Small Historical Lathe, Small Horizontal Mill, Hand-Operated Pillar Drill, & 4x Single Phase Motors available on pay-what-you-want basis - Help me with my workshop clearout!

Pretty much as per the description, I'm struggling to clear much needed space in my workshop, and these items have been sat idle for years waiting for me to "get around to" using or selling them properly.

The following items are available on a Pay What You Want basis, I'd like to get something back for them, but I'm not going to quibble because mostly I'd just like to see them with someone who is going to use and enjoy them.

Ideally collected from just south of Sheffield, but I can probably deliver for fuel money in/around the M1 and A1 corridor anywhere between Nottingham and York.

Small Lathe:

It's the tiny geared-head lathe which is listed as (and pictured in the article of) "Unknown Lathes No. 93" on Lathes.co.uk

I've run it a couple of times over the years and it's actually very good to use despite one chipped gear tooth.

Originally came from the son of the man who built it (from a casting kit apparently, with a number of accessories (3 jaw, 4 jaw, faceplate) and some provenance information (including photos of some Loco's he built with it) which I'll include with it.

I'm a bit conflicted about parting with it as it really is a lovely item, and I have had half a mind to mount it on a wooden plinth and display it on my mantel-piece over the years, but that seemed like a step too far.

So it deserves to be cared for/used by someone rather than sat on my racking in "preservation".

​

Horizontal Mill:

A "Pallas Horizontal Milling Machine Model C" (Lathes.co.uk link, you'll have to scroll a bit) 

Bought from a print-works who had been using it with a grinding wheel and jig to true up the top of metal type.

It's been fully stripped and cleaned and repainted (apart from one casting which is primed but needs a top-coat); the short lived sojurn as a grinder does not appear to have done it any harm thankfully.

It's currently still disassembled, but all the parts are retained in trays including a choice of lever or screw-feed for both X and Y.

I did have a view to permanently setting it up for cutting gears, for which it would be an ideal machine, but just don't have the space to keep it really.

I'm not willing to offer it with the motor mount I bought it with as it was clearly dangerous, but fabricating something less finger-remove-y should be straightforward.

​

Hand/Flat-Belt Operated Pillar Drill:

Similar situation to the horizontal mill, has been disassembled, cleaned and primed for final painting but no space/time to re-assemble.

Has mechanical and hand down-feed by screw and two drilling speeds, as a drill it was an alright user that could maybe do with a new chuck/chuck jaws.

It strikes me that it would probably be a nice item for driving from a small steam/gas engine for demonstration purposes at rallies once painted.

​

Motors:

4 off single phase motors.

• 2 x 0.75 HP foot mounted,
• 1HP & 3 HP with lever operated clutch/break and anti-vibration mounts.

All running smoothly when last tested, but surplus to requirements.

Edited By Jelly on 21/03/2023 16:10:55

Edited By Jelly on 21/03/2023 16:11:55

Small Horizontal Mill is now [provisionally] claimed.

Hi Jelly, very nice items as I would expect from an experienced Engineer... The silver motor with arm is a industrial sewing machine, with clutch (disc friction) as operated by the lever, originally operated by the foot board and lever, it might run's fast but pulley could be changed ;a useful feature, shame more sphase motors don't have that feature!

Kind regards

Vic

A very generous offer.

Lathe also provisionally claimed.

Not heard back from my the response to the chap who initially asked about the Mill, so it may still be available if anyone is interested...

Follow up post, the lathe has now found a new home.

The mill is reassembled but seeking a new owner still.

I should be clear that under the idea of "pay what you want" I would be entirely happy to let this go FOC to someone who will get good use out of it (I had always thought it ideal to pair with one of the GH Thomas small dividing heads for making gears and such, with the lever feed and all)...

Edited By Jelly on 03/04/2023 18:26:35

Hi Jelly, I have sent you a personal message.

Thanks, Alan.

Intriguing, that Pallas milling-machine.

it looks fundamentally the same as my Denbigh H4 I am part-way through setting back into use, with really only detail differences.

One is that the slits in the top of the casting, for clamping the over-arm, are horizontal on mine; and the clamp-screws are studs on which run neat handles, rather than ordinary nuts .

Also the knee screw is operated by a handle on the knee, not directly on the screw itself.

The more basic small Denbigh mills had lever-feed but mine has conventional leadscrew handle and power-feed (missing - I'll have to design and manufacture a suitable replacement). Strange screw pitches too - 6TPI.

I have seen another, perhaps even nearer the Denbigh, but branded "Patrick" if I recall correctly. (It was displayed at Sandown Park so, ooh, ten years ago?)

Mine is actually branded as a "Trident" but after some careful examination, appears to be identical to a Pallas apart from the name cast into the door.

I would be unsurprised to learn that the castings for all four brands came from the same foundry, with minor modifications like the name on the door casting, not unlike the situation with chinese mini-lathes today where a number of manufacturers make similar products from the same source of castings, but machine and assemble those castings differently introducing small variations.

.

It's remarkably well made for what it is really, despite being extremely basic...

Although the one time I did run it as a mill it became apparent that it needed to be, as with a side and face cutter mounted, it really will chew through material at a rate far exceeding what a (physically rather larger) modern vertical mini-mill could dream of.