Hegner lathe restoration

[Escudo]

Hello fellas,

I picked up the second hand Hegner lathe earlier this week. Members may remember I purchased this from the ebay a month or so ago.

The lathe runs nicely but is in a tatty state, the previous owner admitted that it had not been used for years. I am sure with a bit of effort maybe one or two new components it will be looking great.

Here are a few pictures;













I wonder what the best approach is to restore the lathe? Ideas and suggestions welcome.

The surface rust looks quite pitted on the bed in a few places. How aggressive should I be to remove this? Lots of elbow grease, perhaps a sander?

I can clean up and re paint where necessary. The main bearing housing ring looks very rusty, perhaps I could replace this and maybe the tail stock centre sleeve.

I am happy with my purchase and I am already looking forward to restoring the lathe.

Regards, Tony.

 

[Wood spoiler]

I am sure that once sorted we will see many masterpieces being born on the fine looking machine.

I have no experience to be able to assist. However, the thought occurs that quality manufacturers are often keen to support their brands. Is it worth contacting Hegner, outlining where you are with the lathe and asking if they can help or make suggestions and perhaps a copy of the manual

Good luck with it and maybe post piccies as you go along would be good

 

[Blister]

Tony

If its the cosmetics that worry you best get some wet and dry and WD40 type product with either a flatting block or a ROS , wipe the beds down with some spirit , dry and give them a good hard wax treatment so the tail stock slides nice and smooth .

If you can get the tail stock mandrel out you can spin it up in a chuck with some wet and dry / wire wool and WD40 or do it with a long strip of WD paper and wire wool

The headstock thread protectors will again clean up or buy new from Hegner

By the time it covered in dust . sanding sealer , ebonising spray , acrylic spray etc it will look even more loved :lol: :mrgreen:

Couple of hours and a splash of paint ? if it need s it

Still a good buy :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[bugbear]

Tony

If its the cosmetics that worry you best get some wet and dry and WD40 type product with either a flatting block or a ROS , wipe the beds down with some spirit , dry and give them a good hard wax treatment so the tail stock slides nice and smooth .

If you don't mind the smell, I'd use diesel as the lubricant. It's a (very thin) oil, and is cheaper than WD40. Seems to work well IME for this purpose.

Looking at the rust on the ways, it doesn't look bad at all - and I speak as someone with long experience of buying and restoring rusty (hand) tools.

I would recommend using a fairly fine SiC paper, e.g. 240 grit, or even 320 grit. This will remove the rust as a fine slurry, which you'll need a rag to mop up every so often.

Coarse grits remove the rust quickly, but leave scratches that are tedious to remove. It's less work (overall) to remove the rust a little slower, and not have scratches in the first place.

BugBear

 

[gnu]

I have that exact lathe and would replace the bearings on the shaft as a matter af course because they if they seize they will wear the shaft which is an expensive replacemant part. Also the control box has been upgraded on later models and even if you had to replace that at £200 it isn't a fortune. The rusty bed can just be cleaned with wire wool and and applied with light oil. But they are a superb machine and I use one daily running a full time craft firm and has produced many tens of thousands of pounds in work.

 

[jpt]

As the others have said there doesn't appear to be anything that that a bit of elbow grease wont shift. I would also recommend changing the bearings as a precaution you can get them from Hegner or if you have a local bearing place from them at about half the price.

One mod I would recommend is changing it from 2 speed to 3 speed, Hegner sell the kit to do it and when I brought mine it was about £90 but it makes the lathe a much better machine.

john

 

[boysie39]

A little TLC and a bit of elbow grease and you'll have a fine tathe.
RE the bearings as JPT said go local.