My Lathe!

[Waldo]

G'day,

'Tis a happy moment in the Waldo shed as my lathe has made it's way to it's final resting place.

The lathe is a Tough lathe that started its life over in Perth and while on holiday over there my late Grandad saw it and offered to buy it and shipped in back to Brisbane on the Indian Pacific.

While a young bloke my Grandad taught me a few things on it, then he died :( and my Dad inherited it, sadly after a year of it living in his shed he too died and never got the time to switch it on. Now four years later and after living in my FILs shed it has made it's way home to my shed! :)

A local forum member around the corner from me graciously loaned me one of his lathes and now that it's gone back to him my lathe can take it's place. I am now very happy to have another of my Grandad's pieces of machinery in my shed, where it will be loved and will live happily ever after.

So it's made the trip from the west to the east and all the way down the east coast and it's not going anywhere else, until the day I die. :D

Pics below are of the lathe, assorted chisels and chucks.

[Cliff Rogers]

Cool, does it have a brand?

That is one MOTHER of a chuck, what is the thread?

Can you get modern chucks to fit?

There is some good steel in the tool collection, I can see some sorbys & at least one Henry Taylor (bottom row, left side)

If you get a couple of cheap spanners from Bunnies or Supercheap with a ring in one end that fit the bolts on the tails stock & the tool rest (banjo) & hot melt glue them onto the nut in a position that is out of the way when the nut is tight, they are just as good as a cam lock. Grind the other end off the spanner & round it over.

[fred.n]

Nice pics Waldo
Hopefully you as well can pass the lathe on to family members
(when the time comes)
A great selection of chisels as well:)
If you find you have to many.....ship some this way:) :D

[Waldo]

G'day Cliff,

The brand of the lathe is "Tough", from what I understand started out in Perth where they were built the bloke who owned the business went bust and it was sold to a firm in Melbourne, who in turn also went bust.

The scroll chuck sitting on the floor, I've got no idea what size thread it is but I know it's heavy.

The lathe takes #2 tapers, so I can get new chucks to fit, however if I break any bits off the lathe I can't get replacements.

Yeah, there's some nice chisels in there - you've spotted the Henry Taylor, others include some Marples and some home made chisels my Grandad made from HSS files. Now I just have to sharpen them - Skew! ;)

Thanks for the idea about the ring spanners.

[Cliff Rogers]

...The lathe takes #2 tapers, so I can get new chucks to fit, however if I break any bits off the lathe I can't get replacements.....

The Morse taper is the hole inside the headstock spindle, you need to work out what the thread is on the outside of it to be able to order a chuck to suit.

[Slow6]

that sir... is a very sexy lathe! :D

can a lathe be sexy?... I noticed an old "tough" (not as old as yours tho) while drooling over machinery in preston last week.. if its anything like the one I left my greasy fingerprints on you have yourself one very nice lathe.

and from your grand dad too... dare I say.. sexy, with sentimentality :P :o

well done mate, that machine should outlive a few generations yet I'd say.

[jmk89]

Drool.....................................................................
You are a lucky guy and you know it.
Best of luck - the best tools are the ones that you inherit (at least that's what I tell my son)

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Do I sense a sharpening day taking place down here? :D

I've also a few asstd. chuck inserts lying around here that you can try for a fit. It's usually easier to simply measure & count, though... don't forget to use an imperial ruler! Somehow I seriously doubt it has metric thread. :rolleyes:

[Waldo]

The Morse taper is the hole inside the headstock spindle, you need to work out what the thread is on the outside of it to be able to order a chuck to suit.

G'day Cliff,

Yep, aware of that, I must've misunderstood your question. Like Skew said, I need to use some sort of archaic ruler with 1/16ths on it or something. :D It may be that I'll need to get inserts to fit any new chucks to suit the thread - but that's something I'll find out.

Yep Slow6, it's sexy in a cold nice machinery way, but I'm not about to do a Al and his goats job with it. :D

I'll be knocking on your door sometime Skew, as I'll need some tuition in sharpening lathe chisels, some are straight forward others not so and I don't want to stuff them up. Some have had a sharpen and haven't turned out too symetrical and need life breathed back into them.

So many things to do and not enough hours for it all. Have to get back to work for a few more hours yet.

[Phil Spencer]

G'day Cliff,

The brand of the lathe is "Tough", from what I understand started out in Perth where they were built the bloke who owned the business went bust and it was sold to a firm in Melbourne, who in turn also went bust.

The scroll chuck sitting on the floor, I've got no idea what size thread it is but I know it's heavy.

The lathe takes #2 tapers, so I can get new chucks to fit, however if I break any bits off the lathe I can't get replacements.

Yeah, there's some nice chisels in there - you've spotted the Henry Taylor, others include some Marples and some home made chisels my Grandad made from HSS files. Now I just have to sharpen them - Skew! ;)

Thanks for the idea about the ring spanners.

The Tough is a good lathe Waldo I have one it is about 17 years old about 6 years ago I fitted it with an electronic variable speed Drive this really improved it.

When the WA mob went broke Len Smith from the Woodsmith in Victoria purchased the rights to the lathe he can be found at http://www.thewoodsmith.com.au/thewoodsmith/ I know that he was making the lathes and he also offered a repair/renovation and parts service.

Enjoy your lathe.:)

Phil

[Phil Spencer]

The Morse taper is the hole inside the headstock spindle, you need to work out what the thread is on the outside of it to be able to order a chuck to suit.

Thread should be 1 inch 10TPI

[Waldo]

G'day Phil,

Thanks for the info on Len Smith, who's just around the corner from me. You posted the same info in a PM, but I wanted to make my gratiude made public to you.

[hughie]

Waldo,

By the look of it the big scroll chuck is a 6" chuck from a metal turning lathe.

It should have depending on its age either a threaded hole around 1 1/2" or a cam lock system of 4 or 5 dowels. Has it got a name plate? This will help with the threaded hole dimensions etc.

The dowels should attached to a removable plate, once the plate is off you can fit a face plate to it. By match drilling off the dowel plate.

I am in the process of the same to an old 6" chuck myself, just gotta pick the face plate and drill it out.

hughie

[La truciolara]

You bust be very young if that lathe was owned by your grand dad. Look at mine (I used it as avatar)… it tells you how old I am… (hum... I must say he got it from his father)<O:p</O:p
You have all was is needed to do outstanding turning, (including a three points steady). As the other told you, if you had to spend a little money I’d go for a modern chuck. Old ones, like yours, are sure heavy, but they didn’t keep the wood safely on the lathe.<O:p</O:p
I’m surprised to see how rusty can be HSS… Are you sure they are?
In any case all your gouges are more than you will ever require, plus the self made one indicate me that your Grand Dad was really a passionate woodturner….
Keep and transmit the family tradition :) <O:p</O:p

[Phil Spencer]

G'day Phil,

Thanks for the info on Len Smith, who's just around the corner from me. You posted the same info in a PM, but I wanted to make my gratiude made public to you.

Its a pleasure Waldo, I also live in the next suburb across if you would like to look at the conversion to variable speed drive and the other toys PM me.:)

Regards

Phil

[OGYT]

As the other told you, if you had to spend a little money I’d go for a modern chuck. Old ones, like yours, are sure heavy, but they didn’t keep the wood safely on the lathe. <O:p</O:p
When I first purchased my old Griz, I bought a 3-jaw Chuck (sort of like in Waldo's pic) and that Chuck up-chucked more wood at me than I care to remember. :eek: But I fixed it. I turned the step jaws around where the longest part was in center, after... that's after... I cut some deeper grooves in each one (which sharpened it's teeth) with a Dremel Tool and an abrasive disk. Since that little modification, it hasn't spit out any more blanks.
It'll take a much longer tenon now, but when you have plenty of waste wood, it works well. :)
Waldo, it's awesome to have a Grandpa Tool! Hope you turn on it for decades!

[Waldo]

I’m surprised to see how rusty can be HSS… Are you sure they are?

G'day La truciolara,

Not all the chisels are HSS, as all the chisels were stored in an open box in my FIL farm shed and open to all that blew around the place it's not surprising that there is some surface rust on the chisels - most of it however is a build up of dirt etc. It does mean though that I have a fair bit of maintance to do on the chisels yet.

Phil, thanks for the offer - don't know when but I'd be very interested to have a poke around your lathe and other bits.

OGYT and La truciolara, hoping it will last for decades yet and that one day I'll have a son who I can pass the lathe on to. :)

Hugie, I had a quick check of the chuck yesterday and only found a small blue metal badge on it, which I couldn't work out what it said, when I go down to the shed next I'll have a look again and see if I can find anything further.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

If ya bring it 'round when you're ready to sharpen the chisels, I'll give it a quick eyeball as to thread & suitability for wood-turning. I suspect you might want to follow OGYT's lead and modify the jaws slightly... wood chucks generally have a short taper at the end of the jaws to "lock" the piece for safety.

Hmmm... wouldn't mind a closer look at that centre-steady either. ;)

[Waldo]

Hmmm... wouldn't mind a closer look at that centre-steady either. ;)

G'day Skew,

No worries, I'm off to Brisbane for a week next week, so sometime after that we'll work something out.

( a week isn't enough to escape Winter down here - need about 3 months I'd say ;) )

[rodent]

len smith at the woodsmith has all the mashining for that lathe now you might want to contact him for any parts and i think it will be a 1inch 10 thread spindle one of the club members les has an older modle like yours (skews got his old lathe) and he said it has the same thread as the new one another member has .

[Waldo]

G'day Rodent,

Thanks for that info.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

and he said it has the same thread as the new one another member has .

G'day Rod, just outta curiosity... the same as whose new lathe? I musta missed out on that bit of gossip. ;)

[rsser]

Re rust on the tools, those yellow-handled Sorby's look very like a set I just sold. They were carbon steel and prone to rusting.

[Auzzie turner]

Thats a good range of tools to start off with.

[hebc44cnM29B]

The Morse taper is the hole inside the headstock spindle, you need to work out what the thread is on the outside of it to be able to order a chuck to suit.
I have one of these lathes and the thread on mine is 1inch x 10 threads per inch and yes, they are avaiable. To find out if yours is the same, measure the diameter and count the threads in one inch :2tsup:
Hebc44

[rsser]

Thanks for the post Hebc44.

And welcome to the forum.

'Spect Waldo got it sorted by now.

[orificiam]

Way to go Waldo.Beautiful lathe plus history to with it
your Grand Dad would be very happy that the lathe would
be used by family member.
happy turning.
cheers Tony.

[Waldo]

G'day orificiam,

:2tsup: I just have to try and use it more than I do, but :yes: I'm proud as punch that I've got it down here.

[Ed Reiss]

Waldo...looks like an oldie, but a goodie!:2tsup:

[Waldo]

Sure is Ed. :2tsup: Does me anyway.

[Cliff Rogers]

Don't ya just love time warps. :D

[Waldo]

:aro-u: You up there, you only replied coz you want to have another perve at my lathe. :D