Thread: Show us your lathe

This is my 16 speed localy made Macson. It replaced my small Colchester master. Fantastic machine to work with and I only have a couple of small things to 'reco' and she will be as good as new. The wife calls this thing the 'stargate' as it sounds like the item from the t.v show when I flick her on.






Oh, and the little Hercus that I have some serious plans for........

Some action shots, clickable pictures.

Chin Hung, 17X68 7.5hp 58mm spindle bore







The New Visby, 17" swing, 48" centres, 3 and bit inches spindle bore, 1600rpm top speed and 10hp drive motor...removes a lot of metal very fast...future of this lathe is unknown...

RC
Whats the other big lathe in the back ground of picture 1?

Dave

You posted too fast Dave, that is the New Visby...I edited it in...

Here s my little Myford Super 7 .
It has a 5" 3 jaw chuck fitted ,two face plates , a catch plate , universal milling attachment and vice , Myford dividing attachment and a full set of Myford collets and chuck.
There are also a 4 Myford four jaw , Myford 3 jaw and a couple of other smaller chucks for it including a Myford specific ER32 collet chuck.
I mainly use Er 32 collets ,which I also use in my mill.

The other pic is of my Edgewick toolroom lathe which is due for a total restoration in the future.

Kev.

Originally Posted by aussiejoeblow

The wife calls this thing the 'stargate' as it sounds like the item from the t.v show when I flick her on.

Hahaha, I was talking to a guy who worked in a local shipyard where an old co-worker used a Macson. No-one else could get anywhere near as good work from this Macson and the other machinists were amazed at how he could get any work at all form the lathe.

My friend noticed this old guy used to adjust a bolt on the headstock and throw the spanner in the sump. Turns out this guy was loosening the spindle bush whenever he wasn't using it and tightening it back up for his work.

This is my 1953 Graziano SAG180 (only 14" unlike RC's) which has had every bearing replaced and adjustments made. Unlike later models this machine runs a bit faster than later models at 1800 rpm and has a high pressure bronze bush fluid bearing instead of the later model's Gamet bearings at $5K-7K for a set if you can find them (Phew!). It also has the oil filled Collotti clutches to let you stick it in reverse at full speed in less than a second when high speed threading. It has lapped chrome steel forged gears and flame hardened ways and to my mind it has the styling of a world war two fighter plane with the louvre vents on the belt and motor cover.

Well I don't have many at the moment but here is one of my lathes

You guys have some nice lathes
Matthew,
I see your running full flood cooling, any problems with rust so far? I have it on the mill but am thinking of hooking mine up on the lathe.
Dave

Originally Posted by Dave J

You guys have some nice lathes
Matthew,
I see your running full flood cooling, any problems with rust so far? I have it on the mill but am thinking of hooking mine up on the lathe.
Dave

I'd heard some neat (not the water based) cutting fluids will leave your lathe rusty overnight if not cleaned up due to a mineral acid content.

Originally Posted by Dave J

You guys have some nice lathes
Matthew,
I see your running full flood cooling, any problems with rust so far? I have it on the mill but am thinking of hooking mine up on the lathe.
Dave

Dave,
I run full cooling systems on two of my lathes and both mills, As well as my bandsaw and
power hacksaw..I use the AIS brand of water soluble oil at a mix of 17 to 1.
I have been running this mix in all machines and if anything it prevents rust on the
ways..
Well it seems to me that where ever the coolant goes there is no sighn whatsoever
of any form of corrosion.
Hope this helps.

Here is my AL960B (one of many we blokes seem to have bought recently - we should have asked for bulk discount from H&F )

Attachment 143296

I haven't done many modifications as it seems to fine out of the box. The first thing I changed (as I did on the AL320G I had before) was to replace the plastic handles with aluminium & brass ones. It just feels nicer in use. At the right you can see the tee-bar replacement for the saddle clamp - much quicker than using an allen key under the compound each time.

Attachment 143297

Another small annoyance on the 960 is that the compound is clamped by socket head cap screws which fill up with swarf. A short length of 5mm hex pressed into a bit of 1/2" round solves that problem.

Attachment 143298

I don't like using soluble coolant so most of my work is done dry. If I need oil/coolant I have a gravity feed system using an old JAP fuel tank.

Attachment 143299

I was disappointed by the quality (loose term) of the commercially available knurlers so, as with most other people, I made my own - I think it's beefy enough! The arms pivot at the very rear so they are supported from sideways movement by the tool side.

Attachment 143300

And lastly, my mill/drill. It's too wimpy to post in the mill thread but for $200 delivered to my workshop I can't complain. It's Taiwanese and has a replacement 3Hp Australian made motor. One day I'll get a proper mill when the domestic goddess loosens the purse strings but for now it does fine.

Attachment 143301

Here's mine. Its the same as a H&F AL-335 just a little longer between centers. The biggest mods so far are an hour meter(why? because I had one in my shed) and the foot "brake". Its just a switch at the minute but I may add a brake at a later date. My theory on emergency stops is, if you don't use it every time you wont remember to use it when you need it.
Next picture is the vertical slide bracket I made
The last is a rough spindle I set up to fix a cracked pulley on my compressor.

Graziano......very nice paint job

Originally Posted by aussiejoeblow

Graziano......very nice paint job

Yeah, good colour too. What do you call that?

Edit: Apart from Blue.