Anyone heard of a REXMAN lathe.

[Bruce Ford]

Hi, If I could pick the brains of the more knowedgable folk in the forum. A few years ago I picked up a REXMAN lathe at a garage sale. It is driven by a flat belt with 3 speeds, it appeared to have little wear but to have been abused a bit. It came with Pat Bernard chucks, a 3 jaws self centering and a 4 jaw independant . The 4 jaw was missing an adjustment screw for 1 of the jaws & there are quite a few thread cutting gears but no reverse gear. I cut a gear on my milling machine and case hardened it by wrapping in leather inside a sealed steel pipe with a small hole to compensate for pressure build up. Seems to be working well. Next job was to cut LH square thread for the 4 jaw adjustment screw then cutt the square hole for the the key once again using the mill. Followed the same process with the reverse gear for heat treatment. It served its purpose for my needs and is now in storage for my son. If anyone has any info or knowledge of these lathes I would like to hear from you. I will lift the covers and get measurements of bed length and chuck sizes if there is any intrest maybe even take a pic or two.


Thanks

[RayG]

Hi, If I could pick the brains of the more knowedgable folk in the forum. A few years ago I picked up a REXMAN lathe at a garage sale. It is driven by a flat belt with 3 speeds, it appeared to have little wear but to have been abused a bit. It came with Pat Bernard chucks, a 3 jaws self centering and a 4 jaw independant . The 4 jaw was missing an adjustment screw for 1 of the jaws & there are quite a few thread cutting gears but no reverse gear. I cut a gear on my milling machine and case hardened it by wrapping in leather inside a sealed steel pipe with a small hole to compensate for pressure build up. Seems to be working well. Next job was to cut LH square thread for the 4 jaw adjustment screw then cutt the square hole for the the key once again using the mill. Followed the same process with the reverse gear for heat treatment. It served its purpose for my needs and is now in storage for my son. If anyone has any info or knowledge of these lathes I would like to hear from you. I will lift the covers and get measurements of bed length and chuck sizes if there is any intrest maybe even take a pic or two.


Thanks

Made in Melbourne. http://www.lathes.co.uk/rexman/

[shedeng]

I have one.
I bought it from the leading hand where I was apprenticed.
Apparently you could buy them part finished as this one was....and still is. I've been getting around to finishing it for 50 years.
The screw cutting side of things is what isn't working. Apart from that I have made use of it to do plain turning from time to time.
At present it is under a pile of bits and pieces in the garage waiting...waiting.

Robert

[morrisman]

Years ago I helped a friend move one of those, we loaded it into my Holden HR ute down near Mentone or Seaford . The Rexman was given to my friend by a very old retired machinist toolmaker , he was talking of the 1920's era when he did his training , he had it in his shed with other stuff and I remember being impressed with the Rexman . My friend never used the Rexman, he sold it to fund a Ariel motor bike restoration .

Somebody told me the Rexman factory was in Box Hill . At a recent ham radio fest, Drew Diamond was telling me he has a Rexman lathe he uses .

[Bruce Ford]

Thanks Rayg, I had a look at the link you provided. Excpet for the first example, I think I may have been a bit harsh on my lathes previous owners. Mine is not so bad considering age and condition. Still would like to know more about it and others.

[malb]

There is a Rexman in poor visible condition coming up in a clearing sale here http://landmarkharcourts.com.au/ClearingSales/View/744, third pic in the sequence, but also appears again further down the sequence.