Thread: cleaning my Hercus 260 ATM

Hi,

Welcome to the Hercus club.

I purchased my 260ATM last year. Some of the things I've done which may help you are:

used WD40 for cleaning and lubricating, brake fluid cleaner and HD degreaser for general cleaning when I first got it, you can use steel wool for removing surface rust but don't go to hard with it.

I'm using aircompressor oil for lubrication purposes, ie in the spindle and saddle and on the bed etc. I will eventually get some chain saw bar oil for the bed.

My 3 jaw chuck isn't the original but its a 9.6mm square head which fits in a 10mm square hole.

You can try ebay for many of the tools and books. However in Sydney try Mal at Australian Metalworker Hobbyist, he has everything Hercus or Mick Moyles. A good book for maintenece and general working of the lathe is called Renovating a Southbend 9inch /10K (Hercus is a clone of the Southbend and the 10k is the same as 260).

Thats all I can think of at the moment. You will get plenty of advice from other senior and knowledgeable members of this forum.

My lathe is still a work in progress! Best of luck

Ben

If the surface rust is on the bed of the lathe,you could use a bit of fine steel wool with a lubricant,or a scotch brite pad with a bit of lube,even a piece of emery (just use the back of it not the emery side),also use a bit of lube.

For the working parts of the lathe that have surface rust best way to remove is to use the machine,the natural oils in your skin will remove the surface rust.

With the chuck key you would need to measure either across the flats or the diagonals,of the square in the chuck,generally if its a standard chuck supplied by hercus it would be near to 3/8".

For the tool post,saddle lock,compound lock a 3/8" open ender should be fine if you cant source the original awkward to use ring open ender.

If you intend to dismantle the machine to clean and do what ever you feel may be warranted I would suggest to do a check of how well the lathe is performing now,so you can make a comparison on what may or may not of changed after working on it.

Thank you both for the sound advice. I will start workin on it on the weekend and hopefully be able to post pictures soon.

I wasn't sure about any abrasive devices so I thought I'd ask.

I need to start buying tools as well if I am going to start using it

My hobby is car restoration, so most of my work will be turning bushes and some custom made parts. As i get better i hope to be able to bore steel and cut left and right thread both internal and external (for things like adjustable radius arms for camber adjustments)

I think I will be using mainly mild steel, bronze and maybe polyurethane (if required), so do you have any suggestions as to what I should buy for tools? There seems to be lot's of different sizes and types and it is a little confusing so any help would be appreciated, perhaps also where it would be recommended I buy them from?

I eventually won't to start making my own tools as well (if I ever get good enough)

Thank you again

If you havent used a lathe very much before it would probably be better for you to start with High Speed Steel for you turning tools.

This will teach you how to sharpen a tool to make it cut.

Carbide tooling can be used on the Hercus but it would be benificial for you to get an understanding of cutting with HSS.

You will be able to cut all the materials that you have listed as well as the types of opperations you mentioned.

After you gain the basic understanding of what you can achieve with the HSS you can then move onto Carbide tooling if you wish,Carbide tooling comes in two main types Indexable (throw away tips) and Cemented carbide (brazed or silver soldered) that you can resharpen.

Tooling purchases can be made locally although you will be paying generally a premium price,or you could try Ebay or any of the overseas sellers,Europe or Asia or North America.

There is a section on the main page reffering to peoples favorite sellers,you could look there to get some leads.

If you happen to know anyone who is a machinist or who has been doing hobby machining for a while there advice would also be good.

There are quite a few books around by different authors dealing with begginer lathe work moving into more advanced work,these books from what I am led to believe can be a usefull thing to have but can sometimes be quite hard to emulate the results.

If you were looking for something to start with you could look for trade publications Fitting and Machining) ,although you may find these a little to in depth.

Everything you mentioned can be achieved with the Hercus,it will just take time and considerable practice.

Avoid WD-40 in an aerosol can. It promotes corrosion.

Everyone will have an opinion regarding oil for their lathe. I use Mobil Vactra 2 way oil on the ways, apron and gearbox and Mobil DTE Heavy Medium ISO 68 hydraulic oil for spindle lubrication on my roller bearing nine inch lathe.

Panel beating suppliers sell Scotch Brite pads in a number of grades of abrasiveness. The grey and white grades are extremely gentle and are useful for cleaning bright metal surfaces.

When I bought my first Hercus ten years ago, I used simple LOCK tool holders in a lantern toolpost. Did the job.

Take care.

BT

Thanks pipeclay, your response is invaluable.

Your answer has already clarified some confusion pertaining to the type of cutting tools.

From your comments I'm assuming that all tools are available in HSS or carbide tooling both indexAble and cemented. The HSS and cemented carbide tools are the only ones you can sharpen whereas the indexable tipped tools you throw away when they become blunt.

As a novice the HSS are more forgiving for both cutting and sharpening however I'm assuming the carbide tools provide a better finish (as life is a balance

I think that I'll get myself a set of HSS tools to begin with and see how I go.

So thank you again

[QUOTE=Anorak Bob;1448662]Avoid WD-40 in an aerosol can. It promotes corrosion.


Hi AB,

How does WD40 promote corrosion? I use it for just about everything, if its going to cause a problem I should probably stop.

Ben

Miniherc ,in industry normally they would not sharpen Indexable tooling except for maybe changing the nose radious of a tip.For someone using them at home they may wish to attempt to resharpen.
Carbide tooling in the correct set up will provide a good finish,HSS also will provide a good finish.

Were you considering buying HSS already ground for use or were you talking about buying pieces of HSS and grinding the tools yourself.

If you are going to grind your own you will need to have or get a bench grinder,in my opinion this should be idealy and 8" grinder if not a 6".It should be a good quality machine,I would be tempted to go with a known brand,and about 1/2 to 3/4 HP.You dont want it stalling when you present the tool to it for grinding.

If you do a search on this forum or the net for Text Book of Turning you should be able to down load it,there is a lot of good practical and theoretical information in it.

Thanks guys

No I don't want to sharpen anything myself (unless I have to at some stage of course) so whatever tool I look for needs to be ready to go.... If I use it with respect I should be able to make it last before it needs sharpening, especially based on the amount of turning I will probably end doing.

Regarding the indexable tools my understanding was that you tended to replace the tips rather than try to sharpen them.

I know the scotchbrite pads you are referring to, I use them when prepping a car body for painting. What kind of lube do you recommend as I was initially thinking about WD40 but now.....

Thanks

I am only refering to WD-40 in an aerosol can. I do use the product in a hand sprayer.

My shed has open eaves and no ceiling allowing the ingress of moisture ridden air. Corrosion is a constant battle. During winter it's moisture, during summer it's the result of sweaty hands touching bare metal.

A number of years ago, when fortunately I had only one lathe, we experienced one of those rare winter days when we had fog. Every metal surface in my shed was wet. I cover my machines with cotton sheets and even under the sheet covering the Hercus there was condensation. I sprayed the lathe with aerosol WD-40 and to my horror found the lathe coated in a light layer of rust the following morning. Never used the stuff since.

I wipe all the bright metal surfaces on my two lathes, two drills, two mills .... with Vactra way oil. For lesser used items, wheel bearing grease.

This is my experience with the stuff and I'm not alone -

WD 40 and RUST - Practical Machinist - Largest Manufacturing Technology Forum on the Web

BT

Normally you would just replace the tip but occasionally you may need to reduce the nose radious,some other people I believe resharpen or touch up the tips to prolong life.

At times some people will braze or silver solder the indexable tips to a piece of steel to make a tool for a certain job,the type of indexable tip they use for this process is normally a flat tip without built in chip breaker.

In regards to your HSS tooling,you will get reasonable life out of the original grind depending on how you use them,the worst that could probably happen would be if you chipped or broke the tip or edge of the tool.

If the tool just went off (blunt) seeing it allready had the shape it would be a fairly easy job just to touch the cutting edges back up,with a small oil stone or a diamond.

It would still be worth your while to have a bench grinder for the times that a touch up wont be enough.

Miniherc
I am with Pipeclay on this subject.
Always used HSS toolbits, & find them adequate for most jobs.
Ive found the need occasionally for carbide tools, say when machining through the tough outer layer of cast iron, & machining some of the tougher alloy steels.
It depends a lot on the type of work you are machining. Most of the stuff I do is silver steel, mild steel, brass, bronze, aluminium, plastics, & sometimes cast iron.
The HSS is easy to resharpen by grinding & hone, & does one heck of a lot of work.
I believe it would satisfy most home workshop blokes.
regards
Bruce

Originally Posted by Abratool

Miniherc
I am with Pipeclay on this subject.
Always used HSS toolbits, & find them adequate for most jobs.
Ive found the need occasionally for carbide tools, say when machining through the tough outer layer of cast iron, & machining some of the tougher alloy steels.
It depends a lot on the type of work you are machining. Most of the stuff I do is silver steel, mild steel, brass, bronze, aluminium, plastics, & sometimes cast iron.
The HSS is easy to resharpen by grinding & hone, & does one heck of a lot of work.
I believe it would satisfy most home workshop blokes.
regards
Bruce

BS,

Have you acquired a taste for 4140?

BT

Bob
I still have the finished machined pieces of 4140 steel on the bench after the experimental work on the spiral flute tapping operation, & the finishing with the HSS toolbit.There is a need for carbide tooling on this stuff.
I have been meaning to post the pieces back to you for inspection.
The 4140 is a nice tough steel for those jobs needing it. Its tough to machine, compared to the Bright MS, I have been using, but on jobs requiring a high tensile strength its great.It turned well however & was not as difficult as I thought it may have been
I was communicating with "Localele" on the forum recently, & he is keen on "303 stainless" he mentioned its very free machining, & satisfies a lot of jobs.Have you had any trials with it ?
regards
Bruce