New old lathe owner

[Lumbercraft]

I recently picked up a Harrison lathe, I believe it’s a L6 from the 50s but know nothing about lathes. Was Hopping to find an Operators manual for it

 

[cathead]

Good morning Lumbercraft and welcome to the forum. That looks like an excellent lathe to start on!
You will have a lot of fun and learn a lot along the way so I wish you the best. I see the motor is 3 phase
so you will need an RPC(rotary phase converter) or a VFD(variable frequency drive) to operate unless you have
3 phase power at your door step. A VFD would be the easy way to go and give you added speed control
in a handy small box for not too much money. Once up and running, you can add some tooling to fit your
style of operation. I'm really curious to know if the Harrison uses the metric system or is an inch lathe or
maybe even both. There are a lot of helpful folks on this site if you need assistance. Congratulations
on you new lathe!

 

[Lumbercraft]

Good morning CATWERKS LTD, the previous owner swapped out the motor for a 2 hp Leeson single phase motor

 

[Lumbercraft]

It is an inch lathe,I believe metric gearing can be added

 

[cathead]

That's great! It gives a new meaning to "plug and play".

 

[Martin W]

That's a really nice lathe Lumbercraft. Watch eBay for a manual. Someone on here may have one they could scan for you.
Cheers
Martin

 

[Canus]

Try this link for owner manual. http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=12727

 

[Lumbercraft]

Tried vintage machinery, closest they have is model L6 MK III

 

[brino]

Hi @Lumbercraft

Welcome to the group!

Nice lathe.
What's your first project?

-brino

 

[Lumbercraft]

Have just been cleaning the lathe, changing the oil, and trying to learn how it all works.
I think I mostly have it figured out, by giving it a good cleaning, taking covers of and looking at how the gears interact with each other you get to learn a lot.
I did find a couple YouTube videos that helped!
This is what it looked when I first saw it