bellyup
20th July 2011, 08:04 PM
G'day all,
I have finally bought a new (to me) lathe to replace the trusty ol' Delta MC1100 clone. There was a Vicmarc VL250 advertised on the forum - it had been lying idle in a shed in Toowoomba for the past 6 years, I rang up and a deal was done, he would throw in a 14" bandsaw and a dust extractor in for the same price :2tsup:
3000km later I unloaded the big blue beast into the shed. The bed is 1300mmlong, distance to centre 250mm. 250 kg. with a speed range form 250 rpm to 3000rpm via a Reeves pulley system and 1.1kw motor.
I spent the next few hours cleaning down the accumulated dirt, dust and surface rust - time to fire her up - Yikes! lots of un-Vicmarc like vibrations.
Jim Carroll (thanks Jim) suggested it might be memory in the belts from having not been used. Time to strip out the belts and bearings and see what we can see.
The Reeves system in the Vicmarc is wonderful simplicity, nothing like the MC lathes - it didn't take long to take the bottom belt off and to take the headstock spindle out and release the top belt. The bearings looked ok but the packing greese was very stiff, well, I may as well change the bearings out while I'm at it.
Why did I do this? - I never have any luck with bearings - the first bearing came straight off but the second one about 250mm down the shaft would not budge - by now I had damaged the bearing cage and it had to be replaced. After 30 mins I had only moved it 25mm using a hammer and dolly, next I heated it up with the oxy, still very slow - time for the secret weapon.... the Dremel with a cut-off blade, after 3 minutes of gentle pressure the bearing was cut and the pressure released, off she came.It's hard to believe that this tiny tool and tiny wheel could cut case hardened steel but it does and if you slip using it, there is barely a scratch on the shaft, unlike a 4" grinder.
The Vicmarc bearings are Holden front wheel taper bearings - easy to get and cheap - the belts not so, I was informed that there was no stock in Aust and would have to come from the U.S. - no, pass - I'll try the old ones again.
The original motor vibration mounts had perished and were replaced with 10mm rubber matting drilled to suit, the Reeves was cleaned and lubricated and the belts put back in the opposite direction after a warm-up in the sun. This time when it was fired up - you beauty!! - 90% of the vibration had gone - if i bolt it down to the slab (dodgey,uneven slab) I reckon I'd lose another 5% and the I can live with that.
Thanks to all the forumites I contacted for your help and thanks Vicmarc for emailing a copy of the original manual :2tsup::2tsup:
Bruce.
P.S.was there ever a cover on the back of the headstock on these?
176668
176669
176670
176671
176672
176673
I have finally bought a new (to me) lathe to replace the trusty ol' Delta MC1100 clone. There was a Vicmarc VL250 advertised on the forum - it had been lying idle in a shed in Toowoomba for the past 6 years, I rang up and a deal was done, he would throw in a 14" bandsaw and a dust extractor in for the same price :2tsup:
3000km later I unloaded the big blue beast into the shed. The bed is 1300mmlong, distance to centre 250mm. 250 kg. with a speed range form 250 rpm to 3000rpm via a Reeves pulley system and 1.1kw motor.
I spent the next few hours cleaning down the accumulated dirt, dust and surface rust - time to fire her up - Yikes! lots of un-Vicmarc like vibrations.
Jim Carroll (thanks Jim) suggested it might be memory in the belts from having not been used. Time to strip out the belts and bearings and see what we can see.
The Reeves system in the Vicmarc is wonderful simplicity, nothing like the MC lathes - it didn't take long to take the bottom belt off and to take the headstock spindle out and release the top belt. The bearings looked ok but the packing greese was very stiff, well, I may as well change the bearings out while I'm at it.
Why did I do this? - I never have any luck with bearings - the first bearing came straight off but the second one about 250mm down the shaft would not budge - by now I had damaged the bearing cage and it had to be replaced. After 30 mins I had only moved it 25mm using a hammer and dolly, next I heated it up with the oxy, still very slow - time for the secret weapon.... the Dremel with a cut-off blade, after 3 minutes of gentle pressure the bearing was cut and the pressure released, off she came.It's hard to believe that this tiny tool and tiny wheel could cut case hardened steel but it does and if you slip using it, there is barely a scratch on the shaft, unlike a 4" grinder.
The Vicmarc bearings are Holden front wheel taper bearings - easy to get and cheap - the belts not so, I was informed that there was no stock in Aust and would have to come from the U.S. - no, pass - I'll try the old ones again.
The original motor vibration mounts had perished and were replaced with 10mm rubber matting drilled to suit, the Reeves was cleaned and lubricated and the belts put back in the opposite direction after a warm-up in the sun. This time when it was fired up - you beauty!! - 90% of the vibration had gone - if i bolt it down to the slab (dodgey,uneven slab) I reckon I'd lose another 5% and the I can live with that.
Thanks to all the forumites I contacted for your help and thanks Vicmarc for emailing a copy of the original manual :2tsup::2tsup:
Bruce.
P.S.was there ever a cover on the back of the headstock on these?
176668
176669
176670
176671
176672
176673