Cleaning up a Coronet Major

[justinpeer]

After my other thread about the chucks, I figured I'd start a new thread to cover everything I'm doing to clean up the Coronet Major I've been given and keep everything in one place. There's bound to be questions and it seemed best to have a single thread instead of creating new ones each time.

I was given the Major by a friend's family after their dad passed away. I've not done any turning before so it'll be a learning process. The lathe has been sitting in my workshop for a little while until I could get started. I've built a fairly solid stand for it and started cleaning it up. I have some evaporust arriving this weekend but today I changed out the main belt which was old and had chunks missing from it. The belt was bought from Derek Pyatt along with a couple of spares such as the saw guard. The belt is segmented riveted leather of a type I've not seen before. I kept removing links until it was a suitable size, I expect there will be a certain amount of stretch as it beds it. Bit of a sod to remove the links (needed a bolt cutter) and then fiddly to get it connected again but seems to be running, although it just still touches the back of the machine with an annoying noise so I may look at one of the more modern, thinner segmented belts if I can find one that fits.

The bearings were a bit noisy so I added some 30w oil, filling up the little reservoir, and ran it but the oil started coming out of the bearings. Not sure if this is normal and you just add a small amount every so often or if it's a sign the bearings are shot. I couldn't see a way to oil the bearing on the other side of the saddle, so not sure how you might lubricate that one.

I'll add more as I work my way through this project and would welcome any suggestions along the way as I know there's a few folks on here that have the machines.

The Major

New belt fitted

Oil leaking after filling a couple of times.

Here you can see the oil cap on the right hand bearing but there's nothing similar on the left side.

 

[justinpeer]

First step done, cleaned up the main bar. A finishing sponge and wd40 followed by brake cleaner and some paste wax, everything slides smoothly now.

I managed to get the centre out of the tailstock piece, it was solidly gummed in there. the taper has some rust and something that looks like varnish that is very hard. it's going to need cleaning off the taper and off the inside of the taper, not sure how best to do that, I'm thinking brake cleaner and a brass brush, I've got a small round one that might do the job.

Then there's the rest of the tapers and the chucks to clean up. I have a stainless wire brush on a grinder and thinking of using that which shouldn't damage the surface. Not sure how best to clean the Jacobs chucks and the lathe chucks. Possibly take them apart as far as possible and then solvent to clean and wire brush for anything that won't come off. I have a chuck key on order so can attack that chuck next week when it arrives.

oh and the centre for the tailstock is just a metal point, is a spinning live centre better or does the friction at a point like that not amount to much? Thanks.

 

[justinpeer]

Another couple of hours in the workshop today. Cleaned up the tapers and chuck with the wire wheel, filed and then sanded the tool supports so they're smooth and then cleaned out the taper sockets with some fine wet and dry and everything seems to be looking good. Still need to figure out the bearings.

Need to find out how best to lubricate the chucks as they're a bit sticky. Also, the headstock doesn't have a through hold to be able to knock out a taper if it's stuck, any thoughts on how you remove that short of getting a screwdriver and a hammer and getting that behind the head of the taper and hitting it, which seems a little brutal.

 

[justinpeer]

Soaked the first batch of mostly old woodworking chisels in evaporust overnight, washed them off and then put them on the wire wheel to clean them up. For now I've wiped them down with a bit of paste wax and put them away until I can use them to practice sharpening on my new grinder. Have now put a couple of batches of turning tools in the evaporust for a few hours and do the same with them, although they're a bit rustier than these were. Also, forgot to take a photo of them before they went in the liquid.

After the evaporust

After the wire wheel

 

[justinpeer]

Did most of the lathe tools today and remembered to take before photos this time. Same system again, a few hours in evaporust then wash them off and dry them before taking them to the wire wheel on the grinder and finally a coat of paste wax.

Before

After. The three on the right are stamped 'stormont'

and a nice little set of Marples.
Before


After

I had been told that it wasn't worth keeping these tools and to just buy a set of HSS tools to go forward with but these all look to be decent makes and now just in need of sharpening. I'm sure a set of HSS tools would be lovely to have but there's several hundred pounds worth of decent tools that I just need to sharpen and should keep me going for a while

 

[justinpeer]

2 of the final three tools done. These are larger Sorby tools and were the most rusty. I've cleaned them up as best I can but these are quite pitted all over. Not sure if it's possible to use them if they're sharpened or if the pitting is just going to prevent the edge being smooth enough to be useful, any thoughts?

 

[Richard_C]

The old turning tools should be fine, if they are carbon steel not hss take care not to overheat them as you sharpen or you lose the temper, you can get just as good an edge. I wouldn't worry about a bit of corrosion, get started with what you have then you will get a good idea if what you might want in future. You will find information online about sharpening high carbon steel.

I don't know that lathe, but in general terms some bearings were 'leaky' by design. As long as they don't run dry or spray oil everywhere why not just get it going and keep an eye on it before you spend money.

 

[justinpeer]

Thanks Richard. I'm used to sharpening my woodworking chisels and plane blades but have used Waterstones for those in the past. Given that I haven't had to pay for any of the turning equipment so far, I treated myself to a new grinder with CBN wheels and a wolverine jig and will watch for overheating. I'm currently watching Richard Raffan videos on sharpening before I make a start.