# Lathe advise - drunken ebay purchase



## kinsella (4 Jun 2014)

Colleagues
I'm sure i'm not the only one who has gone on Ebay and bought something because of the beer and the "i want one!" factor. Despite that i'm actually happy with the purchase. But some advice. 
1. which chuck key do i need? see photos with metric dimensions.
2. Does anyone recognise the model?
3. the tail stock is incomplete, i did buy as is. Anyone got a similar model to show photo of how it should look as i'm about to rebuild and a photo of what it did look like would help. Anyone got suggestions to fix.
4. Anyone got any ideas of a really cheap motor source. Will washing machine do it? Cheap as chips please.
5. Anyone know an idiots guide to work out RPM on this device. is there a formula to work out RMP motor, versus diameter of the motor wheel versus the wheels on the this lathe. Or do i just suck it and see


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## Spindle (5 Jun 2014)

Hi

For spindle speed you need to know the ratio of the circumference of the motor pulley to that of the spindle pulley and then multiply the motor speed by this to get spindle speed. Not much help though if you don't have a motor or pulley stack for it. 

You can search for details of your lathe here:

http://www.lathes.co.uk/index.html

Regards Mick


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## twothumbs (17 Jun 2014)

Hi. Domestic motor speeds are usually 1425 rpm. Old washing motors, etc are often 1/4 and 1/3 HP. These are quite adequate for your size of lathe (unless you are making a super gun or space ship). If you Google pulley/ motor speeds and pulley sizes you will find several web pages with all the info you need on sizes. Motor pulleys are about 2 or 3 inches.......oops 50 or 75mm. Hope this helps a little. Looks a nice little lathe.

Best wishes.


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## Limey Lurker (25 Jun 2014)

twothumbs":17zn2f5i said:


> Hi. Domestic motor speeds are usually 1425 rpm. Old washing motors, etc are often 1/4 and 1/3 HP. These are quite adequate for your size of lathe (unless you are making a super gun or space ship). If you Google pulley/ motor speeds and pulley sizes you will find several web pages with all the info you need on sizes. Motor pulleys are about 2 or 3 inches.......oops 50 or 75mm. Hope this helps a little. Looks a nice little lathe.
> 
> Best wishes.




Another name for washing machine motors is "suicide motors". Search YouTube to see why they are not suitable for certain applications.

But it does look a nice little lathe!

Regards


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## kinsella (27 Jun 2014)

Limey
I see what you mean. Will now just look for a belt motor only. It is, but i can't see to find a chuck key for the thing. The screw driver and drill bit method is a pain in the butt


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## bugbear (27 Jun 2014)

kinsella":uqxmumei said:


> Colleagues
> I'm sure i'm not the only one who has gone on Ebay and bought something because of the beer and the "i want one!" factor. Despite that i'm actually happy with the purchase. But some advice.



Is there a name anywhere on it (especially the casting) ? It looks very Adept/Portass/Wakefield in its features.

BugBear


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## kinsella (29 Jun 2014)

no, no marking at all, bizare, nothing at all on any face. To me its the perfect size. i only want to use it for small biits and bobs. i still don't have it working as i have to find a motor, make a new centre as its missing (which i think is easy as it goes). then i''m operational and i'll remember why i effin bough it for.


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## Eric The Viking (30 Jun 2014)

Limey Lurker":2vj0b6i1 said:


> Another name for washing machine motors is "suicide motors". Search YouTube to see why they are not suitable for certain applications.
> 
> But it does look a nice little lathe!
> 
> Regards



What about tumble dryer motors? 

Apart from reversing, basically they have one speed.

I'm hoping for a lathe, you see, but so far hell hasn't even looked slightly damp, never mind frozen over.

E.


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## Wildman (14 Jul 2014)

zyto would be my guess
http://www.lathes.co.uk/zyto/index.html
any cap start/run motor will do, 1425 RPM add a 3 or 4 step pully to a matching one on a lay shaft then final drive to the lathe.
The tailstock will have been No1 morse taper to accept a centre or drill chuck, thread on the end probably LHThread and nut/handle held in the recess. Retaining plate slotted over a groove in the nut/handle assembly. The main shaft would be keyed to stop it rotating.
I hope you can visualise it.


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## bugbear (14 Jul 2014)

Wildman":2awlnm85 said:


> zyto would be my guess
> http://www.lathes.co.uk/zyto/index.html



I've looked at that page, and none of the illustration have the right hand foot;
Indeed most small lathes have a single "pedestal" not two feet, so that may be a
good identifying feature for kinsella's lathe.

BugBear


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## kinsella (31 Jul 2014)

Wildman, you clever sod. Yes it does look very similar to the baby version on their page. Very useful. Thank you.


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## twothumbs (21 Aug 2014)

Having earlier suggested a domestic motor, I would hate to 'drive' anyone to suicide by using one or 'motor' on in ignorance.

I asked at my local motor winding guy( I got them to put a Megga test on an old motor I have just acquired) who could not see anything wrong with the safety of multi-speed motors. Now I don't know much about them but I did see a video after much searching and was not impressed but possibly I missed the main theme. It was a bit like running your car engine or any engine at high revs without a load on it. Motors, as I understand it need to have load otherwise they over rev and burn out. But I stand corrected.....and it is not my subject.

I have an old tumble dryer motor running a 10" disc sander for about 30+ years without any problems, an old motor(may have come from a milking machine) from about 50 or 60 years running a small late, a double ended motor of early vintage (given to me in 1985) running polishing mops on one end. I have never had any problems, in my ignorance, but would like to know what the difficulty is with the ' newer' motors which rely on various windings for speed control. 

Comments would be appreciated. Best wishes to all and apologies for my late contribution.


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