Thread: Gloat but don't tell SWMBO

Originally Posted by jmk89

...I have decided that the kids will give it to me for Father's Day, so I will stash it out of SWMBO's sight until then.

Interesting angle.
Mine are in there 20s & live about 1650kms away but it might work.

Love the guarding

It seems that guarding was only offered in the late 1950's. Here's a photo from lathes.co.uk:


However, I think that I may make something equivalent from fibreglass, at least for the changewheel gears - I don't want the kids' fingers disappearing into the mincer at that end. If that works, I may then move on to do something for the headstock.

Well done Jeremy, you should have a lot of fun and some frustrations with the lathe.

Now gird up thy loins for the cost of tooling, soon as you get the basics you realise that you absolutely must have more.

Then one starts eyeing off a milling machine!

I got my first metal lathe a few months ago, and I've passed the cost of the lathe on tools and accessories.

Great fun tho.

How to hold a forumite to ransom

Hard its going to get making excuses such as "I just have to pop out for a bit" then returning with box loads of goodies.

Nice Jeremy

Originally Posted by wheelinround

Hard its going to get making excuses such as "I just have to pop out for a bit" then returning with box loads of goodies.

Nice Jeremy

I have a cunning plan.....

Stage one achieved - lathe picked up and hidden in my Mum's shed.

First impressions - this has not been used very much, certainly in the last 10 years. A little light cleaning with a dish brush and some soapy water and a little light oil got most things moving sweetly. One problem is the 3 jaw chuck - it seems to be a little resistant to unscrewing.

I got all the drive train that the previous user had and it looks like it is a good system. However, the belts look like they could give up the ghost at any moment. The belts that run in grooved pulleys can be replaced with v-belts, but the flat pulleys probably need flat belts. Any ideas on what I should get (leather? Something synthetic?) and where I could get it? I will look at minitech, lathes online etc but other thoughts are welcome.

Some curious things missing - no 4 jaw chuck, no dieholder, no drill chuck and only one dead centre. Should be fun collecting/making replacements.

I will post more (with pics) when I have it officially.

I'm currently running my MACSON 5" (10" swing) on a 6 groove flat serpentine belt.

Seems to work well.

I needed to dismantle the drive system to instal the belt but that wasn't hard.

you know don't you swmbo then your and in the

Before I do anything drastic to damage the Zyto, I thought I should ask you guys for some ideas on how to get the 3-jaw chuck off. I have engaged the backgear and tried to turn it off by hand, but the thing seems frozen on - it wass hard to turn but turning the chuck would turn the lead screw without shifting the chuck ( I think that I need to disengage the bull wheel as well, but I couldn't see the pin on a quick inspection).

I think I need to do something more to lock the spindle - any suggestions (I suppose I could just grip the back gear spindle with a stilson wrench, but that seems, crude to put it lightly). Once I do that, I will put a piece of bar in the chuck about 300mm long to get a bit more torque on the beast.

Do you think I should try to put some penetrating lubricant (WD 40 or something else) into the back of the chuck to try to loosen the grip of the threads?

TIA

Perhaps one of those rubber "boa constrictor" devices for opening jars and removing oil filters would work and not damage the spindle.

Stilsons are the simple, but nasty, way.

Even some old seat belt webbing wrapped around the spindle a few times and tied off to the machine could hold it.

I once undid an harmonic balancer pulley with a ratchet tie down wrapped around the pully to stop the engine turning and used a breaker bar on the bolt. Worked a treat and no damage. I couldn't lock the flywheel as it wasn't installed.

Originally Posted by zuffen

Perhaps one of those rubber "boa constrictor" devices for opening jars and removing oil filters would work and not damage the spindle.

Stilsons are the simple, but nasty, way.

Even some old seat belt webbing wrapped around the spindle a few times and tied off to the machine could hold it.

I once undid an harmonic balancer pulley with a ratchet tie down wrapped around the pully to stop the engine turning and used a breaker bar on the bolt. Worked a treat and no damage. I couldn't lock the flywheel as it wasn't installed.

Thanks for that - some good thoughts (I hadn't thought of the boa constritcor-type tool).

Another question - I am going to weld a bench for the Zyto to stand on (probably about 1.2m x 0.6m and high enough to put the lathe centre at my elbow height) which will have a hardwood surface. I propose (following L Sparey The Amateur's Lathe) to attach 4x2s running from front to back to the bench surface and then put a metal chip pan under the legs of the lathe and screw through the legs and the chip pan into the 4x2s. Sparey mentions that butchers' suppliers supply suitable metal pans for this purpose. That was in 1948. Does anyone know whether they still do? If so where would I be likely to get the from?

If you like you could try a piece of timber either hard or soft between the jaws of your chuck,rotate your chuck untill the timber is in a nice position to be able to give it a good hit with a heavy hammer,have your lathe in backgear.
This is assuming that it is only the shoulder locking it on the sindle and there are no other locking devices.
Another alternative if all else fails put a bit of heat in one spot on the back of the chuck flange where it meets the spindle(get it red) and then hit your timber.
If for some reason its tight on the threads rather than just the locking faces you will have to remove the chuck whilst it is hot,if not you run the risk of it binding up again.

Thanks, pipeclay. I was wondering about heat. I think I will try less drastic remedies first!