Lathe chucks, what do I have here?

[justinpeer]

I've been given an old Coronet Major lathe, various attachments and a pile of various turning tools. I'm sure I'll have a bunch of questions as I get it working and set everything up but to start with. I'm cleaning the lathe up and will sort through the tools and post some photos and questions on those separately but there are a variety of chucks and faceplates and, as a novice turner (I've not turned anything yet) I'd appreciate some advice on what the pieces are and their use. I'll add what I know and see if it's correct.

Ok, from the top, morse taper turning point, needs cleaning up but this was what was in the lathe.
Another fitting that looks like you bolt a disk of something to it.
A couple of Jacobs chucks, need cleaning.
On the left are a couple of chucks I"ve not seen before, they have springs inside and I'm guessing you turn something the correct size and it's a push fit into them?
3 jaw chuck, not sure if this is for woodworking as it's the sort of thing I used in the machine shop at school several decades ago.

Faceplates. The small one with sandpaper has no holes in it, so I'm assuming that's just for sanding.
The other small one has holes so I'm guessing you screw through it into whatever you want to turn.
The larger disks have had sand paper stuck to them in the past but also have holes, I'm guessing they can be used for either sanding or fixing larger blanks to them for turning.

Not sure what the brush would be used for but the polishing mop needs some cleaning as it has old polishing compound on it that's pretty hard.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Get yourself a copy of this, the newer ones have a DVD.
https://www.google.com/search?gs_ss...INzQ5MGowajeoAgiwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

[justinpeer]

Will do, thanks.

 

[Duncan A]

Coarse abrasive (60 grit) will clean the polishing mop once you've got your lathe running.

 

[justinpeer]

Good to know, thanks Duncan.

 

[Robbo3]

You seem to have the bits sussed. Top photo, 4 prong drive centre then a mandrel for a buffing or grinding wheel.
The 3 jaw chuck, presumably self centering, is really for metal but can be used to hold wood with tailstock support.
The brush is probably too hard for polishing so possibly to clean out stippled, carved or decorated work before applying a finish.
Manual & catalogue available at the bottom of
- https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/coronet-minorette-lathe-headstock-bearing.133079/#post-1675638

 

[Peri]

You can use a stiff wire brush to clean a polishing mop when it's spinning, and the old-guy polishers at my friends factory use a strip of wood with nails in it to open the weave up.

Having said that, for a home shop user it's probably better just to buy a new one

 

[justinpeer]

@Robbo3 Thanks very much for that, good to know I'm on the right track.

The two chucks with springs are a type I've not seen mentioned in books or in an online search for 'wood lathe chuck' but it seems as though they tighten down when you turn the outer part of the chuck. Looks like I probably need a new spring on at least one of them, so will try and source that.

I'd managed to find the lathe manuals in a search on here so have printed those to go through as I clean it all up.

I have a box of lathe tools, a couple of new looking Ashley Iles ones but most are pretty rusty. Quite a few Sorry ones so I'd like to clean them up and get them sharpened to see if they're useable, or at least to practice sharpening. I may get a set of HSS tools at some point but, for now, I'm sure these will be fine if I can clean them suitably. I have a 5l jug of evaporust arriving this afternoon and a stainless wire wheel on my old metalwork grinder and have picked up a new grinder to set up for sharpening the turning tools.

 

[justinpeer]

@Peri Thanks for the suggestion. I might try the wire brush technique or some 60 grit but I think you're probably right path just getting a new one is a lot less hassle.

First I have to change the belt and get the lathe cleaned up, should get that done in the next few days.

 

[Katomi woodsmith]

I used to use half a house brick to clean the polish off a mop, just enough to clear the mop

 

[justinpeer]

I used to use half a house brick to clean the polish off a mop, just enough to clear the mop

Useful to know, thanks.

 

[Vulcan]

Provided you don’t buy them from a wood turning supplier, polishing mops are surprisingly inexpensive so I wouldn’t waste too much time on one if it’s badly clogged?
These folks are often about half the price of a well known supplier to wood turners.

https://www.thepolishingshop.co.uk/polishing-mops

 

[Vulcan]

This is one of the traditional tools for cleaning and preparing polishing mops. I’ve no idea why this one is so expensive. I have one identical to this I bought about ten years ago and it was about £2.50!

 

[justinpeer]

Thanks for that, very useful. Now to disappear down the polishing rabbit hole to find out what sort of mops and compounds to buy

 

[spiritburner]

This is one of the traditional tools for cleaning and preparing polishing mops. I’ve no idea why this one is so expensive. I have one identical to this I bought about ten years ago and it was about £2.50!

View attachment 189784

in any other world it would be called a wire brush , its because its different it is so expensive ! Nice and easy to use though although I wouldn't drop 21.84 on it, I would just cut the handle of a normal wire brush and bolt the wire part on to a longer piece of wood that looks like this does. Its quite simple to do and just a few minutes work....

 

[BC'er]

First step is a bottle of oven cleaner, a stiff brass brush, gloves and eye protection. Get all the grease and oil off; probably tear down the three jaw and clean the internals as they no doubt badly need it based on how the rest appears. Scrub thoroughly, rinse with hot or boiling water and dry while still hot. No oil etc yet.

Then attack the rust. If your lathe mounts the three jaw chuck wind the jaws in flush and clean up the outside with emery paper at low RPMs. Wind the jaws completely out and do the same to the front face. Jaws you can lap clean on emery on plate glass or your wife's granite counter top. Fine cup brush on angle grinder for the other surfaces or rotary on bench grinder etc.

Two drill chucks with No.(2) Morse taper shanks: reverse them in the three jaw chuck and at low RPMs clean up the taper shanks. If the headstock has a No.2 Morse taper as well as the tailstock, tap them in after winding the jaws below the face of the chuck and give them the emery paper too. Cup brush for the rest. Same for the dead (driving) centre etc. Cup brush on grinder works well in conjunction with rotation of object in the lathe.

If the tail and headstocks have bored and tapered spindles you'll need a knock-out bar: a piece of brass rod works well.

Once the rust is off I would get them hot enough with a torch to drive out all moisture then rub on a good coat of wax with a terry cloth to prevent further rust. Chuck jaws and "spiral" could have a bit of a synthetic grease on bearing surfaces.

The discs or at least one of them looks to be set up to mount the typical large 7 or 9"polisher/sander discs with 1" central hole(?) The other perhaps was for glue-paper mountings of blanks? 5"(?) discs could have been for sanding blanks bottoms before or after turning.

Jacob's chucks will need some oil or synthetic grease, ideally the non-dust-attracting type for what that may be worth.

 

[justinpeer]

First step is a bottle of oven cleaner, a stiff brass brush, gloves and eye protection. Get all the grease and oil off; probably tear down the three jaw and clean the internals as they no doubt badly need it based on how the rest appears. Scrub thoroughly, rinse with hot or boiling water and dry while still hot. No oil etc yet.

Then attack the rust. If your lathe mounts the three jaw chuck wind the jaws in flush and clean up the outside with emery paper at low RPMs. Wind the jaws completely out and do the same to the front face. Jaws you can lap clean on emery on plate glass or your wife's granite counter top. Fine cup brush on angle grinder for the other surfaces or rotary on bench grinder etc.

Two drill chucks with No.(2) Morse taper shanks: reverse them in the three jaw chuck and at low RPMs clean up the taper shanks. If the headstock has a No.2 Morse taper as well as the tailstock, tap them in after winding the jaws below the face of the chuck and give them the emery paper too. Cup brush for the rest. Same for the dead (driving) centre etc. Cup brush on grinder works well in conjunction with rotation of object in the lathe.

If the tail and headstocks have bored and tapered spindles you'll need a knock-out bar: a piece of brass rod works well.

Once the rust is off I would get them hot enough with a torch to drive out all moisture then rub on a good coat of wax with a terry cloth to prevent further rust. Chuck jaws and "spiral" could have a bit of a synthetic grease on bearing surfaces.

The discs or at least one of them looks to be set up to mount the typical large 7 or 9"polisher/sander discs with 1" central hole(?) The other perhaps was for glue-paper mountings of blanks? 5"(?) discs could have been for sanding blanks bottoms before or after turning.

Jacob's chucks will need some oil or synthetic grease, ideally the non-dust-attracting type for what that may be worth.

Thanks for such a comprehensive reply. I should probably have posted back here but I covered the work I did in my other thread on cleaning everything up. link to the post here https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/cleaning-up-a-coronet-major.149245/post-1758519