Purcell New Visby Lathe

[Bryan]

I know there used to be a couple of New Visby owners here. Did anyone ever find a manual? All I could find were links to the usual supplier, who seems to have a monopoly.

No I haven't bought one but I know someone who has and they need some help with it.

Edit: Mk 3 or 17-26.

[.RC.]

I have one.... What is the problem with it...

[Bryan]

It's been dropped. :(( Main issue is with the carriage hand feed. Feels like it's missing a tooth or two. Every couple of turns of the wheel it goes clunk. Power feeds work ok so it's not a deal breaker, but annoying. I told him probably hard to fix (not worthwhile for his purposes), but I'd like to be wrong.

Did you mean you still have the lathe, or you have a manual?

[.RC.]

I still have the lathe and have a manual of sorts.

[.RC.]

Manual will not be very helpful for the apron.. Here is picture of mine showing the apron from the top... Might be a tooth missing off that big gear.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/OzRinger/purcell%20lathe/purcelllatheathome070.jpg

[Bryan]

Thanks for the photo. Did you have apron trouble too? How hard was it to get off? I was thinking of leaving the apron & shafts in situ (supported) and popping the saddle off for a look-see. Do you think that would work? I did that on the Graz.

[.RC.]

I was just cleaning it up.... No apron trouble, not that hard to get off... If you remove the saddle you will have to support the apron from underneath..... It probably weighs 50+kg.... It is very very very heavy...

more pictures here purcell lathe pictures by OzRinger - Photobucket (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v606/OzRinger/purcell%20lathe/)

[Bryan]

Thanks those photos are great. Yours looks a peach by comparison.

Do you actually understand the speed/feed selection & colour coding? I had limited time to play when I saw it and was confused just by the spindle speeds. Looking at your thread chart I'm even more confused by that.

Does your manual have any operator instructions?

[.RC.]

Mine is pretty clapped out... Runs OK and would be ideal for rough work...

The speeds are pretty simple to understand...

You have three ranges and four speeds per range..... The three ranges are chosen by the two upper levers on the front of the headstock... High range is got by moving the left lever clockwise...until the mark on it lines up to the blue section... The lever only moves about an 8th of a turn and on mine is stiff as it is sliding a large dog clutch piece on the spindle shaft... The position of the right lever does not matter in high range as the shaft it is connected to is disconnected...

For medium range... Move the left lever anti-clockwise until it lines up the the yellow and red section.... Move the right lever clockwise to the yellow section....

For low range move the right lever anticlockwise....

For the feeds yes it is complicated, but essentially it works like this, again the blue, yellow, red speed ranges are important....

With the feed lever in the 1:1 section all the feeds in that section are available in any speed...

Move the feed lever to 4:1/16:1 and it depends on what range you are in.... 4:1 is medium range (yellow) 16:1 is low range (red)

Also the headstock has an oil pump... With the spindle turning oil should run down the sight glass from the top....

[Bryan]

Thanks RC, that's a big help! :2tsup: I couldn't see the index marks and that threw me.

PS: Makes me appreciate the simplicity of the Graz, where you rotate a single dial to the desired speed. :cool:

[Bryan]

RC could I ask one more question? All his plates are in poor shape and I can't read the fine print in your photos. Threads are not relevant, I just need the feeds. I've used .001" as the finest feed, as per Tony's article, and calculated the rest from the threads. So I end up with .240" in the upper left box and .128" in the upper right. Does that agree with yours?

[.RC.]

HUGE pics here of the thread charts..

http://www.users.on.net/~rcre/purcell%20thread%20chartd%20002.JPG

http://www.users.on.net/~rcre/purcell%20thread%20chartd%20003.JPG

http://www.users.on.net/~rcre/purcell%20thread%20chartd%20004.JPG

http://www.users.on.net/~rcre/purcell%20thread%20chartd%20005.JPG

[Bryan]

:headbang: