Seneca Lathe

PHPaul

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Got involved in a project that was just too big for my Grizzly benchtop (never heard that one before, right? :rolleyes: ) so I went to visit an acquaintance of mine from my volunteer firefighter days. I knew he had a mid-sized lathe and planned to see if I could rent some lathe time from him.

Turns out he now has a half-dozen lathes, only 2 of which see any use to speak of. I was more than welcome to fire any of them up, or...

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For $50 I could take this one home with me. Old Seneca from a line shaft shop converted to motor drive. Came with all the important bits: tail stock, 3 jaw chuck, tool post, threading gear sets, Jacobs chuck and a bunch of stuff I'm not entirely sure about:

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Spindle bearings seem tight as far as a "grab and wiggle" test goes, ways appear to be in good shape, fired it up and no odd noises until I engaged the threading drive. Sounds like gear lash needs snugged up a bit. It had been "converted" for use as a wood lathe but all the other parts were in a crate under it.

AND, he helped me load it up from his shop and followed me home to help me unload it into my shop/garage! What's that old saying about blind hogs and acorns? :p

Two questions pop up immediately: How to identify the model number and where I might be able to find literature on it.

I'm sure I'll be back with questions as I clean this thing up and check it over.
 
You see so many people looking for "information" ??? You have what looks like a nice lathe, just use and enjoy it; it is much like my 9" Monarch lathe. I assume it is a (Seneca Falls) machine, not uncommon. What I would do is to set up a saved search on E Bay, if anything pops up, you will be given notice of it. Coincidentally, I see two references to Seneca Falls lathes at the bottom of this page!
 
Thanks for the tips.

So far the only problem I've found is that the captured nut for the compound feed screw (hope that's reasonably correct terminology...) is missing.

The 3 jaw is a little rough and badly mis-timed with one jaw off about 1/4" when the other two are closed. I have it apart cleaning it up and should be able to re-time it when I re-assemble it.

Question: What lube, if any should I use on the ring gear, bevel gears and jaw mating surfaces when I put it back together?

According to the leg casting, it's a #30.
 
Hey, thanks for the tip on the POTM. Mine is a Star 30 so that thread will be VERY helpful!
 
There are several Seneca Falls catalogs available at the Vintage Machinery website.

http://www.vintagemachinery.org/mfgIndex/detail.aspx?id=734&tab=3

I have had a Star #20 machine for over 20 years. It's a good machine, but a bit slow by todays standards. Take a look at the specifications pages and you'll see most have a top speed of around 600 to 800 rpm. There have been some who like to make them go faster, however I would caution against it if you want the machine to last.
 
Thanks for the tips.

So far the only problem I've found is that the captured nut for the compound feed screw (hope that's reasonably correct terminology...) is missing.

The 3 jaw is a little rough and badly mis-timed with one jaw off about 1/4" when the other two are closed. I have it apart cleaning it up and should be able to re-time it when I re-assemble it.

Question: What lube, if any should I use on the ring gear, bevel gears and jaw mating surfaces when I put it back together?

According to the leg casting, it's a #30.
A light molybdenum grease should be fine; don't over grease the face of the scroll, unless you want to wear it. Timing the jaws should not be difficult, the jaws are stamped with a number that matches a number on the chuck body, find the leading edge of the scroll and start #1, rotate the scroll and start #2, rotate and then number 3, that should put it in time.
 
Got the 3 jaw apart, cleaned, lubed and reassembled. Also got the motor and belt drive reattached. I need to check the speed with my tach, seems kinda fast.

Next step is to indicate the chuck.
 
What is the rpm of your motor? Mike
 
What is the rpm of your motor? Mike

Haven't looked yet but it sure seems to be too fast. That's one of the things I'll look into tomorrow. At the very least I can go with a smaller pulley on the motor, it has a 4" on it.
 
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