First Metal Lathe, Cleaning And Other Tips Needed!

[PAturner]

Hi, this is my first post on the forum. I've done a lot of woodturning but I have no experience with metal. I joined here because I'm excited to learn and I'm sure having this resource will be infinitely useful.
Anyway I'll try and get down to the point of this thread. I've just acquired a D. Nast machinery Co. 11" by 36" lathe. (Anybody know anything about this company? I did a quick Google search and it seems they may still be around.) My dad and I moved it and it. is. heavy. I'm sure all of the more experienced machinists know this, but for me coming over from woodworking tools I was in awe of the weight. Everything about it just screams heavy duty.

All the metal parts (ways, flats on compound, lead screw) are in great shape for a 50+ year old tool. Zero rust to speak of. But there is the usual layer of grease, grit, gunk and unpleasantness that needs to be removed. This isn't stuff that's coming off with a paper towel. So how do I go about cleaning this old beast? I was thinking some rags and mineral spirits? Or would simple green work? (I'm a rower and that's what we use to clean our seat tracks) And does anyone have a de-greaser they'd reccomend that I could grab at Home Depot? My plan now is to go over everything with something (mineral spirits/simple green/ your recommendation), then give everything a wipe with some de-greaser, then maybe some scotch brite to shine up the ways and handles and such.
I've always been bad at keeping forum posts short and to the point so I apologize for the rambling, and thank you in advance for any help.

 

[schor]

got any pictures of it?

 

[dlane]

I would think mineral spirits, real rags , brass brushes, fine scotch bright, tooth brushes,would do it
On a assembled machine. Simple green would require rinsing with water that works good on parts .
I haven't heard of that lathe till now, got a pic ?. Sounds like a good rebadged lathe.
O by the way Welcome to the forum,

 

[intjonmiller]

Mineral spirits are great for so many things (including thinning many wood finishes). The softer scotchbrite varieties and even #0000 steel wool* work very well without hurting anything, as do Scott brand blue shop paper towels (maybe other brands as well, but I buy Scott specifically because they're tough and don't leave lint when I use them on workpieces to be painted). It really depends a lot on how much work it needs. Purple Power, Simple Green, and other water-based degreasers work very well, but they strip ALL the oil off of the surface. If you aren't planning on doing a full restoration, then you don't need to go that far. A light oil film is a good idea. I don't recommend the "green" or "earth-friendly" or "alternate" mineral spirits. You want regular odorless mineral spirits. The other stuff works, but not as fast or as well. The real stuff is clear, the fake stuff is milky.

* There's a tendency for people to get uptight at the suggestion of using steel wool on a machined surface. These people don't seem to be familiar with #0000 steel wool. It's pillow soft. I use it, among other applications, to remove dust nibs from sprayed or wiped wood finishes including lacquer and polyurethane. It's barely abrasive enough to remove those surface imperfections, and other than slightly reducing the sheen (which can generally be brought back by buffing with wax) it doesn't harm the wood finish, and it won't harm your machine. Just make sure you aren't using some coarser variety, including the Harbor Freight stuff that isn't graded.

 

[PAturner]

Thanks for the tips everyone. Gonna be a bit of a job to get clean but it should be ready to cut. I have to check some things out though: the chuck won't thread on all the way so I have to clean the threads in it (tips on that?) and then I have to decide what to do about the actual powering of the spindle. The person I bought it from had it set up so that a flywheel attachment at the end of the spindle hooks up with a pulley to drive the lathe. In other terms, the flat pulley in the headstock is not used. He also never used the back gears... Needless to say I will need lots and lots of help and advice to get this back to how it should have been set up. Pics to come once I reach three posts and can figure out how to post one.

 

[dlane]

Try for a pic of drive sys, carriage, headstock, ways
Pics, if you use tapatalk use the paper clip not the camera icon ,

 

[PAturner]

Ok, I think I can upload pictures from taps talk now. It might become very clear to all of you how UNfamiliar I am with these types of tools. I realized the former owner did use the back gears.
As you can see in the first picture there is a gearbox that (without the back gears) runs the lathe at 250, 500, 700, and 1000 RPM. Looking at how people normally have south bend motors set up I think that if I mounted the motor on the raised floor you can see in the back of the pictures and then set up the flywheel to go to another pulley arbor I could switch to the traditional flat belt drive system. I now realize that the back gears once engaged will add 4 more speeds. A quick google and I taught myself how to engage the back gears.


That is the top view of the carriage assembly

And that is the view of the carriage controls.

Tailstock

Full machine picture
And lastly here is the branding- maybe someone could shed some light on who made this lathe?
And beyond that, once I find out who made the lathe, how can I figure out the different gears to use to cut threads?

Thanks for looking and thanks for any help!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PAturner]

Oh, and I have pictures of the change gears as well. Many don't look like they've ever been used.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[francist]

Hey PAturner, good job on posting the pictures!

Interesting looking lathe -- no hand wheel for carriage travel, just a ballcrank -- maybe somebody can help you ID it from that. Looks kinda oldish to me, maybe early 1900's, but that's just a feeling.
One tip for you though before you get cut to shreds by other folks, get that chuck key out of the chuck!! Bad habit to get into.

Good luck with it and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it.

-frank

 

[PAturner]

Yea, I know I should remove it- but before the lathe is even wired I'm keeping all the parts together. Wouldn't want to lose anything before the machine is turned on!
Also, would it be possible and worth it to replace the ball crank with a real hand wheel?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk