That's a mighty lathe. I'm sure it will make a very good heavy wood lathe. Look forward to seeing your restoration progressing.
Hazdent Machine Tools - big wood lathe project!
- Thread starter minilathe22
- Start date
Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:
minilathe22
Established Member
Ok so a little progrss this evening, Tailstock mostly stripped of paint, a few highspots filed down and a few low spots identified for some car filler before painting. At the top there is a very fine thread, I believe for a small oiler, but it does not appear to be a BSP thread. Maybe UNF instead.
The motor pulley setup is not original, firstly the pulley on the motor is not fixed, it has a key but its loose sliding on the motor shaft, I don't see any grub screw or anything. Neither the shaft or the pulley looks tapered, I wonder if there is something I am missing here on how its supposed to be secured? a tapered key perhaps?
The pulley at the other end has the heavy duty taperlock adapter, however its too big for the shaft so there is a split collar inserted. I am sure it would work when all tightened up, but for peace of mind I will try to get hold of a larger centre insert, and add a key. This was well oiled and came apart very easily. I have measured all the pulleys now, so I can estimate what speeds it is setup for, Strangely the motor pulley is slightly larger than the other one, so it steps the speed up slightly, not down. I might change one of the pulley diameters. Also I wonder if I really need all 3 V belts. Perhals I want a bit of belt slip for when I catch something!
I was suprised to find that two belt pulley covers are not an off the shelf item, I was expecting to find something ready made that I could put over the pulleys. Looks like I will have to make something instead.
The motor pulley setup is not original, firstly the pulley on the motor is not fixed, it has a key but its loose sliding on the motor shaft, I don't see any grub screw or anything. Neither the shaft or the pulley looks tapered, I wonder if there is something I am missing here on how its supposed to be secured? a tapered key perhaps?
The pulley at the other end has the heavy duty taperlock adapter, however its too big for the shaft so there is a split collar inserted. I am sure it would work when all tightened up, but for peace of mind I will try to get hold of a larger centre insert, and add a key. This was well oiled and came apart very easily. I have measured all the pulleys now, so I can estimate what speeds it is setup for, Strangely the motor pulley is slightly larger than the other one, so it steps the speed up slightly, not down. I might change one of the pulley diameters. Also I wonder if I really need all 3 V belts. Perhals I want a bit of belt slip for when I catch something!
I was suprised to find that two belt pulley covers are not an off the shelf item, I was expecting to find something ready made that I could put over the pulleys. Looks like I will have to make something instead.
Mini lathe.
Looks like you’ve got your work cut out there. I wouldn’t know where to start.
Hope you get lots of help if needed off this forum. Retired has done a lot of rebuilds, so I’m sure he could offer you advice if you need it. I look forward to keeping up with your progress
Best wishes
D
Looks like you’ve got your work cut out there. I wouldn’t know where to start.
Hope you get lots of help if needed off this forum. Retired has done a lot of rebuilds, so I’m sure he could offer you advice if you need it. I look forward to keeping up with your progress
Best wishes
D
minilathe22
Established Member
Bit more progress, cleaned up the thread adapter on the metal lathe, although its reaching the limit of what will fit so there is a bit of vibration visible. Once this wood lathe is all working I will probably go over it with emery cloth to get it smooth.
Managed to repair the damaged thread on the end of the tailstock handle, the tailstock is heavy! I think people have used a hammer on this end to move it along the bed, the threads were bent over and there was no nut on there to protect them. Retraced the thread on the metal lathe and a bit of a go with a hand file and now a new nyloc nut will go on there.
Deciding what to do with this big slot and thread in the tailstock barrel. Metal spinning videos I have seen, you have a lever in that threaded hole, and you wind the tailstock all the way and then push the lever down into the recess, as a kind of lock. I don't think I will need this for woodturning, so I may just put a grubscrew in there or a short bolt. Strangely this is not the part that stops the barrel rotating, there is a key on the back of it instead.
Tidied up the end of the tailstock barrel in the metal lathe where it had been bashed and beaten over the years. Cleaned up the banjo clamp bolts, again just by holding in the 3 jaw chuck and a few light passes. Makes no difference to the functionality but much nicer to use shiny tools!
Degreasing the inside of the lathe is taking forever! but getting there slowly. I don't think I can get it perfectly clean without sand blasting, but if I get it smooth I can go over it with zinc primer or similar just to keep it tidy.
The lathe came with a big chunky live centre, the bearing is worn out though. I cannot see an easy way of getting inside, as its a taper its quite hard to grip without damaging it! Any ideas on how to remove it? I do not see any grub screws on the side. I may end up tapping a thread in the end of the taper and using a bolt to pull it backwards.
Managed to repair the damaged thread on the end of the tailstock handle, the tailstock is heavy! I think people have used a hammer on this end to move it along the bed, the threads were bent over and there was no nut on there to protect them. Retraced the thread on the metal lathe and a bit of a go with a hand file and now a new nyloc nut will go on there.
Deciding what to do with this big slot and thread in the tailstock barrel. Metal spinning videos I have seen, you have a lever in that threaded hole, and you wind the tailstock all the way and then push the lever down into the recess, as a kind of lock. I don't think I will need this for woodturning, so I may just put a grubscrew in there or a short bolt. Strangely this is not the part that stops the barrel rotating, there is a key on the back of it instead.
Tidied up the end of the tailstock barrel in the metal lathe where it had been bashed and beaten over the years. Cleaned up the banjo clamp bolts, again just by holding in the 3 jaw chuck and a few light passes. Makes no difference to the functionality but much nicer to use shiny tools!
Degreasing the inside of the lathe is taking forever! but getting there slowly. I don't think I can get it perfectly clean without sand blasting, but if I get it smooth I can go over it with zinc primer or similar just to keep it tidy.
The lathe came with a big chunky live centre, the bearing is worn out though. I cannot see an easy way of getting inside, as its a taper its quite hard to grip without damaging it! Any ideas on how to remove it? I do not see any grub screws on the side. I may end up tapping a thread in the end of the taper and using a bolt to pull it backwards.
wallace
Established Member
Oh that looks fun, I like the dyno crypto motor. It amazes me that people spend thousands on lathes when their is so much old stuff out their.
minilathe22
Established Member
Ok so more progress this weekend, this kind of work does not lend itself to a little effort now and then on a lunch break as it gets everything so dirty. Angle grinder with sanding discs removed most of the paint, not completely bare metal but hopefully close enough for the primer to stick. Went over the inside with zinc primer but there are many areas where it has not taken as there is still oil and grease. I will leave it to dry out and then see what I can do with it.
Opened up the motor and found it chock full with dirt and small metal offcuts, so glad I went in there and hoovered it all out. The motor is not actually as big as it looks, it has an outer tube which air can flow through. Some of the varnish has gone brittle and started to flake off, and I have identified the star point hidden in the wiring so I will debate whether to try and sort that out myself or get the motor rewound.
I got hold of a 75mm spanner, searching on ebay for 3" spanner brings up 3/8", 5/8" etc so difficult to wade through the results. 3" = 76.2mm so it did not take long on the grinder to make it a nice tight fit on the flats on the spindle. Now I can see why a chunk is missing in that spot, I suspect someone started the lathe with a spanner still attached!
I put a Union Graduate tailstock and banjo on there, just for scale to see what I am upgrading from. The tailstock is enormous, and at the moment very difficult to push along the bed. Hopefully I can clean up the sliding edges and make it more useable. It also takes up a large amount of the bed. The tailstock barrel has 10" of travel so hopefully I won't need to move it very often! Interesting that the tailstock has a strip of metal attached with screws, I wonder if this was a repair done in the past.
Next steps are to finish degreasing the inside of the lathe and get the zinc primer to stick, and start the top coat which will be Smoothrite light blue, with red for the handles and so on. I also need to decide how to spruce up the bed, probably a large flat piece of wood with wet and dry and some oil. I have not started on the door yet either.
Opened up the motor and found it chock full with dirt and small metal offcuts, so glad I went in there and hoovered it all out. The motor is not actually as big as it looks, it has an outer tube which air can flow through. Some of the varnish has gone brittle and started to flake off, and I have identified the star point hidden in the wiring so I will debate whether to try and sort that out myself or get the motor rewound.
I got hold of a 75mm spanner, searching on ebay for 3" spanner brings up 3/8", 5/8" etc so difficult to wade through the results. 3" = 76.2mm so it did not take long on the grinder to make it a nice tight fit on the flats on the spindle. Now I can see why a chunk is missing in that spot, I suspect someone started the lathe with a spanner still attached!
I put a Union Graduate tailstock and banjo on there, just for scale to see what I am upgrading from. The tailstock is enormous, and at the moment very difficult to push along the bed. Hopefully I can clean up the sliding edges and make it more useable. It also takes up a large amount of the bed. The tailstock barrel has 10" of travel so hopefully I won't need to move it very often! Interesting that the tailstock has a strip of metal attached with screws, I wonder if this was a repair done in the past.
Next steps are to finish degreasing the inside of the lathe and get the zinc primer to stick, and start the top coat which will be Smoothrite light blue, with red for the handles and so on. I also need to decide how to spruce up the bed, probably a large flat piece of wood with wet and dry and some oil. I have not started on the door yet either.
That last pic really gives a scale of how monstrous it is! 10" of tailstock travel would be handy for deep drilling a lamp base. Coarse scotchbrite and wd40 is my go to for cleaning parts like the bed.
minilathe22
Established Member
Smaller update today, went over the primer with the final colour Smoothrite blue, some areas of the primer had flaked off even though the metal looked clean, I think I will sand with rough sandpaper and see if that works. Two coats of blue done on the larger areas, just need to get some small brushes to finish off the detailed bits. Not sure I like the colour yet, I was thinking black originally, will see how it looks once its dried a few days.
Tried to pull the spindle out of the live centre by tapping a thread and pulling on it, snapped a 10mm bolt! At which point I decided to look at it in more detail, and discovered it has a hidden threaded section.
The split is lined up with the end of the knurled section, almost impossible to see! I will clean it all out and add some new grease. Looks like a big thrust bearing and a smaller ball bearing. It was very wobbly, I think the screw holding the ball bearing on was loose, giving the impression of a worn out bearing.
Tried to pull the spindle out of the live centre by tapping a thread and pulling on it, snapped a 10mm bolt! At which point I decided to look at it in more detail, and discovered it has a hidden threaded section.
The split is lined up with the end of the knurled section, almost impossible to see! I will clean it all out and add some new grease. Looks like a big thrust bearing and a smaller ball bearing. It was very wobbly, I think the screw holding the ball bearing on was loose, giving the impression of a worn out bearing.
minilathe22
Established Member
So I am pricing up new belts, and I considered lathes.co.uk but they want to charge me £120 for a "Betalon" rubber based flat belt with scarfed joint that I glue together, or an endless belt for the same price. You can get a whole wood lathe for that!
On ebay I can get a traditional looking "Balata" flat belt with alligator clips for £40 but I wonder if I would find the ticking of the clips annoying over time.
Any other options? 2200mm is the shortest length that would fit, 2250mm would probably be too loose, especially if it stretches once in place. 2.75" width flat belt.
On ebay I can get a traditional looking "Balata" flat belt with alligator clips for £40 but I wonder if I would find the ticking of the clips annoying over time.
Any other options? 2200mm is the shortest length that would fit, 2250mm would probably be too loose, especially if it stretches once in place. 2.75" width flat belt.
minilathe22
Established Member
OK we are getting close to being able to do a few test cuts with the lathe under power!
Getting the lower frame back in the base was a bit of a head scratcher, it did not appear to fit through the opening, then I remembered I had one end of the lathe up on the car jack when I was removing it. Sure enough a little extra height (and space underneath) and I got it through.
Old grease wiped off and new grease put in the bearings. The tops are threaded 1/4" BSP so I will see if I can get some grease points or grub screws to block out dirt. Used the motor to turn the lower pulleys, everything spins freely and does not get hot. Used this setup to clean the lower pulleys with emery cloth.
Filled in the gap missing on the front with car filler, not perfect but a big improvement. However I suspect pressure from the spanner when loosening things on the spindle might damage it.
More painting, blue as the main colour and red inside the bed and on the handles. Car filler again in a few small chips/defects and various unused screwthreads that have been tapped in the castings over the years.
Final step with the door is to try and paint the letters red, this will be a fiddly job so I will wait until I have the patience for it.
The bolt to hold the banjo is too long, perhaps I confused it with the one for the tailstock. Neither are original so I may end up buying some more bolts of suitable length.
This absolute monstrosity has nearly 10" of overhang but only 6 thou runout! I will use it to test the lathe but need to decide what to do with the spindle thread, its too long and an unusual size. There is also no taper.
Tailstock barrel has a big thread here, still deciding what to do with it. Originally I believe there was a handle but its for metal spinning and I wont really need it.
Live centre cleaned up a bit on the metal lathe, when I have more time I will machine the end to a sharp point. New grease in the bearings.
New flat belt is due to come tomorrow, I need to flush out the old oil before running the spindle properly. I may put the brass badge for the motor on the top, its meant to go underneath but then you can't see it which would be a shame.
Getting the lower frame back in the base was a bit of a head scratcher, it did not appear to fit through the opening, then I remembered I had one end of the lathe up on the car jack when I was removing it. Sure enough a little extra height (and space underneath) and I got it through.
Old grease wiped off and new grease put in the bearings. The tops are threaded 1/4" BSP so I will see if I can get some grease points or grub screws to block out dirt. Used the motor to turn the lower pulleys, everything spins freely and does not get hot. Used this setup to clean the lower pulleys with emery cloth.
Filled in the gap missing on the front with car filler, not perfect but a big improvement. However I suspect pressure from the spanner when loosening things on the spindle might damage it.
More painting, blue as the main colour and red inside the bed and on the handles. Car filler again in a few small chips/defects and various unused screwthreads that have been tapped in the castings over the years.
Final step with the door is to try and paint the letters red, this will be a fiddly job so I will wait until I have the patience for it.
The bolt to hold the banjo is too long, perhaps I confused it with the one for the tailstock. Neither are original so I may end up buying some more bolts of suitable length.
This absolute monstrosity has nearly 10" of overhang but only 6 thou runout! I will use it to test the lathe but need to decide what to do with the spindle thread, its too long and an unusual size. There is also no taper.
Tailstock barrel has a big thread here, still deciding what to do with it. Originally I believe there was a handle but its for metal spinning and I wont really need it.
Live centre cleaned up a bit on the metal lathe, when I have more time I will machine the end to a sharp point. New grease in the bearings.
New flat belt is due to come tomorrow, I need to flush out the old oil before running the spindle properly. I may put the brass badge for the motor on the top, its meant to go underneath but then you can't see it which would be a shame.
Last edited:
leisurefix
Established Member
Thank you for posting your work in progress, looks a mighty impressive lathe & great restoration. Have you considered getting the spindle machined to a new thread & register (or maybe the VB36 bayonet mount), and bored to 3MT.
minilathe22
Established Member
Yes I was considering an M33 thread, I think I will try it with the existing setup while I consider the options. A Morse taper and a hole through the centre for a knockout bar would be great but it's 30" long so a tricky job.
I don't want to send the spindle away and not be able to use it for months. It would have to be a big machine to handle it with the pulleys, they appear to be pressed on.
I don't want to send the spindle away and not be able to use it for months. It would have to be a big machine to handle it with the pulleys, they appear to be pressed on.
Tanglefoot20
Established Member
Why don’t you find a local engineering firm... see if they will help out.
Would be an easy job on a decent lathe...deep hole drilling and cnc machined morse taper...
I am an ex turner .... it could be done with pulleys in situ...just take the whole spindle....
Would be an easy job on a decent lathe...deep hole drilling and cnc machined morse taper...
I am an ex turner .... it could be done with pulleys in situ...just take the whole spindle....
Minilathe
You don’t need a hole through the spindle for removing morse tapers
Just a thread protector which also ejects any centres mounted
You don’t need a hole through the spindle for removing morse tapers
Just a thread protector which also ejects any centres mounted
minilathe22
Established Member
So the new flat belt arrived, 4.5mm thick and 2.5" wide, measured the belt length with the adjustment at its shortest setting, and then added 5mm and cut the belt. Hopefully this will allow for any belt stretch over time. just over 2.2metres long.
I bought some thick cord and did a sewn up joint instead of the metal click clack alligator joint, it is MUCH quiter, there is no change of sound at all when running over the joint. Hopefully it holds up over time.
Ran it under its own power for the first time, the existing V belt was slipping alot but it proved the basic setup. A set of 3 new V belts on the way, once I have fitted those I will get the tension correct. There is quite alot of rolling resistence between the bearings in the base and the spindle bearings. I am not sure how much would be considered excessive.
The door lock required a bit of attention, it had a strange feel to it sometimes when opening and closing, a bit unpredictable. It turns out the handle is just threaded onto the lock piece, so sometimes the thread winds in or out during locking/unlocking. I tapped a small thread and grub screw to stop it rotating on the shaft.
Loosened the oil inspection caps to drain the oil out, however the oil cap is not at the bottom of the bearing sumps, feeling round with a hex key through the hole reveals there is a thick layer of goo at the bottom of the sumps. I will see whether I can access this a bit better with the spindle removed to clean it out properly. They have both been knocked about before, and if damaged could drain all the oil out, so I am wondering whether to move them to inside the headstock out of the way.
I got a few woodturning toolrests on ebay and another banjo which is a bit higher than the ones I have, hopefully this all lines up well. It also allows me to sell my other lathe with a good set of toolrests.
Still not fully decided on the spindle modifications, whether to shorten it myself with a cut off tool and make a suitable backplate for the chuck and then just leave it on all the time. Or whether to have it out and machined properly. with a taper and an M33 thread.
I bought some thick cord and did a sewn up joint instead of the metal click clack alligator joint, it is MUCH quiter, there is no change of sound at all when running over the joint. Hopefully it holds up over time.
Ran it under its own power for the first time, the existing V belt was slipping alot but it proved the basic setup. A set of 3 new V belts on the way, once I have fitted those I will get the tension correct. There is quite alot of rolling resistence between the bearings in the base and the spindle bearings. I am not sure how much would be considered excessive.
The door lock required a bit of attention, it had a strange feel to it sometimes when opening and closing, a bit unpredictable. It turns out the handle is just threaded onto the lock piece, so sometimes the thread winds in or out during locking/unlocking. I tapped a small thread and grub screw to stop it rotating on the shaft.
Loosened the oil inspection caps to drain the oil out, however the oil cap is not at the bottom of the bearing sumps, feeling round with a hex key through the hole reveals there is a thick layer of goo at the bottom of the sumps. I will see whether I can access this a bit better with the spindle removed to clean it out properly. They have both been knocked about before, and if damaged could drain all the oil out, so I am wondering whether to move them to inside the headstock out of the way.
I got a few woodturning toolrests on ebay and another banjo which is a bit higher than the ones I have, hopefully this all lines up well. It also allows me to sell my other lathe with a good set of toolrests.
Still not fully decided on the spindle modifications, whether to shorten it myself with a cut off tool and make a suitable backplate for the chuck and then just leave it on all the time. Or whether to have it out and machined properly. with a taper and an M33 thread.
minilathe22
Established Member
So the old motor is out and a brand new motor with adapter plate is being fitted. The new motor is 1.5Kw/2HP 6 pole which is much better suited to the VFD I have and still plenty of power.
I bought a Challenge motor plate, and I am installing it on the back of the headstock as it allows me to put the lathe much closer to the wall, the previous motor layout stuck out very far.
The motor plate has a bolt to raise and lower it, for belt tension which is handy. Unfortunately the old motor pulley is a bit of an odd one, it is slightly tapered, so even with a grubscrew that I installed, it is wobbly and will not stay on. Also the speeds will be a bit too fast with this pulley diameter so I will order a new smaller pulley for the motor (more spending, when will it end!). Then I get a solid motor setup and the slower speeds that I want.
Trying to scoop out the old oil, I tipped the whole lathe forward with the car jack so the oil runs to the front where the oil caps are. bit of white spirit to flush it out, but still some flecks of metal and general gunge in there. It is hard to get into the corners, I wonder how they cast the shape in one go. Hopefully one more flush will get rid of most of the gunge, the oil slinger does not go very deep so any crud left at the bottom will probably just stay there and not make its way to the bearings.
Changing the belt speed is going to be a bit of a hassle, In theory you have to undo the nuts on the long bolts at the base until the base can be lifted to slacken the belt. I wonder if I can find some kind of quick release spacer/bolt combination, to make this easier. The base is very heavy, perhaps the weight of it will give the belt enough tension.
My partner painted the letters on the door for me, we need to touch it up very slightly once its dry but a nice finishing touch.
The opposite end of the spindle has a large fine thread on it, with a clamping piece, I am wondering whether I can put that thread into the centre of a large handwheel I have.
I bought a Challenge motor plate, and I am installing it on the back of the headstock as it allows me to put the lathe much closer to the wall, the previous motor layout stuck out very far.
The motor plate has a bolt to raise and lower it, for belt tension which is handy. Unfortunately the old motor pulley is a bit of an odd one, it is slightly tapered, so even with a grubscrew that I installed, it is wobbly and will not stay on. Also the speeds will be a bit too fast with this pulley diameter so I will order a new smaller pulley for the motor (more spending, when will it end!). Then I get a solid motor setup and the slower speeds that I want.
Trying to scoop out the old oil, I tipped the whole lathe forward with the car jack so the oil runs to the front where the oil caps are. bit of white spirit to flush it out, but still some flecks of metal and general gunge in there. It is hard to get into the corners, I wonder how they cast the shape in one go. Hopefully one more flush will get rid of most of the gunge, the oil slinger does not go very deep so any crud left at the bottom will probably just stay there and not make its way to the bearings.
Changing the belt speed is going to be a bit of a hassle, In theory you have to undo the nuts on the long bolts at the base until the base can be lifted to slacken the belt. I wonder if I can find some kind of quick release spacer/bolt combination, to make this easier. The base is very heavy, perhaps the weight of it will give the belt enough tension.
My partner painted the letters on the door for me, we need to touch it up very slightly once its dry but a nice finishing touch.
The opposite end of the spindle has a large fine thread on it, with a clamping piece, I am wondering whether I can put that thread into the centre of a large handwheel I have.
minilathe22
Established Member
Smaller fiddly jobs left to do now, I have installed the motor, and got it lined up with the new pulleys.
Spindle bearings cleaned up and fresh oil put in, I have run it to around 2000RPM and the front bearing gets lukewarm first, then the back bearing warms up later. I can see through the top threaded holes in the bearing caps that the ring oilers are getting oil onto the top of the bearing shaft and seem to be working. Flat belt slips slightly when speeding up, I suspect the pulleys need polishing and I need to adjust the belt tension.
The belt tension is a bit more involved than it would first appear as moving the lower plate up and down affects the tension of both the flat belt and the v belts on the motor. Also there is a fair amount of slack with the plate, so I think to get the flat belt running true I need to tweak the bolts one at a time. Swapping between the different belt speeds will be a hassle, should have got a Wadkin RS! Still thinking about how I can have some method of quick release for the belt tension.
I had to fiddle with the threaded retainer on the outboard side of the spindle, to get no play back and forwards, one of the thrust bearings rattles a bit but it appears to just be the spacer ring moving around freely.
Slight grumbling from the lower pillow block bearings, they have been cleaned out as well, I will see if it all beds in or perhaps I have some worn out ball bearings. I would not be surprised as this machine has clearly been worked hard, and the side pressure from the 3 V belts and a flat belt will be significant.
Painted up the larger banjo I purchased, and pushed in a piece of tubing to get it down to 1 1/4" diameter for my tool rests. Unfortunately the inside diameter appears to have a sticking point as the toolrests do not rotate freely all the way round, and as I need to increase the diameter of the other banjo to 1 1/4" aswell, I have ordered a 32mm blacksmiths drill bit. Hopefully once I pass that through the pipe it will be smooth and have a bit of clearance (as 1 1/4" = 31.75mm).
Bit difficult to get good photos of the motor as I can't move it easily! Once its running ok I will make a guard for the v belts, and try to move the lathe closer to the wall which will save me alot of space in the workshop.
Still getting an overvoltage error on the VFD sometimes when stopping, this is due to the momentum of the whole thing and the motor sending generated power back into the VFD, there are alot of settings so hopefully I can resolve it. If not, then I need either a resistor attached to the VFD to dump the excess power into, or apply a mechanical brake of some kind when slowing down. It looks like an old style bike wheel brake would clamp well on the ridge near the smallest flat belt pulley.
Spindle bearings cleaned up and fresh oil put in, I have run it to around 2000RPM and the front bearing gets lukewarm first, then the back bearing warms up later. I can see through the top threaded holes in the bearing caps that the ring oilers are getting oil onto the top of the bearing shaft and seem to be working. Flat belt slips slightly when speeding up, I suspect the pulleys need polishing and I need to adjust the belt tension.
The belt tension is a bit more involved than it would first appear as moving the lower plate up and down affects the tension of both the flat belt and the v belts on the motor. Also there is a fair amount of slack with the plate, so I think to get the flat belt running true I need to tweak the bolts one at a time. Swapping between the different belt speeds will be a hassle, should have got a Wadkin RS! Still thinking about how I can have some method of quick release for the belt tension.
I had to fiddle with the threaded retainer on the outboard side of the spindle, to get no play back and forwards, one of the thrust bearings rattles a bit but it appears to just be the spacer ring moving around freely.
Slight grumbling from the lower pillow block bearings, they have been cleaned out as well, I will see if it all beds in or perhaps I have some worn out ball bearings. I would not be surprised as this machine has clearly been worked hard, and the side pressure from the 3 V belts and a flat belt will be significant.
Painted up the larger banjo I purchased, and pushed in a piece of tubing to get it down to 1 1/4" diameter for my tool rests. Unfortunately the inside diameter appears to have a sticking point as the toolrests do not rotate freely all the way round, and as I need to increase the diameter of the other banjo to 1 1/4" aswell, I have ordered a 32mm blacksmiths drill bit. Hopefully once I pass that through the pipe it will be smooth and have a bit of clearance (as 1 1/4" = 31.75mm).
Bit difficult to get good photos of the motor as I can't move it easily! Once its running ok I will make a guard for the v belts, and try to move the lathe closer to the wall which will save me alot of space in the workshop.
Still getting an overvoltage error on the VFD sometimes when stopping, this is due to the momentum of the whole thing and the motor sending generated power back into the VFD, there are alot of settings so hopefully I can resolve it. If not, then I need either a resistor attached to the VFD to dump the excess power into, or apply a mechanical brake of some kind when slowing down. It looks like an old style bike wheel brake would clamp well on the ridge near the smallest flat belt pulley.
minilathe22
Established Member
Sorry for radio silence on the rebuild, I have used the lathe briefly a few times, the flat belt slips a bit, especially on the highest speed, and the inside of the belt has got very dirty so I think I need to clean and polish up the pulleys a bit.
The bit of car filler I put in the gap has fallen out, I would like to get it welded up but I would have to persuade someone to come here with a pretty heavy duty welder so I might leave that for now. Anyone with a big welder near Stevenage/Letchworth fancy giving it a go once lockdown is lifted? Its about 1/2" thick cast iron. I have a 16amp wall socket.
I have put safety interlock switches on the door and the lid, and added a foot pedal emergency stop. Lid now has hinges and a locking clasp.
The top cover front is a thin casting, and has a split in it, still debating what to do about that but at least it can be removed for welding. The front and back of the belt cover could have been made with metal spinning, why did they go with thin castings when making a metal spinning lathe?!
On the lookout for a belt cover from a large pillar drill or similar to cover the v belts at the back, or buy some rectangular ducting with two 45 degree bends, but for now its fairly safely tucked away while I am using it.
I attached the tool holder from my metal lathe to a threaded toolpost, and reduced the length of the headstock thread. I then threaded the Versachuck backplate 4 1/2" TPI, which took forever, its a deep thread! about 15 thou runout on the body of the chuck, which is ok but not great but the overhang is massively improved without the adapter. The headstock thread has no register, which makes it difficult to align well. There is enough meat after the thread to turn a register in the future if I want to increase the accuracy. I could also reduce it to an M33x3.5 but that would involve removing the spindle and taking to to someone with a big enough metal lathe.
The lathe is screwed to the chipboard riser blocks with woodscrews, and not mounted to the floor. I have found even though its 700kg in total it still rocks about with out of balance bowl blanks, so I will bite the bullet soon and drill 4 holes in the floor for anchor bolts.
Some old kitchen worktop was trimmed to fit behind the lathe, as I find I always drop things behind the lathe bed and have to crawl under to find it.
I also sorted the tailstock barrel clamp, but I am after a threaded lever instead of using a spanner. I also want to fit a lever to the tailstock-bed clamp. The two plates I have under the tailstock and banjo are free to rotate when loose, and this makes it difficult to quickly tighten and release, so I will see about making some pieces of steel with edge cutouts, to prevent rotation, basically a very wide inverted T nut, and coil springs on the bolt to push the T nut away from the bed when loosened.
The tailstock takes some real heaving with both hands to move it along the bed, I am wondering whether to try sanding the bed and/or the contact surfaces of the tailstock to improve this, it weighs 55kg so always going to be a bit difficult to move. I notice big metal lathes often have an overhanging bracket so you can use the gear rack to move the tailstock.
Still not found any more information about Hazdent Machine Tools, not even one example of this machine, or any others. I will keep looking from time to time but I can only guess they were not around for long which is a shame as it appears to be a solidly built machine. No part numbers/names on any of the parts other than the door has the name cast in, perhaps Hazdent was a rebrand of a more common manufacturer. It certainly takes inspiration from the Taylor spinning lathes, but is different enough that I do not think its a Taylor lathe originally.
The restoration is pretty much as finished as it ever will be, so I probably won't post about it as a restoration any more, but please contact me with any info on Hazdent Machine Tools, or if you have any big root balls or other bits of timber for me to work with.
I think I'd cut a bit of steel plate to fit over the inside of the missing chunk on the headstock and drill and tap it to cap head screw it in place. Then you have something strong for your filler to adhere to. You could even tap the plate where the filler will be so you can put some short screws in to give the filler something to bite to. I really wouldn't want to try to weld that one!
ovenpaa
Established Member
What lovely machine!
I have seen castings repaired in the past using the metal stitching process, it might be worth searching the internet. Silicon Bronze rods and a good sized Tig with some pre-heating might be an option as well although I have not used it on anything quite so big.
I have seen castings repaired in the past using the metal stitching process, it might be worth searching the internet. Silicon Bronze rods and a good sized Tig with some pre-heating might be an option as well although I have not used it on anything quite so big.
