Denham Junior serial numbers

I am close to finishing the rebuilding of a Denham Junior lathe that I was given, it did require some serious work to do, but we likes free. My question is, does anybody have any information regarding dating the machine from its serial number? I have the brief information from www.lathes.co.uk, but was hoping that there was more out there to enable me to identify mine more exactly as numerically it is newer than the open end of lathes.co.uk's list. Thanks for any help given.

Hi Steven,

I can't remember finding a serial number on mine when I rebuilt it. Whereabouts is it?

John

Also, does anyone else on here have a Denham Junior lathe? I'm after some images of the various brass legend plates that should be on there, most of mine are sadly missing.

Hi John,

Mine is on the tail end of the bed, on the top front face.

Hi Steven,

Thanks, I'll have a look tomorrow. I did have a quick look earlier tonight but couldn't see anything obvious.

Re the brass plates - do you mean those on the various control levers? If so, I can take some photos for you.

Mine is ex Ministry of Supply and came from the Royal Radar Establishment. A friend of mine, sadly no longer with us, bought it from a government surplus place 40 odd years ago and it sat on his garage floor all that time. It had been refurbished in Leicester before he bought it and was still covered in thick protective 'goo'

John

Hi Steven,

Ok, found a number but it's pretty much worn away. The first two digits are 10 and the third looks like a 6. According to Lathes.co.uk that would put it around 1958 but I'm wondering if I'm reading it upside down. It must be earlier than that as it has a plate on it saying it was reconditioned in November 1955.

John

Yes, I'm looking for images for the brass legend on the right of the lead screw gearbox, I have the 'Carriage Direction' one, also the 'A-B-C' one. I'm also looking for an image of the 'Gear combination' as that is missing too and I'd like to make something vaguely silmilar. I have the one on the saddle side as well but that's all.

i've read your account of your Denham refurbishment several times over, it has been invaluable really as when I was given mine (by a very kind donator) it was in it's bulk component parts and had seen several years outside under an old tarp. The cross slide, compound slide and tool post combo had been cobbled together from old parts and scrap, not a pretty sight at all. So thanks for posting a very informative account of you rebuild, interesting and helpful.

My serial number is stamped clearly into the bed, above it is also a Crown stamp with four numbers under that, and if I could workout how to post a picture on here I have one to show

Steve

Hi Steve,

Glad the write up was useful for you

My camera is at my brother's house at the moment (I left it in his car!) but I'll get you some photos of the plates as soon as I can.

I upload photos into an album on this site and then import them into a post using the black camera icon at the top of the reply box. Think there's been quite a few posts on how to do this.

I found an image for the change wheel plate that goes on the stand door on the web somewhere so I'll try and find out where it is. Mine doesn't have that.

Edit - just realised the changewheel chart is on the Lathes.co.uk site!

John

Edited By John Baguley on 08/08/2014 20:36:24

Thanks for that John, much appreciated. Here's the serial number position on mine, quite clearly stamped.

Here's mine at the moment, just a few small detailing jobs left to do now. The only differences That I can spot between ours is that mine has a slightly longer saddle, (I have a lead screw cover missing on the left but would like to make a lead screw indicator dial to fit here), I also have a 1" plate that is under the headstock gear assembly gearbox to increase the swing, I'm pretty sure that this is a factory modification because the end of the plate looks like it was from a casting and that the tail stock base casting is an inch taller to compensate.

As I said, when I got it the whole cross slide assembly was absolutely horrible, totally wrong. I managed to get the present cross slide from a scrap yard, but I needed to mill out the dovetail in width, make up a gib strip and machine up a new bronze cross slide nut. The lower worm screw assembly in the saddle gearbox was seized up due to rust, this was an absolute nightmare to get out, lots of head scratching on that one, but got there in the end and the power feeds work fine.

HI Steve,

That's looking very nice indeed I remember I had a right job to get the saddle gear box etc. to pieces! That extra centre height would have been useful on mine as I could have then used some big indexable tool holders that someone gave me. As it is they are too thick.

I'll collect my camera on the way home from the pub tonight and get those photos for you tomorrow.

I notice that your workshop floor is blue as well so I don't feel so bad about mine now!

John

Hi Steve,

Right, here's some photos:

I realised as soon as I took the photo of the speed plate that the serial number is on this plate! I would guess that the serial number you have found is not the Denham number but a Ministry of Supply. MInistry of Defence, or similar number. The crown would suggest this. Mine's got a brass plate on the door which says Ministry of Supply with another number on it.

Mine is 8205 making it 1943 which seems right to me.

Anyway, hope the photos are of some use.

John

PS must clean those plates up!

Many thanks for the pics John, very helpful. The only plaques that I have on it are Carriage Direction, A-B-C, Feeds In Out, and one on the top end belt guard showing belt direction. The only other witness holes from other plaques are on the front of the lower front guard, the left hand side of the headstock cupboard, top right above door on headstock cupboard, and the one on top of the lead screw gearbox. So if the number stamped in the bed isn't the serial number then I can't really date mine. The chuck speeds were faster than the legends on your Spindle Speeds plaque, so I've sourced a slightly smaller motor pulley, just as well because there was a bit of belt rub inside the guard so I guess it needed it anyway. I've attached a pic to show the 'height adjustment' plate under the headstock gearbox.

As an aside, regarding finding anything out about Denham, my next refurbishment is going to be a Walker Turner drill press, that has no serial number either. Through old manufacturer catalogues, I've managed to date it (1937-38), find out exactly what model it is, original purchase price, but also that when it was new it never came with an electric motor as standard, that was an extra!

Oh, and the floor colour was free paint, can't be too choosy

I also have a Denham Junior lathe Most of the plates are missing too but I do have the changewheel chart on the door but am missing a few wheels (25,30,100) and I really need the 30 and 100 wheels .

The tailstock is also not original and I dont have the motor mount either, had to bodge one up myself but planning to make a better one when i get some new belts.

As far as I can tell the cross slide etc are all original and everything seems to work

Dale

First of all I must apologize for my English (Google translator San strikes again) and I have to thank John Baguley for the courtesy shown to me at the time.
The description of the restoration of his lathe I was exceedingly valuable
My Denham MKII you can see the progress on the restoration of the site forun www.cncitalia.net/ section machine tools / restoration machine tools / lathe Denham Junior MKII.
In this forum Steven asked for information about the date of construction of the machine and the various brass plates.
Unfortunately, there were not even in my lathe. Trying to network and seeing them use it I rebuilt the writing and I realized making an impact with a laser sheet of PVC (???) gold that turned black where it was recorded.
I can not enter the picture of the number engraved on the slide of the lathe and the mask for the printing of labels.
If you are interested I'm available
regards Roberto

HI All.

To Add to this post I have a very old Denham Lathe I think it is a Junior. It has a brass plate on top of the Headstock it is dated 1929 and has a serial No of 3116.

As I say it is very old but seems to work fine for something which is 85yrs old.

Dave

A Keighley Lifts lathe will be in the February MEW reader's ads at an exceptionally good price 'old but serviceable'. I can't comment on condition or accessories.

Neil

I used my Denham last week to finish turning the treads on some wheels for a 7.25" B1 for a chap at our club. I thought it would be a doddle but couldn't avoid chatter when turning the flange. I finished up having to turn the faceplate by hand to get a decent finish. Maybe the 30 rpm bottom speed wasn't slow enough for this job or there may be a bit of play in the two big angular contact ball bearings at the chuck end of the spindle. I changed all the other bearings in the head when I rebuilt it but these two seemed ok. At 3.5" od I think it would probably cost an arm and a leg to replace them!

John

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I am considering buying one of these Denham lathes.

What I need to know though is how deep are they. I mean front to back, the allocated space is quite narrow but plenty long enough.

Thank you,

Ivy.