Thread: Wadkin RS lathes, an out of the box question.

Oh you fortunate people!!! Too many Wadkins. One can buy a really nice car for what a Wadkin sells for here in the US.

I would keep the 8 inch and make a platform to fit on the end of the bed for your grinder, table saw, jointer, planer, or just a work bench.

There is enough weight on the 6 inch to swing a big lump on the outboard for larger pieces. If you take out the gap and are using a chuck for bowls the 12 inch length of gap might not be enough for a deeper bowl.

If the bed of the 6 inch would interchange with the 8 inch that would solve the problem and the smaller swing and longer bed would suit a spindle turner who makes canopy beds.

If I hear of you sawing off the bed of the 8 inch I will come to AU and geld you with a rusty tomato can lid.

Lots of info on Wadkin lathes can be found here:

Wadkin RS, RU & RUH Lathes

<cite class="_Rm">www.lathes.co.uk/wadkin/</cite>



E-MAIL Tony@lathes.co.uk ... WADKIN RS, RU and RUH Lathes .... Wadkin RS wood-turning lathe fitted with the optional rack-driven carriage assembly and ...

Originally Posted by Paul39

If I hear of you sawing off the bed of the 8 inch I will come to AU and geld you with a rusty tomato can lid.

Paul,

Rest assured nothing stupid like that. I am a big fan of older woodworking machinery, and have a few Wadkin machines, so I would beat myself to death before sawing off the bed.

My understanding is that the beds are bolted on with 2 bolts each side, and there is also a locator pin on both sides which is done during fitting and assembly. Quickly looking yesterday, I think the holes are already there and tapped for the 6" & 8" location, except the locator pin hole (obviously as that would have been done as part of fitting). My approach, if I did it would be to have the locator holes professionally done, and simply trade the bolt on leg casting. It still feels a bit sacrilege, but I know that you could custom order any bed length as long as you went with a 6,8 or 10" centre, so I am thinking it wouldn't be the only 8" short bed or 6" long bed in the wild.

I will exit it with 2 fully intact and functioning lathes, with the only effect to each lathe being two extra holes (where the previous locator pin went). If it requires more modification than that, this option will be off the table. Wadkin did a lot of custom fitting during assembly (as an example, my understanding is a PK quadrant can not just be changed from one table to the other, as the holes don't line up), so this may not be an option anyway (I will need to see if the tail stock is custom fit to the bed, etc).

Originally Posted by Paul39

Oh you fortunate people!!! Too many Wadkins. One can buy a really nice car for what a Wadkin sells for here in the US.

This is pretty much unheard of in Australia too, it was a bit of an Oprah Winfrey moment "You get a Wadkin RS, and you get a Wadkin RS....you all get a Wadkin RS". I've looked for about 5 years, and it seems like there are less and less coming up for sale (especially now that a lot of the patternmakers have closed), and they are reaching some lofty prices.

In summary, I am about saving Old Woodworking Machinery, and at the moment I have 2 Wadkin lathes that at this stage, I believe (with a bit of TLC), could go back into service, so I am not about to pillage from one if it means one ends up getting scrapped or becomes useless.

Cheers,

Camo

P.S. Thanks for the links, I have seen them, but I probably should have put the links up myself for others when I was posting. Here are some more links, should anyone be interested:

http://www.wadkin.com/uploads/files/...RS%20Lathe.pdf
http://www.wadkin.com/uploads/files/...e%20Manual.pdf

Hi Camo

Yes you really do seem to have a dilemma there !! I saw H's discussion on your collective haul.

I guess the question really is.....what do you want to turn ? Spindles (furniture etc) or bowls, or foundry patterns ? Not that you need to be limited by what you actually need...sometimes its all about potential capability !!

Congrats on some great machines.

Regards
John

PS when you finally do make a decision.....

Originally Posted by jcge

Hi Camo

Yes you really do seem to have a dilemma there !! I saw H's discussion on your collective haul.

I do need to get across and post a reply on H's post, but I didn't want to until I had them all home and unloaded (call it superstition)

Originally Posted by jcge

I guess the question really is.....what do you want to turn ? Spindles (furniture etc) or bowls, or foundry patterns ? Not that you need to be limited by what you actually need...sometimes its all about potential capability !!

Probably because I am in a making room mode, I am thinking the 2 foot is expensive real estate, especially if things changed in the future, and I was forced to downsize my workshop. As you would know, it's not just the 9' of machine to consider, if I am going to do outboard turning, I need to leave room for that too. I have seen a lot more 8" RS's available than 6" (perhaps I am not looking enough), so I would hate to move on the 6", find myself forced to sell the 8" due to space and then struggle to find another 6".

I also don't want to turn the 8" into a long 6" if I am unlikely to use the extra space (diameter), as a complete newcomer, I keep thinking, couldn't I just outboard turn if it didn't fit in the gap? As I type this, I am certain this is a completely ignorant question, and people will be rolling their eyes when they read this (please be gentle).

When SWMBO first realised I was bringing home the 6" and the 8", I told her my plan was to turn one lathe backwards and have a super long bed, she was nice enough to remind me I am not a comedian.

Sounds like a bit more thought required.

I would still be interested to hear how many times forum members have found themselves doing a project that exceeds what the 6" is capable of, but the 8" on the short bed would be capable of handling, just to give me an understanding of how likely I might be to need the extra diameter (without of cause knowing what turning I might steer towards).

Cheers,

Camo

Hi Camo,
I was almost doing a think of which Lathe, A Midi or a full 1M. Lathe.
Well, I wood take the big one, & as I was going to say
" You can Turn a Small piece on a Big Lathe, but you can't Turn a Big piece on a Small Lathe ".
Both are magnificent Lathes, but I certainly wood not do any Cutting on either Lathe.
I think that wood be Sacrilege.
I dare say you wood not divulge what you had to pay per Lathe ???.

Hi Camo,
I was almost doing a think of which Lathe, A Midi or a full 1M. Lathe.
Well, I wood take the big one, & as I was going to say
" You can Turn a small piece on a Big Lathe, but you can't Turn a Big piece on a Small Lathe " .
Both are magnificent Lathes, but I certainly wood not do any Cutting on either Lathe.
I think that wood be Sacrilege.
I dare say you wood not divulge what you had to pay per Lathe ???.

Camoz,

I keep looking for and building bigger swing lathes. I have 350mm & 20 inch swing set up, a shop made 28 inch swing I bought for the price of the new 1.5 HP motor, and in slow process a 36 or 48 inch swing - 3 HP 3 phase motor, arbor, 5 speed truck transmission.

BUT, as someone wrote, "how many 30 inch salad bowls can you sell".

I would keep the big long one and build a bench over the end of the bed that you would not use.

The 6 inch one would swing 24 to 36 inches outboard without stressing the frame as long as you had a big enough spindle - 1 1/4 inch or 33 mm. I do bowls and like to have a tail center to support the out of balance blanks that are roughed out with a chain saw.

You might want to get the easiest one to get in working order running and have a go at turning. That would tell you a lot.

"Retired", has a big Wadkin along with an 11 meter long spindle lathe. You might have a chat or email with him.

Wadkin Restoration or Angus ascending.

Don't tell anyone what you paid for anything. If you sell something for more than you paid, even if it is way below market, if the buyer knows you paid less there may be bad feelings.

Oohhh, to have the problem of too many Wadkins.

Having just put an extension bed on my nova I'd say go the big one

as already said " You can turn a small piece on a Big Lathe, but you can't Turn a Big piece on a Small Lathe "

Thanks guys for all the replies and helpful input. I hear what you are all saying, the simple answer is as big as I can afford space for. I've had a chance to sleep on it, and I have come to the realisation that trading parts is just a silly idea, that this would adversely effect the current 8" lathe. There is only a finite number of Wadkin RS lathes in existance, so I shouldn't be messing around with the 8" like that, especially as Paul has suggested, I could build something at the end, so it is usable space.

As for price, well firstly I was not the only buyer, so I wouldn't mention price based on that. The reality is, anyone who has bought second hand machinery before (I have bought a lot, just ask my wife), knows that there are a lot of factors that effect "fair" or "market" price. This purchase was based on some fairly exceptional circumstances:

* the owner had sadly passed
* the family had left the landlord with the responsibility
* the landlord had new tenants moving in, in one week (and no other place to store them)
* we did not have access to power to run the machines (so had to assume the worst and hope for the best, this is a big factor in determining price)
* we were buying them all (so he didn't have to worry about dealing with 5 buyers, arranging pickup, payment, etc)
* we were there with cash, and a promise to remove 2 machines that day (he had already had a purchase fall through, so as you could imagine with the time left, that commitment went a long way in making the deal)
* the guy knew there would be limited buyers willing to buy all of them
* the guy runs a business as well as being a landlord (so to him, it wasn't worth his time)
* this wasn't anyone's first rodeo (seller and buyers), the seller had done his research and knew what he could get for them (if he had the time to sell them one by one), he also knew the effort required and all the other factors involved

So in answer to a question of what did I pay, the answer would be "fair market price". I guess what I am saying, is if someone wanted to pay what I paid, they will be searching a long time to find the same conditions. I am not sure if I will fully restore it first, but I will at least get it to a point that it can be run to confirm it's condition (that alone would have made a huge difference had we been able to do that). With all that said, it wasn't an "Angus" deal (oh to be just given a Wadkin RS)

cheers,

Camo

Camo

Just something to consider regarding the size of the lathes.....

When you're turning anything that is unbalanced, the mass of the lathe (given that no separate lathe bench is required for an RS) will directly effect the safety of your turning activities. You do not want your lathe hopping about the workshop with you chasing it, skew in hand.

The questions to date, have focused on diameter and length, but I would suggest you consider issue of balance and mass. Obviously the RS8 takes the prize in this arena...assuming of course that you can find a project that requires a commensurate amount of machine mass. The RS6 starts at 625kg....I'd guess my old hyco/woodfast at around 100kg including bench.....

With respect to reconfiguring either lathe, I'd suggest you leave them as is, and make the choice between RS6 and RS8 (or both). Wadkin tended to design their kit with a fair swag of experience behind them, and each was designed for a purpose.

Regards
John

Originally Posted by jcge

Camo

Just something to consider regarding the size of the lathes.....

When you're turning anything that is unbalanced, the mass of the lathe (given that no separate lathe bench is required for an RS) will directly effect the safety of your turning activities. You do not want your lathe hopping about the workshop with you chasing it, skew in hand.

The questions to date, have focused on diameter and length, but I would suggest you consider issue of balance and mass. Obviously the RS8 takes the prize in this arena...assuming of course that you can find a project that requires a commensurate amount of machine mass. The RS6 starts at 625kg....I'd guess my old hyco/woodfast at around 100kg including bench.....

With respect to reconfiguring either lathe, I'd suggest you leave them as is, and make the choice between RS6 and RS8 (or both). Wadkin tended to design their kit with a fair swag of experience behind them, and each was designed for a purpose.

Regards
John

Hey John,

As you say they are both heavy masses of a machine, the 6" is 625kg and the 8" is 675kg, so they are both fairly close in weight all things considered (well the difference is 1/2 the weight of your old hyco/woodfast I suppose), they are both the same head casting, so it's just the extra weight of the 2 foot of bed minus the reduction in the leg size on the 8". I am definitely back to choosing the 6" or the 8" without playing tetras with either, so I will just be choosing one now.

I am certainly not complaining about the opportunity to choose, and it's not like I need to make the decision tomorrow.

Cheers,

Camo

Camo,

I like your analogy of Workshop Tetras™, and choosing between the two is a great problem to have

Regards,
John

Cam, These lathes have a fabricated not cast rear leg.
It would be easy to bend and weld up a shorter one.
Or fab one from angle etc.
A spacer could be water jet cut for the tailstock.
Longer stems on the tool rests and they should be ok with your existinging banjos.
Just drop the bed to the lower bolt holes and it is all reversible.
I have a vague idea for a more Wadkin with a W rear leg. Make it more personalised, get one up on Jack
H.

Originally Posted by clear out

Cam, These lathes have a fabricated not cast rear leg.
It would be easy to bend and weld up a shorter one.
Or fab one from angle etc.
A spacer could be water jet cut for the tailstock.
Longer stems on the tool rests and they should be ok with your existinging banjos.
Just drop the bed to the lower bolt holes and it is all reversible.
I have a vague idea for a more Wadkin with a W rear leg. Make it more personalised, get one up on Jack
H.

Hey Henry,
Such an obvious answer.

I was thinking they were cast (turns out the 6" being older is). The best thing about your suggestion is, no need to mess with either machine, and if I go with the 6", it's something I can do in the future, if needed.

Cheers,

camo