new lathe ...can someone identify it?

hi im new to this forum ..ive just bought myself a new lathe on ebay ....could someone please give me an idea of the maker? its working size it 8 inch by 12 inch

thanks oli

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Hi Oli

Can't help you with a makers name, but the feet look fairly distinctive which might help - your best bet is a trawl through the lathes.co.uk website. If you can't find it there Tony Griffiths might put it pictures of it on the site under "unknown lathes" in the hope that someone might shed some light ob it origins.

Keith

Looks a bit liek a Zyto but there were a lot of very similar lathes built around that time, as keith says look on lathes.co.uk

http://www.lathes.co.uk/page21.html

J

Hi Oli, I think you'll find it is a Portass or one of the many Portass variants. Try looking at the Bonds Maximus or RandA on Tony's web site, click on the links below to get strarted.

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

http://www.lathes.co.uk/randa/index.html

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 22/02/2012 20:22:58

thanks guys im inclined to agree with maybe bonds maximus but will keep looking

i havent picked it up yet but bought it to use to build/ modify my own lathe if it cant be got working ...but for 25 quid it was worth it even if i only end up using the odd bit off it

Hi Oli

I have one of these that I've owned for about 35 years. Mine's got "Portass" cast into the front face, otherwise it's pretty much identical to the Bond's Maximus which looks as if it was a rebadged Portass anyway. Haven't used mine for the last 25 years but it served me well when I was a boy and I did all kinds of stuff with it. What it lacked in features I made up with enthusiasm!

Like mine, your headstock bearing looks as if it has been overtightened and the cast iron fracture has some form of repair. The top slide / cross slide is missing as are the back gears. The Bond's Maximus article gives the best idea of what yours should look like in terms of missing parts etc. You have only a few change wheels but I think they are a fairly common pitch.

My leadscrew nut was stripped, so I bored it out and fitted 2 brass machine screws that mated with the square threaded lead screw.

The only difference I can see is the fact that yours has vee-belt pulleys. Mine came with flats and I machined vees into them later.

Looks as if yours has had a hard life!

Murray Edington

the headstock bearings are pretty worn ..would any body know whether its better to have plain bronze bearings or upgrade to a new roller bearing system?

thanks

Good grief, not the Murray Edington, previously of Cambridge? Welcome to the mad house, sorry I meant forum. I had no idea, you sure kept quiet about that diddy second lathe!

Regards,

Andrew

the headstock bearings are pretty worn ..would any body know whether its better to have plain bronze bearings etc

I would stick to the bronze ones for the moment

You can always do any fancy roller bearing upgrades later if it's worthwhile, and you will have a spare pair of bronze bearings if the roller ones have any issues.

My own M series bronze bearings are fine after 65 years

i know its a long shot but are there any other old lathes with compatible change gears? or someone who makes replacements or knows where to get hold of parts for old lathes like this?

thanks again ..youve all been very helpfull so far!

There are and I forget which. Got a feeling some Drummond and Myford ones will mate. However, you have to get the tooth pitch (module) right as well as the bore of the hole through the middle and the keyway - Drummond used pins instead of Woodruff keys. You'll only need a full-ish set if you want to do loads of screwcutting. I used mine for this and mine had 90% of the gears but I must point out it's not an easy lathe for screwcutting.

I agree about using bronze bushes for now. You might also need to get the headstock mandrel ground parallel if it's badly worn, otherwise it may be loose in the new bearings once installed and a pig to get in there to start with. Wouldn't be surprised if yours is badly worn.

Merry

ive got the lathe at home now and it actually doesnt seem that bad, the play in the bearings is very minimal, i cant get the chuck to open tho it doesnt have a square key hole like a conventional one, how did the standard chucks on these operate?

oli

Hi Oli, it looks like the type of chuck whereby the part with the holes in around it rotates by inserting a rod into one of them and twisting whilst holding the chuck body still.

Regards Nick.

Yes, I had one of these. You need a steel rod that fits the round holes in the knurled ring. If you had a back gear, you could engage that (with the bull gear still locked to the pulley) as a convenient way of locking the mandrel . Looks as if somebody's tightened it up good and proper in the past using a Manchester Screwdriver.

Murray

Headstock Bearings: Stick with replacing like-for-like. Apart from being much simpler to do, fitting races may need the casting boring out so much it will be seriously weakened. Also of course, if you sell the machine on in future, it may be more valuable for being original.

If you have the mandrel re-ground you'll need to make up new bearings to suit. Are the bearings adjustable? If so you may able to tighten them enough temporarily to make the new liners, having first measured the new diameter & made a Go/No-go gauge.

A better alternative would be to make the new bearings on another, good lathe of course!

Change-wheels: I asked Myford this very question as I have a 1908-pattern Drummond flat-bed lathe in need of TLC. Drummond & Myford wheels will not mesh properly. They may have the same DP & bore but apart from different keying, the pressure-angle is different. Try to find the original wheels' specs and match that; or make up a complete set separately.

\Warning: Drummond change-wheel pins are in tapered holes and driving the pins the wrong way can break the wheel.