E.J. Flather Mfg. Co. Automatic Gear Cutter

[forhire]

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I recently acquired E.J. Flather Mfg. Co. Automatic Gear Cutter. It looks complete with all the change gears. It is of course dirty. I still need to get it powered so I can begin to learn how it operates. So far I have been only a able to dig up some advertisements from back in the early 1900's. Anyone have a user manual or operating notes?

 

[Martin W]

Great score! If only machines could talk. Would love to hear the history of this machine.
Thanks for posting pictures
Cheers
Martin

 

[Bob Korves]

There is a considerable learning curve in getting those machines making good parts. It takes study, understanding, and persistence. There are several posters on this forum who will be able to help you with getting it operational again. I am not one of them, though I have done some study of how they work, but not that specific machine. That is a very old one. One of the members here, a friend, has a Flather lathe, pre 1900. Nice machine you have there, looks pretty complete from what we can see... I would love to see it making gears again!

 

[forhire]

Great score! If only machines could talk. Would love to hear the history of this machine.

It has been around a while. The owner is no longer with us to ask. I'm thinking his Dad built the shop here in '35 and a lot of the equipment was in his logging camp shop prior to that. The shop had some equipment older than this. I'll have to look at electric motor more carefully but the mounting looked factory... of course a couple inches of grime make anything look original.

There is a considerable learning curve in getting those machines making good parts.

I imagine so. I wish I had asked more questions when he was alive but I never happened by when it was running. I might swing by the shop and see if the new owner kept any of the old manuals. I might get lucky.

 

[forhire]

I found the original patent. I think my head is going to explode.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US874754A

 

[Martin W]

I would think it ran off a line shaft and flat belt when it was new. The patent for indexing is very interesting.
Thanks for posting
Cheers
Martin

 

[Bob Korves]

I found the original patent. I think my head is going to explode.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US874754A

Hey, look it over for a few minutes, clean it up a little, put a gear blank in it, and get to work!
What could possibly go wrong???
Seriously, study gear making theory and practice, find people who truly understand making gearing and the old machines that make them, and get busy with getting the Flather ready again for making gears... The beauty of doing difficult things well is in the increased satisfaction from the hard earned achievement.

There is always a market for lathe change gears and other gearing products right here on this forum.

 

[benmychree]

Welcome to the world of Flather! I have one exactly the same as yours, which I just got running again after a few years of not running. I have a chart of change gears for the indexing function that I could copy for you if you do not have one. I completely rebuilt mine many years ago, top to bottom. One thing to watch out for when preparing to start it up is to make sure the rotation is correct; just very briefly bump the switch on and off, and observe whether the cutter arbor rotates CCW when viewed from it's threaded end, things can get broken if it is allowed to rotate the wrong way, this I know from experience ----

 

[Bob Korves]

I found the original patent. I think my head is going to explode.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US874754A

Forhire, contact benmychree (John York), from post 8 on this thread, via PM and be "really nice" with him. He has both the skills and the knowledge you need to get you and your machine making gears again. He has also made hundreds of gears. There are not many (maybe just one!) who have the skills and knowledge to help you with the Flather -- and he is on this forum. Take your incredible luck and get moving with it. I know John personally, and he is both the real deal and a helpful person. This is your lucky day, buy a lottery ticket, too...

 

[benmychree]

Looking closer, I see some subtle differences between my machine and yours, and I have seen a advertisement that showed another difference, a horizontally acting lever came out of the side of the feed box, through a slot on the side, I think it was used to disengage the carriage feed, something that I have to (carefully) with a lever or screwdriver through the opening on top.