Cleaning up a Coronet Major

[justinpeer]

Fitted a new drive belt yesterday, a more modern version of the segmented belt. However, the ½" that everyone seems to sell looks to be too big and doesn't sit down into the pulleys well enough and also rubs on the casting below it. Now have to try and find another one that's thinner, does anyone have a source for that, otherwise I'll have to take the lathe apart to fit a continuous belt.

 

[justinpeer]

Bought a correctly sized belt and fitted it, runs much more quietly now.

Had a couple of great chats with Derek Pyatt, the guru of all things Coronet who provided the thread protector, a cover for the planer, a proper manual for the lathe and information on how to adjust the play out of the bearing, which I've done. Running smoothly now.

 

[justinpeer]

Latest little update: a three jaw chuck came with the lathe which is, as far as I remember from my school engineering class, more of a metalworking chuck. Is the reason not to use a metal chuck for woodworking due to the shape of the jaws for holding a tenon on a bowl?

It's a Beco 5" model. I cleaned it up and it works just fine and might be exactly what I need for holding things like mandrels for polishing mops or sanding plates mounted on all thread or a cut down bolt if I reverse the jaws on it.

 

[niall Y]

Funnily enough, back in the distant past, before the days of dedicated wood turning chucks, Axminster used to sell 4-jaw, metal-working chucks for wood turning. From time-to-time, I still use the one supplied by them which has both sets of jaws.

I note your 3-jaw chuck has an outside gripping set in place.. I usually have the inside gripping ones fitted which I do in fact use to grip the outside of the stock. This gives a longer jaw and because it is ribbed and comes to a 90 degree angle,it digs in and holds the work firmly. Of course, the downside to using these chucks is not to get your knuckles too close to the spinning jaws, especially if they are protruding past the body of the chuck.

 

[Noel]

Great job so far @justinpeer Looks well.
BTW, what paste wax did you use on the bar/bed?
TIA.

 

[justinpeer]

Funnily enough, back in the distant past, before the days of dedicated wood turning chucks, Axminster used to sell 4-jaw, metal-working chucks for wood turning. From time-to-time, I still use the one supplied by them which has both sets of jaws.

I note your 3-jaw chuck has an outside gripping set in place.. I usually have the inside gripping ones fitted which I do in fact use to grip the outside of the stock. This gives a longer jaw and because it is ribbed and comes to a 90 degree angle,it digs in and holds the work firmly. Of course, the downside to using these chucks is not to get your knuckles too close to the spinning jaws, especially if they are protruding past the body of the chuck.

I wondered if the jaws were reversible, haven't tried yet but will have a look later. This is the only set of jaws I have with this chuck.

I've cleaned up one of the two coil spring chucks but they have a limited range of size tenon they can clamp. I'm waiting to hear back from @Morty who may have a vicmark chuck that would fit this lathe and, if not, I'll probably get a proper 4 jaw chuck at some point.

 

[justinpeer]

Great job so far @justinpeer Looks well.
BTW, what paste wax did you use on the bar/bed?
TIA.

Thank you, it's lovely bringing old tools back to life. I used ordinary Johnson's Paste Wax, a tin of which I've had for about 20 years. I've just picked up a tin of microcrystalline wax to use on tools and metal surfaces which seems to last a bit longer from what I've read.

 

[Noel]

Thank you, it's lovely bringing old tools back to life. I used ordinary Johnson's Paste Wax, a tin of which I've had for about 20 years. I've just picked up a tin of microcrystalline wax to use on tools and metal surfaces which seems to last a bit longer from what I've read.

Thanks. Haven't seem Johnson paste wax on sale for years or even the old flat tin Mansion was which was popular a long time ago.
Will look into microcrystalline wax.

 

[justinpeer]

This is the stuff I found on Amazon which was reasonably priced compared to most woodworking places.

 

[justinpeer]

Needed a belt sander today and don't have one. However, the lathe came with a belt sander attachment although it didn't work as it was very rusty and full of old gummed up sawdust. Right then 'rolls up sleeves'.

Out with the angle grinder and wire brush, some spanners and good old Henry the hoover. used the wore brush on the grinder to clean all the rust of the various metal surfaces and treated them with some wax, cleaned everything up as best I could and reassembled.

Completely forgot to take a photo of the before but here it is cleaned and spinning freely again.

Then I put the old belt back on, hooked it up to the lathe and spun it up. Moderately terrifying but did the job I needed to do. Back under the bench for now and if/when it's used again I'll fit one of the new Mirka Abranet belts I picked up cheaply from Axminster last week.

 

[Robbo3]

As I posted in the Machine Wax thread (https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/machine-wax.149597) any wax is better than no wax.
I use Liberon Black Bison clear wax because I won a tin in a magazine competition back in the 1980s. The protection lasts for months if the machine is unused. Even if the machine is used, the protection lasts longer than GT85 which I have also tried.