Where did you get the friction material from?
Harrison L5 Metalworking Lathe (1950) Teardown & Overhaul
- Thread starter Sideways
- Start date
Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:
It was custom pressed and ground with a minimum sheet size sufficient to do a number of lathes.
I may be able to help if you need enough for one.
I may be able to help if you need enough for one.
clogs
just can't decide
Sideways
has ur student a clutch or a brake....I was told u can't have both....
Mine has the brake, which was faulty....played with it for awhile but I just made it a solid drive.....
it now has a clutch of sorts....
it's just the motor now sits on a swivel plate and is raised slightly by an old ride on mower deck lift lever.....
not the prettiest thing but it was done quickly with what was laying around.....
plus it has to work for it's keep.....
gotta say it works well and the belts have never come off.....lol...
will also modify the counter balance for the splash guard in the future....that paint tin has a load of 20mm nuts in it.....lol....
should say the glass is 6mm laminated.....hate the scratched plastic look...
speaking of paint, it'd be nice to see it repainted but I kinda like the just used look.....still undecided....
but then I'd have to repait the Bridgeport and others.....
the other mod I did was to fit a new on/off switch...the old rotary was junk and the original position was scary.....
it's all a bit Heath Robinson but it works.....wont be up to Sideways or ur standard but will be revised when it finally see's the light of day....
Mine was bought used from a father /son workshop in Colchester, the old man bought it new from the factory, early70's.
When the electrics went south they just parked it at the back and used it a storage unit....
has ur student a clutch or a brake....I was told u can't have both....
Mine has the brake, which was faulty....played with it for awhile but I just made it a solid drive.....
it now has a clutch of sorts....
it's just the motor now sits on a swivel plate and is raised slightly by an old ride on mower deck lift lever.....
not the prettiest thing but it was done quickly with what was laying around.....
plus it has to work for it's keep.....
gotta say it works well and the belts have never come off.....lol...
will also modify the counter balance for the splash guard in the future....that paint tin has a load of 20mm nuts in it.....lol....
should say the glass is 6mm laminated.....hate the scratched plastic look...
speaking of paint, it'd be nice to see it repainted but I kinda like the just used look.....still undecided....
but then I'd have to repait the Bridgeport and others.....
the other mod I did was to fit a new on/off switch...the old rotary was junk and the original position was scary.....
it's all a bit Heath Robinson but it works.....wont be up to Sideways or ur standard but will be revised when it finally see's the light of day....
Mine was bought used from a father /son workshop in Colchester, the old man bought it new from the factory, early70's.
When the electrics went south they just parked it at the back and used it a storage unit....
Mine's the L5 Clogs
It definitely has a clutch. I don't think it has a brake although it does stop pretty quickly once you disengage the drive.
I like your mod to your student. Very effective. I'm sure my dad's old petrol rotavator had a clutch that worked in a similar way. It had a third simple pulley that pressed on the back of the V belts and tensioned them. The clutch lever just took the tension off this idler pulley to slacken the belts.
Pimpdriver
New member
Hi Sideways,
Great right up, I have just used you photos to help me set up the tailstock on my L5, it was great to see one in bits, before I took mine to bits. I have just added a DRO to mine, works great and surprisingly cheap to do. I am mainly a metal basher and found this thread on an internet search. I am really interested in the clutch discs you had made, i would really like a set as mine are pretty worn, any chance of being able to get a set?
Eric
Great right up, I have just used you photos to help me set up the tailstock on my L5, it was great to see one in bits, before I took mine to bits. I have just added a DRO to mine, works great and surprisingly cheap to do. I am mainly a metal basher and found this thread on an internet search. I am really interested in the clutch discs you had made, i would really like a set as mine are pretty worn, any chance of being able to get a set?
Eric
Eric.
Sent you a private message. Look for the little envelope icon top right of your browser window.
If you can't see it, tell us here.
Please post some pics of your DRO upgrade here too for us all to see.
Welcome to UKW !
Sent you a private message. Look for the little envelope icon top right of your browser window.
If you can't see it, tell us here.
Please post some pics of your DRO upgrade here too for us all to see.
Welcome to UKW !
Pimpdriver
New member
My L5 is probably of similar vintage to yours, but as usual, is a little different. The Clutch is the two pins type, but I ended up gluing them the faces as they are very thin and the pins wouldn't hold them properly. The main difference I can see is in the clutch lever and the fast/slow gear lever. On yours, they are hinged, I guess you lift to unlock, move, and lower to lock. On mine, they are not hinged, just simple levers.
Do you have a serial number on yours ? It is stamped into the bed somewhere at the tailstock end and on or near the ground surfaces.
With the serial number, we can check against the list and find out when yours was made - at least to the year.
You are right about my clutch. The lever is lifted and swung. It drops into a shallow notch at the end. There is a (not very strong) spring helping to hold it down in the notch.
When you are writing a post, you'll see a blue rectangular button below your text labelled attach files. Use that to upload photos. Once uploaded, the photos will be added as attachments at the end of your post. If you put your cursor inline in your text, you can also then mouse to any of the thumbnailed images you have attached and the option to "insert image inline" will appear. Click it and the image will be inserted in the flow of text at the cursor position.
You can do this several times to place some or all the photos among your text.
With the serial number, we can check against the list and find out when yours was made - at least to the year.
You are right about my clutch. The lever is lifted and swung. It drops into a shallow notch at the end. There is a (not very strong) spring helping to hold it down in the notch.
When you are writing a post, you'll see a blue rectangular button below your text labelled attach files. Use that to upload photos. Once uploaded, the photos will be added as attachments at the end of your post. If you put your cursor inline in your text, you can also then mouse to any of the thumbnailed images you have attached and the option to "insert image inline" will appear. Click it and the image will be inserted in the flow of text at the cursor position.
You can do this several times to place some or all the photos among your text.
Pimpdriver
New member
Harrison L5 DRO.
I had some spare time on the last bank holiday, so I fitted the Vevor 2-axis DRO I bought earlier in the year for £117. This consisted of the Display/Control Box and a long and short glass scale. They came with lots of brackets, but as usual, the 'Universal' fit - didn't. The Long Axis scale was quite easy to fit, it was a bit long, but I just attached it to the back of the Bed. The Cross-slide scale was a bit trickier, it needed a bit of aluminium machining to space it away, and careful fitting to still allow access to the saddle and cross-slide lock screws. The reader for the Long Travel was fitted using some aluminium channel i had off the back of the saddle, and the cross-slide one was fitted on another aluminium bracket screwed into the top of the saddle.
The Scales came with aluminium protection covers, again, the long travel one fitted straight on. The cross-travel one just would not fit, so I ended up making one. The only mod to the Lathe I had to do (apart from drilling and tapping lots of holes) was to turn down the o/d of the wheel (handle) of the tool-post slide & m/c a flat on it so the it would go over the cover.
The readers just plugged into the Box, switched it on, and it all just worked.
I only have pictures with covers in place. and as you can see, the lathe is in 'used' condition.
Cheers
Eric
I had some spare time on the last bank holiday, so I fitted the Vevor 2-axis DRO I bought earlier in the year for £117. This consisted of the Display/Control Box and a long and short glass scale. They came with lots of brackets, but as usual, the 'Universal' fit - didn't. The Long Axis scale was quite easy to fit, it was a bit long, but I just attached it to the back of the Bed. The Cross-slide scale was a bit trickier, it needed a bit of aluminium machining to space it away, and careful fitting to still allow access to the saddle and cross-slide lock screws. The reader for the Long Travel was fitted using some aluminium channel i had off the back of the saddle, and the cross-slide one was fitted on another aluminium bracket screwed into the top of the saddle.
The Scales came with aluminium protection covers, again, the long travel one fitted straight on. The cross-travel one just would not fit, so I ended up making one. The only mod to the Lathe I had to do (apart from drilling and tapping lots of holes) was to turn down the o/d of the wheel (handle) of the tool-post slide & m/c a flat on it so the it would go over the cover.
The readers just plugged into the Box, switched it on, and it all just worked.
I only have pictures with covers in place. and as you can see, the lathe is in 'used' condition.
Cheers
Eric
Excellent !
The lathes look v similar vintage.
The DRO must make it much easier to use. Do you find it as accurate as you expected ?
The lathes look v similar vintage.
The DRO must make it much easier to use. Do you find it as accurate as you expected ?
Pimpdriver
New member
Its taken a bit of learning, but i'm really happy with it. Being able to make cuts on the long travel and know where you are, makes it so much easier.
I have just machined some engine liners on the lathe, using a borrowed mandrel, and once I got the hang of it - it was brilliant.
I found it pretty accurate, but once I locked the cross-slide before final machining. This would effect the readout, so you had to stop 0.04 mm before the dim required, and then tighten the cross-slide lock screw to get to the final figure.
I'll look for the number tomorrow
Eric
I have just machined some engine liners on the lathe, using a borrowed mandrel, and once I got the hang of it - it was brilliant.
I found it pretty accurate, but once I locked the cross-slide before final machining. This would effect the readout, so you had to stop 0.04 mm before the dim required, and then tighten the cross-slide lock screw to get to the final figure.
I'll look for the number tomorrow
Eric
The fixed levers are the older design. I think the hinged ones were an extra cost option for a time, then became standard in about the mid fifties.
HI Can i ask a question on here? Apologies, but it has a concentration of L5 owners.
Just taken delivery of my new (old) 1965 L5 11", and am in the process of stripping down and cleaning.
I note that they recommend using the jacking feet to level and position - But what thread are the jacking feet? It doesnt seem to be in the manual.
Just taken delivery of my new (old) 1965 L5 11", and am in the process of stripping down and cleaning.
I note that they recommend using the jacking feet to level and position - But what thread are the jacking feet? It doesnt seem to be in the manual.
hi sorry to jump in but im sorting out my l5 after water damage from a neighbors garage (dont ask) saw you said you could date them my serial number is 62182A . THANKS ...
Sorry - overlooked your question.
My lathe has plain bored holes on the 4 corners of the base, you are free to put whatever you like in them. Back in the day they would have been bolted down to the back or a truck, deck of a ship, whatever.
I turned some top hat shaped steel plugs to fit snugly in the oversize holes from below, drilled for the M10 or M12 threaded stems of aftermarket vibration absorbing feet.
Because the cabinet is so robust, there is no need to bolt down. The whole thing just sits on very compliant soft rubber feet matched to the lathe weight for optimum damping. These are screwed up and down to level the lathe in both directions using an engineers precision level, but I can rock the lathe by hand and it settles level again.
There's an old list circulating on the web. It gives one serial number for each year. I forget if this is the first or last machine made that year. Depending, your lathe will be 1948 or 1949 year of manufacture.
The list starts with 1944 so that's a pretty old one. A year or so older than mine.
There is no need to level the machine exactly using the screw feet, which would have originally been 7/8 Whitworth. Levelling the bed with a precision level in the case of these, or other fixed cabinet lathes like some denfords, is about getting the bed free from twist as fixed to the cabinet itself, it has nothing to do with the adjusters, that's not what they are for on this design. You can angle the cabinet however suits you. Many have it inclined slightly down at the tailstock end, and leaning back fractionally as this gives a better flow of coolant back to the tank, if you use coolant regularly. The idea was that the cabinet is very heavily constructed, and was sufficiently stiff to prevent any twist of the bed. This was achieved by the two being very carefully matched at the factory. This is why they should never be removed from the cabinet. If you were to separate the two then getting the bed correctly aligned to the cabinet on reassembly is a real PITA. The advantage of this approach is that the machine could be fitted in the back of a truck, in a ship or even plonked down on boards in a field, and would still work accurately without having to faff about levelling it each time. You just wound down the adjusters to stop it rocking about and you were good to go. Very popular with the military in field or mobile workshops, or others who needed a precision machine where there was not necessarily going to be a solid base readily available.
thanks for that need to sourse some clutch material if you could share the supplier please
BrianatBisley
Member
I have an old L5 with listed speeds of 273, 382, 614 & 960 in the 'high' range and 42, 60, 96, &150 in the 'low' range. It currently has a 60hz 1 phase 2 hp motor installed as I moved it to the UK from Canada. My shop is currently single phase as are all of my machines. The lathe was 'balanced' at 2 hp. More power would have been nice but not really necessary for the light work I do. The previous owner did a lot of work using aluminium and ground cutting tools that I just don't understand but work well. I don't really need more speed as I don't think the machine is up to it. Could you please recommend a suitable 1 phase replacement motor (& pulley) for this lathe.
