101 things to do with an Adept Lathe

101 things to do with an Adept Lathe

Blue-sky thinking involves a group of people looking at an opportunity with fresh eyes. As many ideas as possible are generated in an ideas generation session where no ideas are rejected as silly.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 02/03/2014 14:45:44

Scrap it and buy something decent so any learning curve is not an exercise in futility ?

Does that count as blue sky thinking ?

Given that it's the only response that I've had

(a) "Yes"

(b) as a Moderator, please feel free to delete this thread.

MichaelG.

You seem to be quite Adept at blue sky thinking John.

Len.

Are you pissed ?

Hi
Although I was aware of the Adept previously I was sufficiently inspired by this thread to look at Lathes.co.uk entry for the Adept which leads me to say don't scrap it as John S suggests.
The old adage "The sum of the parts is greater than the whole must surely apply" as I gladly parted with a fair sum of money to acquire a small X-Y table courtesy of H.Wshop that I now recognise as being the saddle and cross-slide from an Adept.
I'm looking to use it to provide the traverse movement in my quest to make a 4 facet point grinder for mini drills. The dilemma is "Do I now search for the remainder of an Adept or stick with my Proxxon?"

Bob D

i would agree with John Stevenson, except perhaps use it as a grinder. i dont know anyone who has built anything successfully on an adept lathe.

cheers,

julian

Hmm Bob

| "The old adage "The sum of the parts is greater than the whole must surely apply" "

I always thought it was " The whole is greater than the sum of the parts" - and, using MichaelG's searching investigative techniques, it does seems that this quote was originally made by Aristotle and is the correct one. However that is of little consequence other than to pass the remainder of a dull, wet, miserable Sunday. In your case, Bob, if you shelled out quite a bit for your X-Y table, your quote is probably more apt!

In my book the best use for a Super Adept lathe would be to carry out a careful restoration during which some knowledge of lathes might be learned, some skills developed and a "wish list" of facilities required for a future lathe compiled. It would also be useable for making small parts. At the end it might be worth a few bob too so it can be flogged to help finance the next lathe or, If not, then it could put on a shelf as a memory of past fun - who knows it maybe a future antique!

RANT

Will everyone PLEASE STOP TALKING ABOUT BLUE SKY ! I can't remember blue sky, I doubt that blue ever existed, and I can't imagine the sky ever will be blue. Just face up to it SKY IS GREY - at least I think it is when it's possible to see it through the rain. Lets stop chasing these wild fantasies, get out in the workshop and cut some GREY metal.

Norman

I take it the idea is not to use it as a lathe?

So assuming the owner has another lathe then using it as a tool grinder is gong to be useful, I noticed the other thread had a link to a beginners site that in turn advertised a lathe package that included a set of tipped tools which were bound to be the cheapo type that we all know are crap. So our new lathe owner is going to need a bit of HSS and a grinder.

Next it you look a the Lathes site you see it is easily adapted for milling with the topslide used as a vertical slide. This opens up the opportunity to use it for gear cutting. The first item might be a 60 tooth worm wheel to mate with a Meccano worm to make a dividing head to extend the range of wheels it can cut.

Norman,

What I was implying in my cack hand way was that the lathe is worth more sold as parts rather than as a complete machine as is seen so often with respect to bare bones machines offered through trade outlets leaving Lots of Lolly to be made from the accessories.
Perhaps if I'd known it was off an Adept I would have bid down a bit more but I was happy anyway!
So far as the Adept is concerned IMHO restoration might be an interesting challenge for an impecunious but well skilled engineer but will be forever limited in it's capacity to remove metal and handle anything of substantial size.
My personal starting point for hobby work was a 3 1/2" Zyto which I still have and treasure but it was soon supplanted by a 5" Atlas as a more appropriate workhorse. Needless to say it came at the right price and with as many extras that I could get thrown in. Holbrooks and Acme Gridleys figured in my commercial engineering.

Bob D

51 Adept lathes = 51 DOORSTOPS

50 Super Adept lathes = 50 SUPER DOORSTOPS

To be fair, they were never intended for high precision work and for lack of anything else probably enabled our ancestors to carry out (small) jobs that would otherwise not have been possible. I don't doubt that there were a few masochists who produced award winning super scale models on these.

I once saw an ancient Colchester treadle lathe in a customer's garage. In the chuck was a large nail which had been attacked by a blunt, off centre tool. The finish was everything you would expect. I did try to engage the man in conversation but he really didn't want to talk about it.

Dave

Super Adapts are like AIDS - you NEVER tell anyone.

Hi all Had one once ,made a clutch for it with an old autocycle front wheel drum brake .

Worked a treat . Maurice

Throw it out into the garden and let it rust to death.

Well Steven, you have a sense of humour and I would suggest that is a requirement for this game, so you are halfway there.

graham.

Hi All

Once upon a time in a galaxy far far away (Actually when I was a kid maybe just double figures) I used to get my hair cut at a Barbour shop where a Mr Nankervis used to cut my hair. It was an auspicious place in Elizabeth St Melbourne. A place with wood panelled private stalls and marble topped benches. shiny chrome bound dark red leather covered Barbour chairs and a patterned terrazzo floor with brass inset lines forming a pattern. Unfortunately it is no longer. Years later I was in London and while staying at the In and Out found Trumpers nearby, a relic from the past, on Curzon Street at the end of half moon street. in the west end. Even though I did not really need one I got my hair cut there too but it was not the same, There was no Mr Nancurvis to talk about metalwork and his his lathe.

Strangely this was my first contact with an Adept lathe. Not mine but the one owned by Mr Nankervis, the one that he talked of so much, how we came to talk of it is a mystery, It was clear we both loved metalworking I never actually saw his workshop but somehow our minds must have met. I could follow his conversation graphically in my mind. It was many years later before I got my own lathe. I suspect the seed was sewn by this man while getting a haircut. I always looked forward to haircuts.

Regards
John

PS: I never did own an Adept my first lathe was an old flat belt driven V bed Colchester. I had a round bed Drummond for a while but passed it on to collector.

Edited By John McNamara on 03/03/2014 12:29:32

What about-

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Dave

Edited By Hi Speed Scrap on 03/03/2014 13:12:15

have to be a little boat, it's only 1/2" centre hight

Give it that guy at harrogate who sells the pop pop boats ?

Dave, I would refer you to Mr. John Stevenson's comment 02/03/2014 16:48:26 ? (Before you edited it)

Edited By ChrisH on 03/03/2014 13:34:43