Thread: Moving a Hercus 9" - one man - previous posts

Do you wish to move it in one piece.
Do you have an engine hoist.

Pipeclay,

Thanks for response

Organising engine hoist today

Aiming to put in into back of landrover but minus the headstock and tailstock - aim is 3 separate pieces but not having done it before the reality may be a bit more difficult than that.

suspect would be very unstable and too heavy in one piece.

Need to do some measuring and organising.


Bill

If you can fit the machine in the back of the vehicle you can move in one piece, but you would either need to lay it over or support it so that it wouldn't tip in transit.

Sufficient supports would need to be placed if laying over so as to take any load off a single point.

If removing the tailstock it will just slide off the back of the bed after the lever clamp or hold down bolt is loosened.

If you need to remove the headstock there are 2 bolts securing it to the bed located under the headstock.

You would be better off removing the motor 1st,then removing the countershaft spindle and then the countershaft vertical bracket, if it is a horizontal drive rather than vertical the same or similar will need to be removed.

If you intend lifting the lathe in one unit a sling placed between the 1st gusset on the bed at the headstock end and the rear (towards motor) vee of the bed will work, you may have to move the carriage a little to even the lift. Once the best position is found lock the carriage in position with either the locking bolt or use the halfnuts (before lifting remove the tailstock).If you haven't got a sling don't use chains unless you protect the bed, an alternative to the sling is an used or new Vee belt of suitable length and section (A) to fit, the lathe doesn't weigh that much and the vee belt will hold.

When loading place tailstock end in 1st.

For a one man move with no lifting tackle, dividing the Hercus9 into large chunks makes it possible and not too unsafe. Steel cap boots might be a good idea.
The heaviest part will be the bed. If it's a long bed model, you might need a hand with that.
Remove the head & tailstocks, drive assembly, gearbox/leadscrew assembly, carriage assembly.
It's pretty obvious what bolts and screws need undoing to liberate the parts. You could separate the headstock from the drive assembly but the belt means more dismantling - I've managed keeping it all loosely attached together.
Hercus260 is a bit more challenging - slightly bigger and heavier, more electrics/switchgear cabling.
Take a good selection of BSW spanners, Allen keys etc.
Before reassembling, check the clutch oil bath behind the carriage - often seen chockablock with old swarf.

Jordan

Thanks for the notes pipeclay and Nadroj.

BobL sent me a note as well regarding that post I couldnt find - see link below

For the benefit of anyone who finds this thread in a search there are further useful notes in this thread https://www.woodworkforums.com/f189/hercus-model-108288/

Regards

Bill

Hi,

If you can get a box trailer it would make it a lot easier for you, no need to take anything apart.2013-01-21 16.38.57.jpg With a engine crane and some ratchet tie downs you should easily do it by yourself. Pretty much follow Pipeclays advice and you'll be fine.

I've posted one photo of a previous move I did earlier this year, about 1 k down the ride crane and all.

Ben.

The man who sold me a Hercus 9" model C (hence no gear box, it also had no bench) had the machine screwed to a large piece of 9 ply. The plywood was about 75 cm longer than the lathe (about 175cm), but only about the same width (about 40-50 cm). The lathe was screwed down to the plywood at each of the four holes in the bases of the two pillars, with washers under the heads of the screws. It was on a trailer at a local weekend market when I saw it for sale for the first time.

He delivered it singlehandedly. He also evidently moved it between the trailer and his van (which was a former maxi-taxi) singlehandedly, because he did not want to use the trailer to deliver the lathe to a house located on a steeply sloping road (as was the case where I live).

To get the lathe onto and off the van (and presumably on and off the trailer) he just used a rope to drag it around, sliding it up or down two planks as a ramp, and once it was on the ground, just using the rope to drag the plywood along bringing the lathe with it.

He did not remove the motor, but doing so would have decreased the instability of the arrangement and decreased the weight noticeably for not much additional trouble.

Now that I have one, I find one is not enough, I´d like to have some different models and an even older one and a mill and a taper turning attachment etc etc etc.

Originally Posted by Tiptoeturtle

The man who sold me a Hercus 9" model C (hence no gear box, it also had no bench) had the machine screwed to a large piece of 9 ply. The plywood was about 75 cm longer than the lathe (about 175cm), but only about the same width (about 40-50 cm). The lathe was screwed down to the plywood at each of the four holes in the bases of the two pillars, with washers under the heads of the screws. It was on a trailer at a local weekend market when I saw it for sale for the first time.

He delivered it singlehandedly. He also evidently moved it between the trailer and his van (which was a former maxi-taxi) singlehandedly, because he did not want to use the trailer to deliver the lathe to a house located on a steeply sloping road (as was the case where I live).

To get the lathe onto and off the van (and presumably on and off the trailer) he just used a rope to drag it around, sliding it up or down two planks as a ramp, and once it was on the ground, just using the rope to drag the plywood along bringing the lathe with it.

He did not remove the motor, but doing so would have decreased the instability of the arrangement and decreased the weight noticeably for not much additional trouble.

Now that I have one, I find one is not enough, I´d like to have some different models and an even older one and a mill and a taper turning attachment etc etc etc.

Thanks Tiptoe and Bwal

I think I can use both your ideas.

Take the back seats out of the landrover.

A. Screw a big thick sheet of plywood to the floor using the safety belt bolts

B. Attach the lathe to Tiptoes plywood sled - drag/push/hoist it into the Landrover

C. Remove screws attaching lathe to sled, reScrew the lathe and sled down securely to the plywood floor in A, multiple screws around edge of sled as well as through lathe attachment points, effectively increases area of base more difficult to tip. Could also do some straps across lathe to further secure it to lower plywood sheet. Unfortunately no secure mounting points in back of Landrover.

D. Remove chuck, and anything easy Motor ? Put supports under any bits that look like they might need it ie somebody mentioned a 2 litre paint tin fits well under the motor ? Will have a look.

E. Tightly pack the whole shebang out with stiff cushions / matresses and garbage bags full of shredded paper, If the screws let go it still cant move too much. Landy becomes giant parcel full of lathe and megabubblewrap. .

F. Secure Anything that might twist or turn & damage itself either a mechanical lock or with masking tape.

For one 50k trip this should work and Bill the newbie doesnt have to pull the lathe apart. Had some concerns about doing that.

Take it steady on the drive home - get out and check every 10k. Double check and drive very slowly on the last 1.6k of dirt road.

Whaddaya reckon ? Any huge mistakes in that process - of course my responsibility on the day.

Many thanks for all help and comments so far, greatly appreciated.

Bill

One or two or three pieces of 25mm or 30mm galvanised water pipe or similar metal rod (which should be perfectly straight, and should be longer than the width of the plywood) might come in handy as rollers. You can also reuse the planks from the wooden ramps as wooden rails for the rollers if you are going to encounter soft or irregular ground when dragging/sliding.

In the end the main problem for me was singlehandedly raising the lathe from the concrete floor to bench height a month later (it took me a month to make the bench).

http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/...psc4cee088.jpg

If you can see that picture, the piece of 9 ply is under the lathe, but I removed the ply from under the lathe and put the ply on the benchtop while I raised the lathe manually. (With the benefit of experience I do not advise anyone to copy my low technology method of lifting a lathe to a height of about a metre off the floor: if something goes wrong ....)

Many Thanks for all advice so far.

The chap selling it asked me to come a day early so I picked it up yesterday. Some photos attached. Am quite chuffed.

And call me Lucky - he just happened to have a 1 Tonne hoist installed in his shed that I didn't know about, and he is a qualified rigger.

So we got it all loaded up very easily. And I laid it on its side and packed all around it so it couldn't move on the drive home.

Now despite all of your good advice about taking the thing apart and building sleds etc the sheer weight and awkwardness of this thing scares me silly. I can see that some people do have the ability to mount it on a sled and pull it out of the car on a ramp, but not me. Likewise pulling it to pieces - it all sounded good in the posts, but after seeing it again yesterday I'm concerned about my abilties. Goodness knows what I would have ended up doing if he didn't have that hoist.

So am waiting for my friend with the 900kg hoist in the back of his ute to pay a visit. Have put a solid block of timber under the motor for the meantime, to keep it stable, and white flagging all over the steering wheel to remind me not to drive the car.

Here are some photos of what I have scored, I will have a great time learning how to use this lathe and also learning what all of the bits are for. Have got lotsa time . Waiting for more info on a TAFE course starting early October for learning how to use it

Have been able to download the Hercus Handbook and the Hercus Textbook of Turning as scanned pdf files.

And as per this thread - https://www.woodworkforums.com/f189/h...-0920a-176293/ How many people can say they have a matching Car and Lathe ?


Regards

Bill

You are off to a flying start.

You have made the right choice in choosing the Hercus, IMHO.
As you get accustomed to it you'll be more confident to disassemble for servicing. I recommend removing the carriage to check and clean out the clutch oil bath, especially if it's been used to turn bronze as the swarf can clog it up after a while.
Not too difficult - remove tailstock and the bush at the right end of the leadscrew, and wind it off the bed.

Jordan

Originally Posted by nadroj

You have made the right choice in choosing the Hercus, IMHO.
As you get accustomed to it you'll be more confident to disassemble for servicing. I recommend removing the carriage to check and clean out the clutch oil bath, especially if it's been used to turn bronze as the swarf can clog it up after a while.
Not too difficult - remove tailstock and the bush at the right end of the leadscrew, and wind it off the bed.

Jordan

Thanks for the reminder Jordan.
I have never taken the saddle & apron off my Hercus 260 lathe since purchasing it new 23 yrs ago.
If its that simple to clean it up I will certainly attend to it soon.
regards
Bruce

Good to hear the move is almost done.

BTW Having the lathe broken down for transport made it easier to clean before I put it back together.