Robinson lathe

[Harrison85]

If you plan on turning something that big Mark can you take some pics please!

Dan

 

[wallace]

Hi Dan yes will do. I will have to find a way to add a portable on/off switch because mine is fixed.
Are you planning on restoreing yours? I see it has the original colour inside, and then the usual covering of hammerite.
Mark

 

[Harrison85]

Yes I plan on getting a new 3HP motor and variable speed inverter with remote. There needs a bit of work doing to it...firstly (and I knew this before I bought it) the spindle shaft is bent! How this could of been done doesn't bare thinking about...but I'm going to play it to my advantage!! I plan on having a new spindle made with a more up-todate thread (not holding back and going for the stronghold!!) M33 3.5 which will also make faceplates easy to get. Hope to have a M12 hole bored through the center for a knock-out bar and a nice large handwheel made lefthand for the outboard side to rotate the workpiece and finally the arm to change gear needs re-welding (not a big job). Got a price for the spindle - £250.. so I'm going to have to save up the pennies and maybe give up Hobgoblin (might be difficult!) I think it will be worth it as this baby is a keeper. Will leave the colour as it is as it looks quite nice. How long have you the RS for? How did you transport it?

 

[wallace]

I've had the RS for about 18months. It spent 6months outside untill I had surgery on my elbows and then I had to convert my old greenhouse to put it into. Then I spent a few months restoreing it. Me and a friend drove 400miles roundtrip to collect it in his van. It was quite a task unloading it egyption styly, just levers and sliding it on oiled sleepers.
Mark

 

[Harrison85]

Sounds like a right mission - I would have been terrified of cracking the casting!! The Robinson came out of the place I work, hired a Hiab and used slings to lift her up. Because a chipboard floor was put down in the garage prior, it slid across the floor with 4 of us pushing it.

 

[peteinwelland]

Don't it seem strange that somebody should go to all that time and trouble to design and make a piece of kit like that and then leave the user to fart around with Stillsons to get the centres out?

I suppose to do it the conventional way with a slot through the spindle to allow a wedge to be driven through behind the end of the taper would need too much spindle overhang?

There's also the proper tool Looks like a wedge with a slot cut in the middle the same width as the morse taper diameter. Put wedge between spindle nose and back of spur drive and tap the thick end with a small hammer, and out it pops. Easy peasy

 

[CHJ]

For machines that don't have a hollow spindle I've always used a thread protector to jack taper fittings out.
But I gues the problem would be getting one with the correct spindle thread for older machines.

 

[Richard Findley]

.....Like Wallace, I just use grips to remove centres. They are starting to look a little scruffy now, one day I might take them to a local engineer and have some spanner flats machined onto them.
...

Pity you can't get a so called 'thread protector' to fit your spindle nose, it could then be used to jack out the morse taper centres.

Don't it seem strange that somebody should go to all that time and trouble to design and make a piece of kit like that and then leave the user to fart around with Stillsons to get the centres out?

I suppose to do it the conventional way with a slot through the spindle to allow a wedge to be driven through behind the end of the taper would need too much spindle overhang?

The thing to remember is the time period these machines were made. There were very few suppliers of things like centres, chucks etc. You would have bought them from the machine manufacturer, in this case Wadkin. If you look at the brochure for the Wadkin RS: http://www.turnersworkshop.co.uk/WadkinRSBrochure.pdf you will see all centres have spanner flats machined into them. I guess the centres were long lost by the time my RS was delivered to me, although I do have an original running centre, but I prefered my Mulistar one.

Cheers

Richard

 

[Retire2004]

Hi Dan, just picked up this thread on return from B/H break. Going back to your original queries this lathe would have been made by Thomas Robinson and sons, Rochdale. Just wondering if the Test No. might refer to 1940 (432nd machine produced that year!?). As you say there is not much info. about these lathes. Robinson also made a whole range of other woodworking equipment. Suggest you 'Google ' Scott and Sargeant, they handle used Robinson equipment and supply copies of user manuals but don't have any Lathe ones at the moment. I'm sure someone there will know quite a lot about this lathe.
Kind regards, Tudor


"Do the right things, don't just do things right!

 

[Harrison85]

Ah, thanks Tudor, that does make sense. As the plate is missing I have no machine ref. number but will def. try Scott and Sargent. Talking about machine numbers, would this Wadkin NL be made in 1935? Is that how the date can be told from a machine? If any one has any info. on this I would be most grateful to hear.

All the best,

Dan.

 

[Harrison85]

So here is an update on the lathe, I have my new motor and inverter from transwave and installed it using cable channel to get the offset I need for the different footprint. The motor was installed and had the inverter working to test out the gearbox, which was a little noisy. I put gearbox oil in the box about 1/4 full, but when changing gears oil was leaking out over the motor!

When I had the lathe, the gear stick had been bent, which probably damaged the box.After much thinking, I decided to remove the gearbox and run the spindle straight from the motor, which would be quieter and with the variable speed should still get the range, as long as the pulley is the same diameter as the one on the shaft.

I thought some of you would be interested in seeing the gearbox, it was quite difficult to get a good shot inside. It was quite easy to remove, making sure to block it up so that it didn't drop!

Just waiting for the shaft from the engineering firm, a couple of belts and should be ready to turn. Can't wait.

Dan.

 

[Harrison85]

Here is a pic of the box out of the lathe

 

[12345Peter]

Hi Dan, it's nice to see it coming along, will you try to sort out the gearbox or not bother because the inverter will cope with the range?

I still can't get over my reaction seeing a lathe that size for the first time. Hope it all comes together soon for you.

Regards
Peter

 

[Harrison85]

Hi Peter, think I will just run off the motor. I can adjust the torque from the inverter and have been told it can achieve high torque a low speed, which is the reason for going down a step on the pulley anyway. The motor is mounted on a hinge, so will let the weight of it keep the belt in tension. There is as twin groove pulley on the shaft, so will probably to for a twin 4in. taper lock for the motor.

How is the grad going, did you find replacement screw nipple cup caps for it after? Hope all's well

Dan

 

[12345Peter]

Hi Dan, I am not sure if the inverter is the same as mine on the grad, but I am amazed it is so adjustable and programmable, I am over the moon with it. I hope you get the shaft back soon and can start turning.

I phoned the company near Manchester (forgotten the name) and he said he could send me a pair for a fiver which was great, but I haven't got round to it yet. He did say that it wasn't necessary as too much grease could cause problems, I was bit stunned at that, do you have any thoughts about it?

regards
Peter

 

[Harrison85]

The grease cups just need to be turned every month or so just to keep things moving freely. Not sure if a problem would occur due to too much grease though?

There a literally hundreds of parameters on the inverter, if you want turn something big (I turned a 2ft table top) you will need to increase to deceleration time as it will trip the inverter. I'm having an alarm reading on mine saying overvoltage on running and deceleration, can't figure out why - will reboot it to factory default and try again. If that doesn't work the supply voltage will need to be measured and failing that will have to contact IMO. Hope it's just something simple.