Cleaning up my BC Ames bench lathe

[Matthew Gregory]

PS - was there a woodworking tool rest included with your lathe?

...you mean, like this lil' guy?




I think you're right - my guess is that these were intended for both wood as well as steel/metal. I'm not sure what type of speeds the pulley combinations will allow for, but hopefully we'll find out soon.

On a side note, I've got a 'manual' for this on order from a place called Ozarkwoodworker:

http://www.ozarkwoodworker.com/manuals.html

Looks like he's scoured the internet and elsewhere and offers reprints of parts charts, manuals, etc. can't wait to get it!

 

[Nat Widg]

"Thanks for returning, Nat Widg. We have a strict anti-spam policy which requires newly registered users to post 3 messages without links to prevent spamming on our forum. This affects your signature and About You profile links as well. Thanks for your understanding."

Ok, why not here. As far as I know, I can post anywhere, 3 times.
Hello everyone, I joined and lurked for several months. Now I'm posting, I'm a school teacher in Connecticut, a tech ed teacher, to be exact.
I teach engineering, drafting, machining, architecture, animation, and other design-related things. I absolutely love old machine tools- I've got an extensive shop at home (a heated 3 car garage) with woodworking and machine tools.

 

[Nat Widg]

"Thanks for returning, Nat Widg. We have a strict anti-spam policy which requires newly registered users to post 3 messages without links to prevent spamming on our forum. This affects your signature and About You profile links as well. Thanks for your understanding."

Ok, why not here. As far as I know, I can post anywhere, 3 times.
Hello everyone, I joined and lurked for several months. Now I'm posting, I'm a school teacher in Connecticut, a tech ed teacher, to be exact.
I teach engineering, drafting, machining, architecture, animation, and other design-related things. I absolutely love old machine tools- I've got an extensive shop at home (a heated 3 car garage) with woodworking and machine tools.

(2nd Post)
I'm on this particular thread because I've acquired an Ames BC lathe that appears identical to the beautiful example being restored by Matt Gregory. Matt, I really like the way your restore job is coming out. The semi-gloss black looks great next to the gleaming steel. For rust removal, I've been using a rotary air tool with scotchbrite disks. It seems to work really well. My Ames BC did not come with the separate jackshaft, but I have a useable one from an old Rivett 504 (a similar lathe in size to the Ames) that I'm mounting on a wood sub-assembly. I have 2 identical cross slides to yours, and I figured out how to take one of them apart completely for cleaning..... I intend to protect the steel after cleaning with a furniture wax/mineral oil mix. I hope this lasts the test of time.
Ultimately, I'd like to put in an electronic lead screw- heresy to some, but I'm hopeful I can do it and still preserve the beauty of the Ames BC lathe. The plain Ames has no leadscrew, and I'm not a fan of their chase leadscrew design. I'm sure buying that part separate is not cheap. The electronic leadscrew, meanwhile, can be used for all kinds of threads, and radius turning, tapers, etc.

 

[Nat Widg]

(2nd Post)
I'm on this particular thread because I've acquired an Ames BC lathe that appears identical to the beautiful example being restored by Matt Gregory. Matt, I really like the way your restore job is coming out. The semi-gloss black looks great next to the gleaming steel. For rust removal, I've been using a rotary air tool with scotchbrite disks. It seems to work really well. My Ames BC did not come with the separate jackshaft, but I have a useable one from an old Rivett 504 (a similar lathe in size to the Ames) that I'm mounting on a wood sub-assembly. I have 2 identical cross slides to yours, and I figured out how to take one of them apart completely for cleaning..... I intend to protect the steel after cleaning with a furniture wax/mineral oil mix. I hope this lasts the test of time.
Ultimately, I'd like to put in an electronic lead screw- heresy to some, but I'm hopeful I can do it and still preserve the beauty of the Ames BC lathe. The plain Ames has no leadscrew, and I'm not a fan of their chase leadscrew design. I'm sure buying that part separate is not cheap. The electronic leadscrew, meanwhile, can be used for all kinds of threads, and radius turning, tapers, etc.

Ok, 3rd post, and I like talking to myself on an old thread,
What other machine tools do I have, I ask? In my classroom, I have a Masters CNC Junior, and I'm teaching myself and select students how to go from designing a part in either Fusion 360 or Inventor using the HSM Cam plugin, post process, and then execute using 'MasterMX'. I'll probably bring in an old small Wade WW style lathe I have for small lathe operations.
In my home shop, I have a Midway Millmaster (similar to a Burke) vertical mill. I have a ShopTask chinese clone (combined lathe and small mill), a Walker-Turner 5110 wood lathe, an Ames BC lathe, a Rivett 504 lathe, a tiny WW style lathe (Wade?) and an incomplete treadle lathe, unknown origin. It looks like a Ames Chicopee kinda unit, it's a beautiful thing. If anyone asks, I'll upload photos. I would welcome any help in identifying the make and model of the 2 unknown lathes I have.

 

[hman]

Nat -
Welcome to the forum. We'll be looking forward to seeing pictures of your lathes! It appears that yours (tech ed) is slowly becoming a dying breed. Glad to hear it's still viable somewhere.

 

[Nat Widg]

Nat -
Welcome to the forum. We'll be looking forward to seeing pictures of your lathes! It appears that yours (tech ed) is slowly becoming a dying breed. Glad to hear it's still viable somewhere.

Hello hman,
My lathes are unrestored so far, so can't compare to Matthew's beautiful example. But I should upload pics of them, since 2 of the 4 lathes are unknown origin. All 4 of them lack motors and all 4 of them are missing one part or another. Tonight I am attempting to rig a motor and jackshaft to one of them, and I promise my solution won't be elegant- I'd like to get the lathes working, and then refine what I've got.
Technical Education isn't dying! It's true many schools let their wood shops and auto shops lapse around 2005, but since then the pendulum swung the other way. There was a huge national push for engineers and 'STEM' related subjects (science, technology, engineering and math)
Tech ed teachers now teach CNC, CAD, computer repair & electronics, programming, and robotics. There's actually a shortage of teachers!
In Connecticut, about 1 in 5 jobs are technical in nature, so we are arguably extremely important for all the students who aren't suited for desk jobs and paperwork. I've sent lots of students to engineering schools, as well as architecture and animation schools.

 

[hman]

It's very good to hear that technical education is doing well. You have my utmost respect.

We'll be looking forward to any photos you care to post. No worries about elegant .... but in fact, anything that works well is elegant in at least that respect.