Strange old lathe, any thoughts?

[ideologist]

Sorry, forgot one

 

[Ben Nevis]

It looks like I might have his little brother... A friend of mine gave me this lathe a few years ago. Unfortunately, there are no markings on it, so I have no idea who made it.
The legs are 3 1/2" high, the lathe bed is 15 3/4" long, by 3" wide, and looks to be able to turn 3" dia over the carriage. I put a 1-2-3 block in the pic to help give a sense of scale.
Hopefully, the pics will be of some help.

 

[ideologist]

View attachment 230557 View attachment 230558 View attachment 230559 View attachment 230560 It looks like I might have his little brother... A friend of mine gave me this lathe a few years ago. Unfortunately, there are no markings on it, so I have no idea who made it.
The legs are 3 1/2" high, the lathe bed is 15 3/4" long, by 3" wide, and looks to be able to turn 3" dia over the carriage. I put a 1-2-3 block in the pic to help give a sense of scale.
Hopefully, the pics will be of some help.

Thank you! I see some similarities and some differences. Can you send me some close ups of the back side of the headstock, the gears, and under the apron? Yours is missing the little decorative frills, maybe it is a newer version of mine? I don't have near as many gears as you do, so I figure threadcutting is out. Too bad you don't have the other foot for it! It's adorable, I would polish that up and keep it in my living room ha.

 

[ideologist]

Here's an example of the original color, I removed the collar that holds the crossfeed screw and this was underneath.

Also, what is this weird part - threaded at both ends, hex nut in the center, factory machined with the original green on part of it

 

[brino]

what is this weird part - threaded at both ends, hex nut in the center, factory machined with the original green on part of it

My guess is that it's a stud for the change gears to be mounted onto the left end of the headstock.
Do you have any gear to check the shoulder diameter with?

-brino

 

[Ben Nevis]

I agree with Brino, that looks like a mounting stud for a change gear.

Have you shown us all the parts you have for the lathe? If so, you are missing the back gears, and the change gears for thread cutting. Not the end of the world, the back gears are used mainly for thread cutting, but you will be able to use the lathe for everything but thread cutting.

Here are some more pics. The back gears reduce the speed by about 4 1/2 times.

The lever on the front of the carriage opens and closes the half nuts. The half nuts are shown both open and closed.
There are holes in the bed to mount a rack, which is missing, and I don't see anything on the carriage that would connect to the rack anyway, so it is a mystery to me as how you would move the it, other than using the feed screw. I suppose you could add a hand crank on the end of the lead screw, but it doesn't look like it was designed to be used that way. There is a hole in the apron, but it is in line with the lead screw, so I don't know what it is for.

I was given this lathe with most of the pieces in a coffee can, so I am having to figure out how it all goes together too.

It would look cool in the living room, (maybe as a lamp) but I don't think my wife would think much of that idea.

Besides, it is a nice little lathe, and in pretty good shape, so it would be a shame to not restore it to working condition.

 

[ideologist]

Continuing the odyssey, I am pretty sure the tailstock is all set and assembled. It has square head bolts for adjustment and mounting. The bracket fits perfectly over the bolt that helps clamp to the bed, and also the threaded nipple thing used for assembling the halves. I feel like that is done on purpose, but I have never seen anything like that...

The action is surprisingly smooth!

I'm not sure if the knob I put on the back is the right part, but I have several of them so I'll swap it out if necessary.

 

[ideologist]

I agree with Brino, that looks like a mounting stud for a change gear.

Have you shown us all the parts you have for the lathe? If so, you are missing the back gears, and the change gears for thread cutting. Not the end of the world, the back gears are used mainly for thread cutting, but you will be able to use the lathe for everything but thread cutting.

Here are some more pics. The back gears reduce the speed by about 4 1/2 times.

Thanks so much for pictures! Mine is missing a lot of parts, I'm sure. I have one 42 gear, maybe one more gear for it. There are some holes on the headstock that I don't have corresponding threads for. I'm guessing those were mounting points for gears.

Your apron and mine are totally different species. I'll take detailed apron shots. The half-nut flops around like crazy, there must be a spacer I'm missing. When it engages, it slides along the leadscrew easily. The gear that runs around the track is chewed up pretty badly, and also spins freely in a way that concerns me. I'll get those pictures.

And to brino, I do have calipers handy, I'll let you know

 

[brino]

Hi Patrick,

Sorry if I wasn't clear.
When I said "Do you have any gear to check the shoulder diameter with?"

I meant do you have at least one of the original change-gears to verify if they fit the shoulder on that stud. Just to confirm it's purpose.

(I have no need for the actual shoulder diameter measurement.)

-brino

 

[ideologist]

Hi Patrick,

Sorry if I wasn't clear.
When I said "Do you have any gear to check the shoulder diameter with?"

I meant do you have at least one of the original change-gears to verify if they fit the shoulder on that stud. Just to confirm it's purpose.

(I have no need for the actual shoulder diameter measurement.)

-brino

...lol

Well, I only have the 42 gear, I'll check it on there. Hoping to finish assembly today!