Thread: Lathe Help

Not being able to physically look and touch/see the wear is hard to give an overly accurate suggestion,but by the look of it and the age of the machine and the relative ease of disassembly assembly/re-assembly I would be giving the bore and bearing OD a touch up with fine emery,wet and dry or crocos paper and re-assembling.

If the marks in the spindle are quite deep you could consider getting it metal sprayed and turned/ground back to size (this would be a last resort) or just purchasing a replacement used spindle.

It is surprising how bad some of these spindles and bores can be before they become unusable.

When it comes time to re-assembly check how much vertical play you have in the spindle,any more than .001"-.002"can be a problem but should be able to be limited a little by removal of the bearing cap shims.

Thanks pipeclay. I believe there is plenty of meat left on the undamaged sections to put it back in.

I'm trying to find a thread on how to fix up galling with stones or emery. Is there something around? Not sure what it means.

I'm sure you don't just run your finger around with emery as that would get the bore/spindle out of round.

Depending on how bad the damage is you could start with a round or half round file to get the heavy spots off,then use a series of different grades of abrasive paper/cloth and finish with a suitable stone.

If you have access to a curved edge scraper you could use that as well for roughing and then finish with the others.

You could attach a piece of emery etc to some dowel or other suitable item and place this in a drill etc to attempt to hone the bore/s or even use a hone by itself.

I think a file,emery and stone or part of these would do the job.

Any process you use manually will only remove a small amount of material and should not be detrimental to the spindle/bore performance.

Care would have to be taken if using mechanical means to remove burrs/scoring.

What is meant by a stone?

I'm assuming it's about taking off the high spots on both the spindle and bore to stop any further galling?

An abrasive stone/oil stone.

Originally Posted by pipeclay

An abrasive stone/oil stone.

Do you just use a flat stone to take off any high spots on the spindle?

Sorry for all the questions.

That would be okay.

Inspired by our intrepid correspondent, I have followed in the same footsteps:

The mandrel / spindle from a 1946 Hercus from four sides, and with a wooden mallet that I used to persuade it to come out, which took virtually no persuasion at all.













This Hercus mandrel / spindle (which word is correct ?) came out gradually a fraction of a millimetre at a time with only the need for firm taps from the mallet, about 2 minutes or less. (I am comparing my experience with the experience in the video of the Southbend lathe linked from an earlier posting - in that the removal process took 5 to 10 minutes and used some torque and stress on a threaded rod etc.)

Another difference from the US Southbend video was that on a 1946 Hercus there are no two holes in the sides above the oilers into which you could put wires to depress the spring-loaded felts.




Some pictures of the interior and other miscellaneous ones:





















Felt missing the wick, hence "Where Do You Get It ?"




A felt with its wick broken off, again, "Where Do You Get It ?" Or what substance are they made of ?





Donald

Tiptoeturtle,

I bought a full felt kit from Malcolm in Colyton (http://australianmetalworkinghobbyis...product_id=247)

Originally Posted by neevo

Tiptoeturtle,

I bought a full felt kit from Malcolm in Colyton (http://australianmetalworkinghobbyis...product_id=247)

Okay, thanks for that.

Maybe I can buy just part of the kit... maybe not.

Alternatively, what do you think they are made of ?

Donald

You can buy bits and pieces but not all. I believe they are just made from a tough felt.

Felt.

Originally Posted by pipeclay

Felt.

Aha.

I had a feeling someone was going to say that. I must have fallen out of bed on the wrong side this morning.

Now that I know that felt is made of felt, I feel a need to consult a dictionary, perhaps a very big dictionary.

Donald (happy, I think I am going to save $33 once I get at the very big dictionary)

You need some engineering felt- http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Engineeri...-/120901664387

There was a mob who had it cheaper, i bought a roll from them some time back. Can't seem to find the website now.

Ew