Thread: Scored an Ober Copy Lathe

Very nice Wayne on both counts, the machine and getting the upgrade.
Kryn

Ha !! Nice one Wayne , We had noticed that machine on ebay down here . it'll be interesting to get to see it working when you get the time .

Rob

I saw that advertised on ebay as well and thought that it would be a very handy piece of kit. The only thing that would worry me is the spinning cutterhead and no guard but I guess that is the way of a lot of older pre-OH&S machinery. Just as an aside , how long would it take to knock out an axe handle as shown from a blank ?

Stewie

Thanks Kryn. As I mentioned, the machine is fully functional at the moment but the old electrical board doesn't fill one full of confidence. Also, while the traverse/travel function has a stop-switch at either end, it doesn't automatically begin to traverse back in the opposite direction. I'm guessing that this is so that that the cutting depth can be readjusted for the return cut. In any case the superb electronic controllers that are available these days will really compliment the functionality of this machine, so I'm happy to trade off the spare/parts machine in return for the upgrade in electronics.

And Rob, yes. Finally a decent machine that was located in Sydney. Virtually everything worthwhile I've spotted lately has been located down in your area. Not sure what's going on down there but there seems to be an awful lot of machinery being offloaded around the Melbourne area. I blame Julia Gillard and Daniel Andrews.

Hi Stewie. I'm not even sure how you would fit a guard to these things, but I'm sure it would be possible if required. I'm thinking that I won't be installing this in my main shed - simply because of the amount of debris it spits out when operating. Luckily, unlike a conventional lathe you don't have to stand there with a chisel applied to the timber - you can simply set it up and then stand back and let it do it's thing. I will have another very long shed (28 metres) adjoining the new shed (18 metres) and this will be open at the side, so I think the Ober machine will live in the open shed section very happily. That way it can make all the shavings, noise & mess it likes.

The guy I bought it from included a solid cast-bronze template for a classic-shape axe handle with the machine/s, so this is a great start to the kit. I will intend to be cutting adze and tomahawk handles as well, as well as anything else of interest. Apparently this machine was previously used for copying aeroplane propellers, so it seems to be very adaptable. I'm told that it should cut a standard axe handle from a properly sized blank in 4 passes, which would seem to be around 4-5 minutes depending on the traversing speed. I believe you can also have finer cutters fitted it to it for more intricate works such as detailed balusters etc.

There's a few YouTube videos of the Ober copying machines in action, like the one in the link below. Not sure whether it's exactly the same model or not:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVhk...8teOVtZbJsoofd

Wayne

I 'NEED' one of them. That looks awesome

Dave TTC
Turning Wood Into Art

Hi Hardenfast, how is the copylathe going so far? Are you looking to part with/sell the spare one that you got with the original one?

I think Wayne answered that.

Originally Posted by Hardenfast

I had intended to keep it for spares but I have been offered by a friend of a friend to have my machine upgraded by an electrical engineer to incorporate a new all-automatic control board, and in return they get to keep the parts machine.

Wayne

OK, I was being personally optimistic!
Thanks for the update.
Is it going nicely now?

A nice paint job the elec upgrade and you'll be turning out handle's by the truck load Wayne. at least its auto just needs someone to load and unload it cut the blanks. Nope I'm first in que to the other machine still packaged up under your desk.