Identifying a lathe.

[fozz]

$T2eC16F,!)cFIcDTIogfBSWMZn1WRg~~60_57.jpg$T2eC16d,!zMFIdF85WeWBSWMYCGKD!~~60_57.jpg$T2eC16VHJHoFGlV-ekvzBSWMZHHcpQ~~60_57.jpg

Good evening folks,

I'm wondering if any of you knows what brand this lathe may be and what age it my be.
Any information will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Ross.

[powderpost]

Looks like a one off, non factory lathe to me.
Jim

[Pagie]

Home made. Did u buy it?

[Colin62]

Home made was my first thought.

[issatree]

Hi All,
Looking at the Bearing set up, it maybe a Woodfast.
When you look at the Banjo & the Boxed Tail Stock, it does look like a Homer.
Woodfast had a heavy lid over the Headstock, just like that one.
Great length of bed, make one think it was for Balustrades.
Thats my2sents worth.

[fozz]

Gday folks,

When I first spotted this lathe on ebay early last week the thing that got me interested was this picture$T2eC16N,!zUFIb-GDur7BSWMYsWM8g~~60_57.jpgand after speaking with one of my woodturning club members he told me that it was the third one he'd seen and he said that they were made by Omega way back before making the "Stubby" lathes. I have been wanting to upgrade my big lathe for sometime now as the lathe in this thread https://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/help-pulleys-142323/ was great thing to learn on it still had a small amount of vibration that I wasn't able to get rid of creating inaccuracies that became really annoying.

I watched the auction in anticipation expecting the price to rocket way past what I was willing to spend. The last 5 minutes were a real nail biter and when the screen finally said" You've won" I then sat and pondered just what had I won.

Contact was made with the owner and down I went with a friend and his trailer to pick it up, and there's where the fun started. It barely fitted inside the six foot long trailer. Being on casters thankfully, we half pushed half dragged it to the back of the trailer, dont think these casters were made for this weight. We got one each side of the tail end and lifted it onto the trailer. The trailer is really for a car to pull and being hooked to a Musso 4w drive it had quite a tilt down at the back, thankfully. It was pushed toward the front then a block of wood was placed under the bed and we hoisted, lifted, grunted, swore and in two goes we got it up onto the trailer. If it hadn't been for the tilt it would still be at the owners house. At a guess it must weigh 200 - 250kgs. Strapped it to the trailer and off home we went only to reverse the process again, second time wasn't any easier.

The previous owner had thoughtfully plugged it in before we picked it up so I knew it did run. After getting it home and into the garage we plugged it in and switched it on. The head stock bearings are a little noisy but no slop in the shaft and when I eventually find my grease gun I'll shoot some grease into them through the nipples to hopefully quieten them down. The shaft thread is 10x 1" so I now have two chucks for it. I put a meter long piece of oregon, three inches by two inches offset by about an inch one end, brought the tail stock, tightened everything up and standing back started the lathe more than half expected the lathe to either vibrate like all hell or the piece of timber to exit the lathe at a great rate. It just sat there and purred away almost saying is that all you've got for a test.

To say I'm pretty happy is an understatement considering the cost. Now all I have to do is clean up the garage to fit it in. Once that's done I'll be posting more updates as I restore this lathe to its former glory, at least this wont take as long as the last one.

Ross.

[RETIRED]

A little birdy told me what you had bought, that is why I didn't answer.

Big step up from the other one Ross.

It does not cost a lot for those sort of bearings so, if any doubt replace them.

[fozz]

Ok, I started up the lathe today after greasing up the head shaft bearings and while I do think the bearings needed the grease the noise now appears to becoming from one side of the jack shaft pulley assembly. I can get my hand inside the lathe, grab hold of the pulleys and the whole thing moves just a tad toward the tail stock end of the jack shaft, in fact you can see in the picture the grease from the bearing between it and the arm holding the shaft. 001.jpg I'm going to have to figure out just how to get it out but it was one of the reasons for buying the lathe in the first place, everything seems to be relatively easy to fix.

As I was taking the pictures I thought I'd take some measurements to see just what it will turn. From the bed to the centre of the shaft is a tad over 200mm, don't see myself turning anything much larger and the bed is long enough to turn 1200 without any problem.

, I am glad that I got the play with the other lathe, through it, yourself and a few others it gave me a lot of experience and the confidence to restore this new toy/tool and end up hopefully with lathe that will turn round circles and not oval ones

Just need to save up the pennies for a variable speed add on

Stay posted, there'll be more to come,

Ross.

P.s., little birdie, hhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmm, I wonder...............

[fozz]

Couple of minor updates.

I spoke to a wood turning friend today who did some inquiries about the lathe and it is in fact an Omega lathe, one of the originals built approximately 30+ years ago before the "stubbies" came into existence. I also spoke to another friend last night who explained that a conversion to electronic variable speed is both easy and cheap for a lathe like this, confirming my thoughts as to where I wanted to go with it.

In the same week as buying this lathe I also purchased another lathe, a Carbatec mc1100b which while secondhand was still in the box, unopened and never used. As can be imagined there is not enough room for two full size lathes so the Carbatec lathe will be up for sale shortly.

Now I know these lathes have to be heavy but why oh why do they have to be SO HEAVY? After much grunting and groaning my metal lathe is out of the way and the Omega is now sitting where the metal lathe was, under a double window with lots of natural light.

More updates soon,

Ross.

[NeilS]

Now I know these lathes have to be heavy but why oh why do they have to be SO HEAVY?

Because, heavy is good, very heavy is better, and 'so heavy' is best!

Looks like you have the start of an outboard turning platform there, Ross...

That's one good idea Omega could have kept from this prototype.

[fozz]

Neil, not really sure how the outboard turning would work, you'd have to explain that .

I will be getting forward and reverse on the new set up so maybe that will help

[NeilS]

Neil, not really sure how the outboard turning would work, you'd have to explain that .

I will be getting forward and reverse on the new set up so maybe that will help

Here is an example of an outboard rear turning rig.

Several other examples, here, here and here.

With the fixed headstock on your Omega the rear end is where you can turn larger diameter pieces than will fit inboard over the bed. You may occasionally wish to turn pieces larger than 400mm diam. I prefer to turn faceplate work outboard, regardless of the size.

Is the rear thread left or right hand?

If right hand, reverse will be invaluable for outboard work.

If left hand, you have the challenge of sourcing LH chuck inserts and adapting some of your tools for clockwise turning.

[fozz]

This is a close up of the left hand side of the drive shaft, unfortunately no thread.headstock lefthand side.jpg

[NeilS]

This is a close up of the left hand side of the drive shaft, unfortunately no thread.

Unusual for there to be no thread on the rear end of the headstock shaft, at least for a hand wheel.

So, it's looking like outboard turning is not going to be an option with that headstock shaft.

[fozz]

Gday Folks,

Today I picked up this motor from a friends place that will replace the existing motor on the lathe.20131102_190440[1].jpg20131102_190406[1].jpg Along with this VSD Updated NEW Variable Frequency Drive Inverter VFD 2 2KW 220 250V 10A 3HP P2 | eBay and from what my friend has told me there should be no problems getting variable speed from 0rpm to 3000rpm. I found out tonight though that we've had a miscommunication. The current motor has a four speed pulley and my friend has told me that's the way he has worked out the set up where as I was hoping for two variable speed ranges, one from 0 to 1500rpm and the other from 0rpm to 3000rpm.

He appears to be attacking this conversion from an engineers point of view where I'm trying to explain it from a woodturners point of view and its damn had via skype without voice. This is the first experience I've had with a set up like this so little knowledge on my part could well be the problem.

If anyone of you has any ideas I'd be really interested to read them.

Thanks in advance,

Ross.