Beswick G5 Lathe - Top Slide

I recently purchased a Beswick G5 lathe. I'm very happy with my purchase however being a complete novice I didn't spot that it dioesn't have a top slide. I'd therefore appreciate any advice on adding one, are they standard fit, do I need a specific Beswick one, can I adapt one to fit, etc ?

Many thanks,

Neil

Post some dimensions of the ‘available space’ Neil, and I’m sure the team will come-up with suggestions for something that would fit.

MichaelG.

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http://www.lathes.co.uk/beswick/

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 11/11/2022 09:14:20

By topslide I presume you really mean compound slide as it looks like the rotating base is already there.

Later type Boxford one with the larger dials is probably an appropriate size and most likely to be findable. Usually one or two on E-Bay. Price may be an issue tho'. Early type with smaller dials is not as nice to use as the thrust bearing arrangements aren't as good.

If you are spending serious money you might as well get a good one.

Disadvantage of the Boxford type is that it will need modification to fit. Either the dovetail spigot will need alteration or removal and some arrangement for bolting down provided or a spacer plate with the dovetail added.

If you can get some measurements of how the topslide needs to fit I'm sure folk here can guide you.

Myford ones have bolt down through lugs fitting but may be too light in construction.

Denford ought to fit too.

Realistically anything off a bench mounting 5" centre height lathe could be used. All down to price, condition and how easy it is to modify. I imagine something off a Harrison L5, Smart & Brown and similar industrial machines would be too hefty.

Might be worth seeing if a suitable size can be gotten as a spare part for a Far Eastern import lathe. Generally quite nicely made and new-new has its attractions. Likely to be metric tho'.

Clive

Edited By Clive Foster on 11/11/2022 09:59:17

It would be really worthwhile to talk to the previous owner and track down where the original topslide went to when that rather newish looking quick change toolpost was installed in its stead. Chances of finding a Beswick topslide are very slim as they were not a common machine.

Meanwhile, you can carry on using it as is just fine. You only really need the topslide for turning tapers and sometimes for measuring off lateral movement, which can also be done with a graduated handwheel on the main leadscrew, or these days with a DRO. The "Gibraltar" toolpost set up like you have is actually more rigid for taking heavy cuts, using carbide tooling etc.

Thanks for everyone's advice. The previous owner added the toolpost but top slide was missing when he got it. It's not a major issue to use the main leadscrew, it works fine but it's just a bit clunky/ratchety to use (presume some gear wear). I'll live with it for now but keep an eye out on Ebay for a solution.

I wonder what is inside the short column above the degree disk?

Looking at your pictures and the pictures on lathes.co.uk, which has a angular rather than round piece there, both feature a horizontal bolt facing towards the centre. This is very similar to the Boxford arrangement. Which suggests that the top slide fixing may also be via a dovetail spigot with an angle ended clamping "pin" driven in by the bolt to engage the dovetail locking the top slide in place.

Might be a good idea to loosen the bolt to pull things apart to see what is actually under there and take measurements. This tends to be a bit tricky on Boxford / SouthBend style machines because the angle ended clamping pin often needs some gentle persuasion to move back far enough to clear the wedge of the dovetail spigot.

If the stars align and you are really lucky it might be the same size as a Boxford one. If so it would seem prudent to cancel your lottery ticket subscription!

Unfortunately closer examination suggest that it may be the other way up with the dovetail spigot on the cross slide.

Clive

Edited By Clive Foster on 11/11/2022 13:43:22

Thanks Clive,

here's a few photos...

Neil

Nice pictures.

That's the spacer between the toolpost and cross slide. So its too tall to put a top slide on.

The interesting part will be what holds it down onto the cross slide. The two bolts going in from the side strongly suggest that there is indeed a dovetail spigot on the cross slide itself for angle ended pins to engage in. If so when the bolts are done up the pins will engage in the dovetail spigot simultaneously stopping it from rotating and pulling the top slide firmly down onto the cross slide. Effectively the inverted version of the Boxford system.

A system like this would possibly be the best outcome as whatever top slide you obtain only needs a simple thick walled ring attached to its base with suitable holes bored and part tapped for the angle ended pins. Relatively straightforward to make.

This sort of dovetail spigot systems is quite common on small machine tools and associated equipment where things have to be held down and stopped from rotating.

Clive

Thanks for the advice Clive. I removed the spacer & found dovetail underneath (see photo). It's 1 5/8" diameter, 9/16" high & base is 2 3/4" below centre. Any thoughts as to solution ?

Many thanks,

Neil

A very standard fitment for many small lathes. Denford, Boxford, Atlas to name but three.

Personally, I would try to find a cross slide/compound assembly and transplant the whole thing. That short cross slide design is prone to wear and not very rigid. A more modern, longer type will improve your work.

Neil

Yay. Result. Now you are cooking with gas!

Unless someone here knows of a direct replacement, you will need to bolt a spacer bored to go over the dovetail with suitable locking bolts to the base of whatever top slide you obtain. Spacer could be a ring directly copied from the lower part of your existing "direct to tool post" one or a more rectilinear part like that shown on the lower part of the Beswick page at lathes.co.uk **LINK**

http://www.lathes.co.uk/beswick/

Make the thickness of the spacer such that yor new spacer and cross slide assembly is a similar depth to your existing spacer. If possible err on the shorter side. Most small lathes could use a little more room to accommodate thicker tool bits, especially when a Quick Change system is fitted.

For what its worth Boxford (and SouthBend) cross slides are just under 1 1/2" thick. Nominally 1 7/16", 27 mm (near enough) according to the SouthBend tooling data. I think you will have just enough room to swing the base casting in the lathe to turn off the existing male dovetail. Hacksaw most of it off first I think. Maybe leave a very short parallel spigot to help align your spacer. Small clearnce space above the male dovetail. The wedge pins pull the assembly down so the base is hard against the cross slide so it all locks in place..

All in all not an unreasonably ambitious project. So long as your spacer flat with both sides parallel and the bore perpendicular and to size it will all work out.

But do make an effort to get your zero mark to correctly align with the rotational scale. Fit a separate plate for the mark I think. Either adjustable or sacrificial if the first attempt comes out off line.

Clive

PS

Pete :- Boxford and SouthBend are the other way up with the dovetail on the top slide and clamp bolts on the cross slide. Atlas, Denford and Viceroy are same way up with clamp bolts on the top slide, be nice if the size of either were right but unfortunately loose top slides are rare.

Edited By Clive Foster on 13/11/2022 11:46:49

Yes I meant standard 'type' of fitment. The odds of actually fitting a non-native one are vanishingly small.

Pox! Finger trouble on last post.

Boxford / SouthBend top slide is near enough 37 mm thick not 27 mm!.

Pete may be a bit pessimistic in assessing the chances of finding something matching as vanishingly small. There is a lot of commonality in surprising places between machines of that era say 1930's to late 1950's. I suspect a lot of designers simply copied dimensions that were known to work and concentrated their creativity elsewhere.

Picking up on the wear issues with short cross slides I wonder if the long cross slide castings that can be found for Boxfords might fit the Beswick dovetails. The base of the Boxford / Southbend cross slide dovetail is 1.525" wide. I have no figures for the top, much easier to measure.

Clive

A quick check on ebay shows some overpriced Yyford cross slides but note they have a line of bolts visible down the length just off centre. This holds a wide cast iron 'filler' piece which you can see on the underside photos which gives some opportunity for making a version to suit your lathe.
Otherwise I'd suggest just making a square plate 5/8 thick to match your spigot. If you look at most topslides they are just for mounting on a flat surface with 2 or 4 bolts through wings on their sides, You could even get a new one for a far eastern lathe that fits,

TOP slide alert in the for sale section.

Model Engineer (model-engineer.co.uk)