Hello from West Sussex, looking for ID for my first lathe

Hello my name is Jim and I'm from West Sussex.

I recently bought my first lathe. It looked like a little gem when I saw the listing and for £120 (not complete however) I thought bargain. Look really well made.

I went for a small lathe as I don't need anything too big and I thought it would be easier to learn with.

I can't find out any information about this lathe or who it's made by even, the only marking is U32 in the leg casting. I need to source some compatible parts and ideally the auto feed parts as they are missing.

Any info would be a massive help, thanks.

Hi Jim & welcome. Wonder if it's an early Myford, although I think they had flat belts. Someone will be along in the morning with an answer. Horlicks knocks you out. I think I decended from a tabby cat.

Steve.

Thanks for the warm welcome, I assume tabby cats sleep a lot 😆 it was a late post I will admit. I didn't intend for the pictures to be all over the place like that. I'll get the hang of it!

Hello James,

I don't think this is an early Myford, but I am willing to be proved wrong! We'll see what others think.

Kind regards and welcome aboard

Brian

The nearest to it I've seen style wise on lathes.co.uk is a Drummond but nothing identical

Portass or IXL?

The toolpost and probably topslide are Drummond as is the style of the back gear lock but not the rest of it.

On Lathes UK, "Small Unknown British Lathe no 99" is very similar, though the bed is different.

It looks a nice old machine, but don't expect too much from it. It will be difficult and probably uneconomic to restore fully. As your first lathe, if it is not too badly worn, it is worth setting it up with a motor and a countershaft, and you will learn a lot.

You don't need an auto feed to start with, but you will need a chuck, or chucks, so the first thing is to find out what thread is used on the mandrel nose and try and source a suitable backplate.

I doubt it ever had an auto-feed - but that could be overcome with modern-day electronics, if really wanted.

Personally, I would only consider a counter-shaft and motor if I had a suitable gash motor to hand. More likely fit a 1/2HP 3 phase motor (with VFD) with a suitable multi-sheave pulley and attach that as a drive.

It looks well made and may not be too worn. V (or round?) belt drive might give a clue as to maximum age.

If you are lucky, there may be suitable chucks on epay or gumtee. With luck, it may be the same as some more common lathes - thread size, pitch and form (along with the register details) posted here might even turn up a suitable candidate.

Sorry can't help with the question but welcome to the forum

H

You can see on this pic here hopefully; the slotted drive fitting in the feed screw and also off the back of the drive spindle where gears would have been. It would be nice to cut threads one day. The dovetail bed has adjustment in, although the tailstock does seem a bit worn, I can probably shim that though np.

The spindle thread is 3/4x10. When I Google that all that comes up are adaptors 😆 I assume from that, people use more common chucks with a different thread.

What size chuck would you suggest for such a small lathe? Do you want some measurements?

I have a 350W ac motor I was going to try to begin with. They are V pulleys, tiny... 7mm.

Edited By JAMES HUGGINS on 31/05/2020 16:34:40

Oh wow that's extremely close! Just seeing the dogging clutch mechanism for the auto feed will help as I can make all that up from scratch

.

Extremely close ... but not quite there

Note the comment about #99 not having bearings split on only one side.

MichaelG

I would think it uses round belts, judging from the angle of the vees in the pulleys. Leather with a simple link of bent iron wire for the join. Its hard to tell from just the pics, but a 100mm chuck looks possible. Give us the measurement from the centre of the spindle straight down to the frame. You have six speeds over a quite good range with a very strong looking back gear.

Edited By old mart on 31/05/2020 20:11:08

Edited By old mart on 31/05/2020 20:15:37

with that style of headstock bearing spindle speed doesn't want to be more than 700 rpm ish, so unless you're prepared to only use the big pulley direct driving to a little pulley on your motor, a counter-shaft is called for

Right yes I see that, I only have single split bearings. Is there a rule of thumb for tightness with that style bearing or just measure the heat?

@old mart

would you suggest a decent second hand chuck in that size of which I could get a mounting plate for with 3/4x10 thread?

@duncan

Speeds are something I'll need to learn about first. I mean turning down small diameter steel bar would probably be my main use and possibly boring thicker diameter to make tube. I've no idea what speeds Ill be needing but my thinking was I could if needed have a speed controller set up with a DC motor.

Nice looking lathe. I hope the two of you are very happy together.

It would be interesting to see some of the principal dimensions - height from the top of the bed to the centre of the spindle being the main one (easiest to measure from the bed to the tip of your tailstock centre). An idea of the overall length would be good too.

I'd guess about a 3 or maybe 4 inch chuck based on your photos... but that's guessing your dimensions from the wooden decking.

You're in need of a chuck backplate. I can't immediately see any off the shelf ones with that thread size. If you can't find a second hand one then getting from not having an imperial threaded backplate to having your first one may be a bit of a 'chicken and egg' problem because ideally you would use a lathe to machine one from a suitably sized blank and it's hardly an ideal first exercise in lathe use. Do you have any friends who could help?

.

Heat is a good indicator that the bearing is too tight and/or under-lubricated

The big problem with this style of bearing [as mentioned on lathes.co.uk] is that it is all-too-easy to over tighten the screw and crack the housing ... especially if the bearing is significantly worn.

Tread carefully: it looks a nice lathe and you want to keep it that way.

MichaelG.

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This style of belting is good: **LINK**

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12-Feet-Transmission-Belt-Watchmaker-Lathe-Jewelers-Belt-Watchmakers-PU-2MM-10MM/302149867073

Remarkably similar to the expensive Swiss product, but silly-cheap.

MichaelG.

James,3/4in. x10tpi (3/4 in.BSW) is the same nose thread used on the Drummond round bed lathes,so by keeping a look out on EBay and other sales site you might well be able to pick up chucks and faceplates that will fit straight onto your lathe without having to do any machining or modifying.