Thread: New member, new lathe

The spindle pulley should be a free fit on the spindle shaft,it needs to be able to rotate freely when the Bull Gear pin is removed.
You should also be able to rotate the spindle with pressure from 1 finger when the Bull Gear pin is engaged.
If the take up nut was that tight it could indicate excessive wear in 1 or both of the bearings.
The way it is at the moment you can nip the take up nut by hand,and rotate the spindle and see if you can hear or feel any sort of noise.
In essence there shouldnt be any noise or feel in the shaft at all,but due to not knowing if or when the bearings were replaced there could be a small amount of bearing noise due to the rollers wearing in the cage.
If its easy for you to remove the bearing retainer plates you could check to see how much clearence there is between the rollers and the inner and outer cones.

Originally Posted by pipeclay

The spindle pulley should be a free fit on the spindle shaft,it needs to be able to rotate freely when the Bull Gear pin is removed.
You should also be able to rotate the spindle with pressure from 1 finger when the Bull Gear pin is engaged.
If the take up nut was that tight it could indicate excessive wear in 1 or both of the bearings.
The way it is at the moment you can nip the take up nut by hand,and rotate the spindle and see if you can hear or feel any sort of noise.
In essence there shouldnt be any noise or feel in the shaft at all,but due to not knowing if or when the bearings were replaced there could be a small amount of bearing noise due to the rollers wearing in the cage.
If its easy for you to remove the bearing retainer plates you could check to see how much clearence there is between the rollers and the inner and outer cones.

Thanks. Everything seems to be running fine now. The spindle pulley now spins free as a bird and the bull gear pin easily goes in and out by finger, the spindle turns easy by hand, and everything runs very quiet!! I could make a video sometime if ya like, even running the back gears its quiet! I'm happy that everything is working fine, I put a dial indicator on the spindle and I can easily do up the take up nut by hand to take out all the end float in the spindle. Just need to pick up some set screws.

Thanks again for all your help. Couldn't of done it without this place.

Just curious you bought the lathe after it had been restored,did you see the lathe running before purchase.
If you did I would advise you in future to get the seller to show you how the lathe operates,all its features,how to engage the gears,operation of the quick change gear box through the range of threads it will cut,remove the chuck if its on,if not put each item that will screw onto the spindle off and on,actually put material in the lathe and take a series of cuts.
If you are unsure about what to look for try and take someone with you who knows.
I hope that the problem with the spindle/backgear is all you have.

The learning is part of the fun of these machines for the hobbyist, is ist not?

Have you checked for your serial #'s yet? and are they all the same? Lots of these were school machines and they seemed to mix and match parts a bit. One of mine (the twin to yours) has a mis-matched tailstock.
al

Originally Posted by pipeclay

Just curious you bought the lathe after it had been restored,did you see the lathe running before purchase.
If you did I would advise you in future to get the seller to show you how the lathe operates,all its features,how to engage the gears,operation of the quick change gear box through the range of threads it will cut,remove the chuck if its on,if not put each item that will screw onto the spindle off and on,actually put material in the lathe and take a series of cuts.
If you are unsure about what to look for try and take someone with you who knows.
I hope that the problem with the spindle/backgear is all you have.

Thanks for the concern. I would of bought it regardless, I've been looking for a long time. The guy told me he never went into the spindle. Yes we did run the lathe before, and made a couple of cuts on a piece of steel. I agree with taking someone with me, but I don't know anybody that is really knowledgeable with these, its all going to be a learning curve for me, I like that part about it. If I have to do a couple of things to it to make it right so be it. Like I said everything seems to be running very well now.

Originally Posted by aljunk

The learning is part of the fun of these machines for the hobbyist, is ist not?

Have you checked for your serial #'s yet? and are they all the same? Lots of these were school machines and they seemed to mix and match parts a bit. One of mine (the twin to yours) has a mis-matched tailstock.
al

Yes the learning is fun for me too, I have not checked all the #s yet, just the one on the end of the bed. I'll do that soon.

I just looked again at mine and it has 3 different serial #'s. gear box is 9381, bed is 9373, and the tailstock is 9375. Wouldn't it be interesting if yours was one of these, after all it is a small world.

Ha ha ya that would be funny. I'll try to reme
ber to check the numbers.

Finally got the lathe setup today with the new tool post. Here it is cutting a brass piston pin, I'm making a holder for machining pistons from chainsaws, to make pop-up pistons.

Finished, sorry for the crappy pic this time.