, I have removed grub screws from pullys etc but nothing seems to want to move and I don't want to get brutal with it.

Thanks,

Ian

Hi Ian, Brammer Link belt is usually fitted to Boxford lathes Brammer Type much quicker and easier than having to remove the headstock spindle. This type of belt is widely used on industrial machines. My underdrive Boxford has this type and I've only had to remove about three links in the last 15 or so years, to take up slack as the belt wears as there is no tensioning adjustment for this belt on the underdrive models. Of course you can get the modern type of Power Twist if you don't like the pins.

Regards Nick.

Hi Ian

Grandmothers and eggs etc., Boxford use two grub screws, one against the shaft, the other to lock the first. Are both out? I have two C's and have added power saddles to both, a worthwhile mod in my opinion.

hope this helps

Dave

Hi Ian

Grandmothers and eggs etc., Boxford use two grub screws, one against the shaft, the other to lock the first. Are both out? I have two C's and have added power saddles to both, a worthwhile mod in my opinion.

hope this helps

Dave

On my CUD the holes in the brackets for the intermediate shaft are slotted so I was able to adjust the tension somewhat by moving the shaft backwards and forwards.

William.

Hi,

Thanks for your help gents,

Nick, my lathe does have the facility to adjust the tension of the belt and it is working ok, I just kind of have a thing about metal rivet type things spinning around the pully's but if changing it for a v-belt type proves too much bother then I will look at using a power twist belt, thanks for the link.

David, yes they are both out but thank you pointing that out. I was thinking that maybe these were some sort of shrink fit, I will have another look and post back my progress or lack of it !

William, mine has the lever at the bottom of the bed under the head that slides the motor and transfer shaft in to change the speeds and adjust the tension, there is lateral movement available using slotted holes just as you say.

Once again, many thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Ian

Ian, is this query about the spindle drive belt? if so the only way to replace it with a normal V belt is to remove the headstock spindle.

Ian P

Ian... I’ve changed the headstock to the idler shaft V belt on my model A. It wasn’t as bad as I thought after reading the Boxford ‘know you Lathe’ book. Preloading taper bearing with new high spec grease was worth the effort. Belt were readily available on Ebay but may I suggest, pay a little extra for a branded make like Dunlop or Gates (others are available)

John

Hi Ian

I forgot to say that I have used Fenner Powertwist segmented belting on both the Cs without any problems.

Regards

Dave

Hi, there seems to be two versions of securing the intermediate pulley shaft, for the underdrive lathes, the older one being with bearings on a pair of hangers and the later one which is fixed into the sides of the cabinet. Mine is the later version and the intermediate pullies rotate with bearings on the shaft and this shaft has no adjustment of any sort.

I assume the hangers on the older version have slots in them for the bearing bolts, however I guess these slots are not very long and are provided for initial adjustment at the factory build, as according to the "Know Your Lathe" manual, the instructions for tensioning the link belt is to remove links as necessary.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 09/10/2019 20:56:16

Hi and thanks for all the help so far.

It would appear that to change the stud belt for a v belt I do indeed need to remove the spindle and possibly the back gear shaft, so as it appears to be cutting very nicely and accurately I will leave the belt..... for now.

Whilst re-assembling the lathe I have discovered that the previous owner used grease in all of the oiling points with nipples, thankfully everything seems to be working as it should . I have always believed that an oil should be used for lubrication on a lathe, should I use grease on this lathe or clean out the grease and oil/?

Finally I stripped the wiring cover, fan shroud etc on the motor, which is as follows;

Gryphon 0.5 HP with a cont rating of 1420 RPM and 3.4 Amps.

Could this be the original motor? Is teh very large capacitor to provide some sort of soft start? Should the motor bearings have grease in the extended oil points or oil ( I would have thought oil but I could be wrong).

Once again thanks for any advice.

Ooops forgot to say that the motor is not mounted underneath the lathe but alongside the headstock.

Edited By Ian Skeldon 2 on 12/10/2019 21:41:39

Edited By Ian Skeldon 2 on 12/10/2019 21:43:54

Hi Ian, most Boxford lathes were supplied with 3 phase motors, if your motor is a single phase 0.5 HP it may not be powerful enough for some operations. Tony on the Lathes website suggests that at least a 1 HP should used for single phase, which is what I have on mine and I have not had any issues with the lathe being underpowered or the motor getting overheated when being used all day.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 13/10/2019 08:14:08

Thanks Nick, I will have to think it through, it's a lovely lathe to use but I am not sure I want to spend a lot on it so I will have to think it through.

Thanks Nick,

Ian

If you don't like link belts with metal fasteners, I was given some A section all plastic link belting.

For nearly a year it has been driving an acquaintance's elderly Myford lathe, apparently without problems.

So there is no need to disturb things just for the sake of it modify the drive arrangements.

Removing items, unless you absolutely MUST, could mean that you make a problem where none existed before.

"If it ain't broke; don't fix it".

Howard

The metal pin link belts not only work great but run smoothly and last a long time. The pins never touch the pulley so they shouldn't be an issue except aesthetically.

Removing the spindle because you don't like the idea of them is folly, as it can open up a whole new can of worms. It's common for the spindle bearings to be a very tight fit on the spindle so getting them back into adjustment can be very difficult.

Also be aware that whilst some spindles run on oil, many run in grease. Don't automatically assume that grease has been improperly used. Consult the manual for the machine before taking drastic action.

You don't really need more than 1/2 HP on a Boxford, 3/4 might make you feel superior. Mostly a lathe is only using a fraction of the motor rating until you insist on taking a deep cut at high speed. If you need 1HP then you are doing something that needs a bigger lathe.

+1. I ran my ME10 from new with a 1/2 hp single phase motor with no real issues except perhaps using large drills, say 20mm +, into steel at the higher speeds. Then it was probably belt slip rather than lack of motor power.

After 40 years use, I changed to a 3/4 hp 3 phase + inverter. Again no problems.

You know what, I have always had sound advice from fellow members on this forum and I think it would be wise to accept it. The lathe cuts just fine and accurate so I guess I just need to get used to seeing that belt going around and as pointed out the metal pins or studs don't touch the metal of the pulley.

As also pointed out, I could be creating a huge problem to solve a problem I didn't have, I will leave the motor for now as well as it also seems to be doing ok, I admit I am not one for heavy cuts and getting the right result is the aim.

So thank you once again for your help everyone.

My best regards,

Ian