Freeby of the Year

[Woodlee]

I have been given a metal lathe and a universal milling machine for nicks by a very good friend .He bought these machines along with a shaper and a few other pieces to start a machine shop business ,but has changed his plans and has no use for them .The shaper was sold some time ago

I wasn't going to announce this until a while later, but I know forum member Wheelinround is waiting for me to do it .I should be gloating ,but ,just in case something goes wrong, I won't, just in case the friend was having a brain fart and wasnt aware of what he was doing or saying .
I'll wait until I have both machines secured at my place .

The lathe is an Edgwick tool room lathe I'm not sure if its a MkI or MkII
You can read about the MKII here
http://www.lathes.co.uk/edgwick/
It has a brand new un-used English three jaw chuck . Its also 3 phase ,but that won't be a problem to change .

The mill I know nothing about ,except that it's a universal mill with a tilting head and a fairly substantial sized table and It's single phase .It's also floor standing ,it may be a Bridgeport or may not be.
As far as tooling goes for both machines , I have no idea ,I will have to wait and see.

The friend who gave them to me lives in Halls Creek and I had a very short conversation with him regarding the machines ,I have to call him back in a few days to get some more info .

The machines are in Darwin and I have a crane truck already organised to pick them up and transport to Katherine.
Previously both machines belonged to a well known and very talented Darwin gunsmith and have been in storage for around five or six years.
It's going to cost a bit to transport them ,but if I know the gunsmith ,the machines will be in very good condition and will be worth the cost.
He isn't a person who would buy junk.
I have seen the machines in his workshop ,but along time ago and my memory is fuzzy .

I'm very excited and I cant wait to see them ,unfortunately I have to wait about eight weeks until my friend comes over from W.A.

When I get some more info I will update .

Cheers
Kev.

[wheelinround]

:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup::2tsup: Go Kev thought you were going to wait I was being patient haven't told a sole.

:roll: I new you had to pre-gloat :U must be still having sleepless nights eh

So do I start drawing plans for things for you to make :D

[Woodlee]

Mate ,, for a bloke who wanted to do woodwork as a hobby I'm sure going in a strange direction.
More than likely means a lot more work to get them set up and to the use able stage.
Probably start on the mill first ,because I already have a working lathe.

Draw away send em on down.

Kev

[wheelinround]

:roll: Yes me to Woodwork, Metal work, Computers, Photography, heritage vehicles.

At least you have the room Kev:U

[BobL]

Ca-ching! Score.

Does it come with that taper turning attachment - that looks awesome.

[Woodlee]

Bob ,
Not sure what is with it ,my friend was very short on details .He has never used them ,basically they cam with the property he bought from the gunsmith ,and he just closed up the workshop and never worried about them.
Hopefully the gunsmith was profiling barrels if so it may have the taper turning attachment .I'm hoping there is tooling with it ,other wise it will be a slow,expensive process to tool up both machines.
As far as the milling machine goes I have no idea what it is .Luckily years ago I got hold of a milling machine vice ,which I still have .
Here is an image of a similar lathe slightly larger.
I got this image from an online catalogue ,they claim this is a 14 " swing ,not sure if they mean 7" swing.
Swing to me is measured from the centre of the chuck to the closest point on the bed.
I guess they made smaller and larger sizes on the same basic design.

Kev.

[wheelinround]

Planning on making your own 50cal rifle Kev like the one in the video :D just remember to duck for cover:oo:

[pipeclay]

The swing of the lathe is the largest diameter that will clear the ways.

[wheelinround]

Stupid isn't it when you swing something its from the centre forming a radius not from the diameter :roll: so a 10" swing is realy only 5" from the ways to centre. ie:- :whip:

Engineering language V's English

Pipeclay is correct though Kev

[Woodlee]

Ray ,
I've always been confused by the way they measure swing on a lathe ,despite years of whiling away the bosses time at a lathe .
I guess it goes like this 5 1/2 " centre , 11" swing ,not taking into consideration if it's a gap bed lathe .The gap can be removed to accomadate a much larger diameter work piece.

Cheers
Kev

[hux]

I think it comes down to the British vs USA style. The british seemed to nominate the swing as the distance from centre line to bed for home market and then the export or dominion stuff was the diameter than could be effectively turned.

The USA models always are quoted in diameter, although they seem to have two different diameters eg the Monarch 10EE which is a 12" swing but the effective swing is either 12.5 or 13" depending on the pre or post war manufacture.

Anyway I like your new lathe but the issue with chucks may be a PITA if it doesn't come with everything you want like faceplates, 4 jaw etc.

[Woodlee]

Hux

I'm hoping it has a 4 jaw with it and hopefully at least one face plate .
I wont know until I speak to my friend again.

If not ,maybe some dicking around to get a 4 jaw and a face plate organised.

I reckon the tool post is a winner with a hole bored in it for mounting boring bars etc.

Kev.

[hux]

Kev

Little doubt that its the best value lathe going and a 4 jaw, back plate and face plate may take some doing to get or make but thats next to nothing compared to the cost of the lathe.

[Woodlee]

Hux ,
Truly very good value even if I have to shell out for a four jaw.
Just got off the phone to Halls Creek , I quizzed him at length , he says he can't remember what is with it , but seems to remember a large face plate .He said it has a brand new English 3 jaw chuck probably a Berned (sp?).So looks like it's going to be a bit of a lucky dip .

Kev.

[hux]

Well make sure to post pics when you get it. I just fully read the lathes.uk description. Sounds extremely well made.

I think you will be best getting a VFD if you haven't already got 3ph. You could repower down to a 3hp 3ph at 1440 and get the higher speeds especially if you run at 60Hz rather than 50. You should be able to run over 1200rpm at 60Hz and not have to worry about rewiring all the switching by changing to 1ph motor.

Essentially you would just run the VFD as a power convertor and have it set at constant Hz output otherwise you would lose a fair bit of torque.

[damian]

If it's free then doesn't matter about tooling. Compare the cost of a f/p and 4 jaw plus mounts to any s/h lathe.

Pommies use center height yanks swing. Both round down for obvious reasons. Many lathes are "named" an inch or two below their actual capacity. People buying new lathes either know what they are buying or find out conversing with the sales guy. Manufaturers don't care about s/h sales and besides don't get bad press for pleasant discoveries.

Have fun :)

[Woodlee]

Well its all go ,I'm heading to Darwin on or about the 19th of this month to arrange removal of the lathe and milling machine.

I think the lathe is a Mk1 Edgwick not the Mk2 like I hoped ,any way it's free so who cares.
Hopefully I wont forget my camera and Ill take some pics.

I'll keep you all posted .

Kev.

[hux]

Great stuff Kev. Look forward to seeing the pics. I see one of the machinery dealers has an Edgewick down south somewhere....can't remember which company.

[wheelinround]

A week to go Kev :cool: lets hope your name isn't the one drawn for the Bunnings Vouchers might have to be a re-draw then :p But hey you got the best freebie this side of Christmas :2tsup:

[Woodlee]

A week to go Kev :cool: lets hope your name isn't the one drawn for the Bunnings Vouchers might have to be a re-draw then :p But hey you got the best freebie this side of Christmas :2tsup:


Well here s the pics of the lathe and the mill ,and the bloody tiny doorway through which we had to get them out.
What a job it was to move them out of the tiny workshop they were in .
It was stinking hot and humid , I was soaked with sweat for two days ,even my shoes were squelching on my feet .You know how your skin on your hands wrinkles up if you spend too long in the bath ? Well my hands were wrinkled from the sweat.
The lathe had 1/4 " to spare getting through the door way ,but the mill was too wide ,I had to remove the table winder handles to get it through .

Any way with much effort and grunting the job got done.

The lathe appears to be a MK1 Edgewick not the MK2 like I was hoping , but it still has the indexing gears on the spindle , the hole in the tool post to mount a boring bar and the arched bed .It maybe an early Mk 2 or a late Mk1 .
It's bloody heavy , and very rigid .The headstock cover is not bolted on at all k ,but just sits on top ,I lifted the cover off and had a quick look in side ,all the gears appear to be in excellent condition and every thing is shiny with no rust.
It will need some tlc and a good clean and oiling .The motor has been removed so that we could get it out of the workshop door .The guard for the vee belt drive is so heavy I struggled to lift it by myself ,its made of cast iron 3/8 thick . The chuck on the lathe is a high quality Taylor tapered scroll chuck ,unfortunately it has only one set of jaws ,which is typical of Taylor chucks as the out side clampng jaws were optional and were very expensive ,so most who bought them never bothered with the second set of jaws.
There are two face plates and another three jaw chuck body ,but no jaws with it, maybe able to get some jaws for it ,once I clean it up and see who the maker is. Came with a steady as well.
I also got a brand spanking new Piper MT3 live center and about 600 bucks worth of tungsten carbide tool tips and some large HSS steel bits.

The mill is a very neat machine , no names could be found on it ,but there has been two Id plates on it at some time in the past.
It has done only light work and all the slides and ways are like new.
The head swivels to 90 deg both ways and also pivots at the base of the turret.
It needs only a light clean up an oiling and it will be ready to go.
I suspect its an early Taiwanese machine ,but its is very solidly built .
I first saw this machine about 22 years ago when I had some work done by the gunsmith who owned it .He was very particular about his tools and machines and this mill is in very good condition.
I got a few pieces of tooling with it ,the cutter that's in it and a fly cutter and a collet chuck and a few other odds and sods.

I still have to get them down from Darwin , that will happen in the next few weeks.
For now here are some pics. Just check out the size of the workshop where these machines were housed, very cosy indeed ( like you need cosy in the tropics)

Kev

[Quasimodo]

Hi Kev,

Nice score but how did you shift the stuff out of the workshop - too heavy to physically carry so did you use scates, rollers or just snig it out??

[hux]

Kev

I reckon a Mk1. The end cover design looks quite different to the Mk2.

It looks identical to the Mk1 here http://gentools.ihub.com.au/DesktopDefault.aspx?ItemID=2936937&TabID=91566

The mill is definitely a Taiwanese job. I can't remember the model that Hafco used to call their's and have seen one the same at a clearance auction down here a couple of years ago.

[Fossil]

The top half of the mill looks to be identical to a myford 1AS. I was under the assumption that the 6x26 mill that is widely produced in Taiwan and China is based on this machine, but I might be mistaken. The Myford 1AS may be from Asian origin, but I thought that most Asian machines were original copies of other machines. Here is a piccy off a page scanned from MEW.

Anyway... Great pickup Kev!! I am looking forward to seeing them cleaned and setup. :)

[Woodlee]

Hi Kev,

Nice score but how did you shift the stuff out of the workshop - too heavy to physically carry so did you use skates, rollers or just snig it out??


Yes we used skates and a Toyota troopie to pull it out .The mill was a bit more difficult as the lathe was blocking the door way ,once we got it to the edge for the door the front skates got stuck on the edge and disappeared under the mill . but we had it far enough out for the crane to pick it up.

Hux,
The lathe in the pic is slightly different as far as the clutch lever goes ,but I reckon a mK1 also .
This lathe looks a bit daggy , but will clean up nicely , the bed is in excellent condition with no wear marks .It also has a dowelled removable gap which is in good nick.
Just need to organise a 4 jaw chuck and another three jaw ,or some jaws for the one that has no jaws.
I am going to get a copy of the manuals from lathes Uk later.

Fossil ,
That looks very much like it.

Happier than a pig in sh*t

Kev

[hux]

Nice pick up Fossil. Given the Edwick is also a good quality english lathe there is a fair chance it is a Myford.

Kev,

It will be interesting to see some better pics of the lathe when you have time. They are obviously well thought of when you consider the $4400 price on the other one which has had a lick of blue paint.
Being a toolroom lathe might mean they have been saved from the rigours of production work. As yours was once a smiths lathe it is no doubt in good nick under the grime of 50 yrs machining.
Actually your is in the best condition when buying - ala naturale - no hidden secrets under a lick of enamel.

Well done - as you can see we are all jealous.

[wheelinround]

Kev nothing like a bit of grunt and groan push n pull swet to make a man happy.

just hope you haven't worn down the feet to much and lathe and mill is un-balanced :p


Now whats this about picking up chuck jaws :roll: all this fine machinery and your not going to use it :doh: parking it in the shed just to gloat and look pretty :;

:2tsup: Well done now for a safe journey to its resting/work place