Hafco AL900A lathe, is anyone able to identify what it really is?

Ah the two round black things, now I see it the LH one is only half black. are they for the headstock bearings? Don't know where the filling point is.

Are they really as black as they look, oil might need draining and flushing, Not surprising it's probably pretty old. should be a small screw possibly SH grub screw where the bottom of the bearing housing would be,and a similar screw at the top.

Mitutoyo is / was a very good brand, give it a good soak and carefully take apart, have you ever taken a mic appart? clean, re-assemble and adjust should be good for a long time.

The drill bits likewise just soak them and clean and sharpen. the newly sharp cutting edge is the only critical part. I'd go easy on the wet and dry, it will remove metal. Try a tooth brush and a plastic scourer, won't remove any metal. The MT should be fine as long as you remove any soft rust and gunk, a few pit holes won't change anything. as long as they fit snug in the pockets they'll be fine.

If the new thread chart fits, go for it.

You've got a lot of stuff, just needs cleaning and sorting, find a cabinet to store it all in as you go. all you need is some cutting tools You don't have any HSS or carbide tips. As soon as you identify those tip holders you can order some inserts, You should probably also get some HSS toolbits, and a holder if you don't have one 5'16" is probably a good size. have a look at The Diamond Tool holder at https://www.eccentricengineering.com.au Also for most tools try General Tools, the're at Cavan, I was out there today picking up a few bits. https://generaltools.com.au/ I believe they have a new online ordering system only been up and running a couple of weeks.
 
Another source of cheap steel and it is round, sort of. The round pins that are used as hinge pins on excavator buckets. have to be replaced regularly as they wear out quite quickly. good strong steel, but not really hard like axles.
 
In your photo you should notice the small holes at the top of the bearing bosses, this is where you add ISO 68 spindle oil and fill the sight glasses to half full. I would open the drain plugs, which I don’t see in any of your photos. So carefully pull the sight glasses straight out and watch for the o-ring! The oil will fall onto you toes for that extra special shiny nail finish. Once drained reinstall the glasses and top up again. Who know what is in those bearings today. May want to flush a couple times. They use only a couple ounces per bearing on average.

I circled the one I can see in your photo.
04350F38-1EA1-42E0-AD26-71CB24FAC068.jpeg
 
Inox. Google it. should be 3 or 4 places in the hill that sell it. I get the 5lt bottle and have a couple of squirt guns around the place use it on everything. replace WD40 CRC etc with it over 25 years ago.
 
Everyone, thanks for your replies, for some reason I did not get the email telling me that this topic had new content, so will address each reply.
 
Bob

1) No, that is just a photo lighting issue. RHS glass is full to the top line, nice coloured oil. LHS has just a bit of oil at bottom of glass, suspect reservoir is actually empty.

2) Mitutoyo mic lives to fight another day, cleaned up nicely with one small rust area on the 0.1, 0.2 graduations, can be read ok but just have to
be wary.
Other mic was a Moore. G has surface rust, but mic part is ok. Was 1 thou over reading and could not get it to O. In the end decided that the G was slightly sprung so resorted to banging it on vice - gently (I can see all of you cringing). After about 15 increasingly heavier bangs it zeroed nicely and passed repeated tests.
Both are 0 to 1" versions.
Then there is a boxed Chinese 0 to 1" and a boxed Chinese 0 to 2", both good as new, just Chinese though.

3) No screw at top, just a hole. I think I will put some flip top oilers in the holes to keep dust and grime out.

4) Points noted thanks.

5) A project will be to make a new plate. The old one is beyond hope. I have found that there is a clear sticker material that printers use. You do whatever graphics and print out on paper, then photostat that to clear material and stick to alloy, then another layer of clear over the top. Unless someone tells you, nobody notices that they are not originals. Advantage is if they get damaged, just peel and apply another lot.
The previous owner had a bad habit of hanging chuck key on thread selector handles, that is what did all the damage.

6) Update, I have found both 1/4 and probably 3/8 HSS tool bits of varying lengths at bottom of drill tray. So bonus!
I seem to have somewhere around 15 to 20 morse taper bits, unloved, but ok after a clean. So BIG bonus!
Several hooked HSS boring bars, look to be 5/16" stock.
Some carbide triangles, but nearly all have chipped points so am assuming they are now useless?

Jumping to conclusions here, but included was a spray can of Treflex cutting oil. It seems that this was used with most of the drill bits and is both the reason that they were filthy and the reason that they were not rusty.
Likewise the slide ways on the lathe.

Been doing a lot of cleaning this arvo.

7) Thanks for links.

Regards
Doug

Ah the two round black things, now I see it the LH one is only half black. are they for the headstock bearings? Don't know where the filling point is.

Are they really as black as they look, oil might need draining and flushing, Not surprising it's probably pretty old. should be a small screw possibly SH grub screw where the bottom of the bearing housing would be,and a similar screw at the top.

Mitutoyo is / was a very good brand, give it a good soak and carefully take apart, have you ever taken a mic appart? clean, re-assemble and adjust should be good for a long time.

The drill bits likewise just soak them and clean and sharpen. the newly sharp cutting edge is the only critical part. I'd go easy on the wet and dry, it will remove metal. Try a tooth brush and a plastic scourer, won't remove any metal. The MT should be fine as long as you remove any soft rust and gunk, a few pit holes won't change anything. as long as they fit snug in the pockets they'll be fine.

If the new thread chart fits, go for it.

You've got a lot of stuff, just needs cleaning and sorting, find a cabinet to store it all in as you go. all you need is some cutting tools You don't have any HSS or carbide tips. As soon as you identify those tip holders you can order some inserts, You should probably also get some HSS toolbits, and a holder if you don't have one 5'16" is probably a good size. have a look at The Diamond Tool holder at https://www.eccentricengineering.com.au Also for most tools try General Tools, the're at Cavan, I was out there today picking up a few bits. https://generaltools.com.au/ I believe they have a new online ordering system only been up and running a couple of weeks.

20180616_162552.jpg
 
Bob, thanks. Not something I am around, but worth keeping in mind, you don't know till you ask!

Another source of cheap steel and it is round, sort of. The round pins that are used as hinge pins on excavator buckets. have to be replaced regularly as they wear out quite quickly. good strong steel, but not really hard like axles.
 
Mate (don't know you name), thanks for the info. I will fit flip top oilers to those holes. Having them open just does not sit with me, especially considering how much gunk is in that area in my lathe. I suspected they may be the filler points as nothing else appeared to be. So have cleaned the holes out best I can - you have confirmed it now.
You say ISO 68, some of the manuals I have downloaded (doing the many manuals, bit of relevant info from each - trick) say ISO 20 others say ISO 32
and so it goes on. Really confused now?
I have heaps of Dexron II, but suspect it is not yellow metal safe or perhaps solder (babbit) safe. So will need to get hydraulic oil once I know which
ISO?
I will do the multi flush as you suggest.

Regards
Doug

In your photo you should notice the small holes at the top of the bearing bosses, this is where you add ISO 68 spindle oil and fill the sight glasses to half full. I would open the drain plugs, which I don’t see in any of your photos. So carefully pull the sight glasses straight out and watch for the o-ring! The oil will fall onto you toes for that extra special shiny nail finish. Once drained reinstall the glasses and top up again. Who know what is in those bearings today. May want to flush a couple times. They use only a couple ounces per bearing on average.

I circled the one I can see in your photo.
View attachment 269798
 
Next question. On top of apron/carriage there is an oil filler plug, very nicely marked "Oil". But no sight glass and no obvious drain plug.

So how do I know how much oil to put in there?

None of the manuals mention quantity.

Providing I can find a drain point I will multi flush that too.
======
Oh, other success was a magnetic base dial indicator. I was sure from the last time I was around lathes (about 3 decades ago) that they were spring loaded to give a dynamic run out reading. This thing was quite firm and stayed where ever I pushed it to. Hmmmm. Gave it a liberal dose of WD-40 (no INOX yet) and got it working. Chuffed!
It does however want to rest at 20 thou before zero and is at full travel 20 thou after 1". Is that normal?
20180616_162331.jpg
 
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A quick change too post has been retrofitted at some point. Seems to be a mixed blessing. There is a through hole with a counter bore at the top, whatever that is for?
There is no indexing, but I did retrieve a spring out of a hole in the cross slide, but no ball. :-(
So went in search and found the original tool head. It has 4 nice index slots.
I think I feel a need to upgrade the quick change head to 4 index bores and reinstate the missing ball.
20180616_150441a.jpg
20180616_150457a.jpg
 
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