Thread: Hercus 9" restoration, a few Questions

Originally Posted by rickw72

Very nice work !! On the photo of the cleaned up machine with the gear cover open, I can see the key on the large gear, should there be a bush that spaces the gear to stop it walking out towards the end of the shaft? Would be good to hear the story of how you found it, can't imagine something like that sitting in a tip??!!

The idler gear is missing a gear or spacer, when I got the lathe it had a lot of washers as a spacer, I took the photo before I put the washers back, actually got some better fitting washers and cut a keyway in them, till I can get the right gears

The lathe was sitting on a old private tip out of town, went there to investigate a old large tower that a freind was inteested in connecting a radio to, woked well, while there I found the lathe so asked the right questions, Had some stripped teeth on the fwd rev gear and the electrics where tired, wasent getting used so got retired

6 months slowly cleaning it up, section at a time

Michael

Originally Posted by morrisman

VK6BHY de VK3CZ

That's a fantastic job. You are lucky that the rust on it seems to have been surface only. Over here in moist wet Victoria , once the rust sets in, it only takes a few months and before you know it, it's deep pitting . I couldn't keep anything that shiny for very long , the damp air here attacks bare metal , and quickly

73's de Mike dah dit dah dit dit dit dah

Mike,
Good stuff, Yes we are lucky its not cold and wet all the time, often got more then 12 months without rain, but then when it rains we get the years worth very quickly

Have covered every bit of bare metal with oil and put lots of oil in all the workings, first thing I did once I got the lathe home was to spray the lot with CRC or similar, think that helped to loosen a few bits, there was a little bit of rust pitting but not deep and most where it did not cause a problem, worst spot would have been on the taill stock shaft

Have made a frame out of angle iron and put some wheels on so I can push the lot around, makes it easy to get in and out of the shed.
Once I put a 3 phase outlet in I hope to turn up some ali and plastic for a few antennas


73 from Michael
Now a full stop is: dit dah dit day dit dah