Thread: ELLIOTT OMNITOOL MT 48/4000 Lathe

Only info I have is from 1965..

Seems to be an accurised version (or maybe just one with tighter specs) of the omnispeed

It just says Omnitool 15X36, for rapid metal removal to fine surface finishes and tolerances 7.5hp or 10hp motors

Maybe the OMNITOOL indictes Tool Room specs, is the info you have something you could email to me.
Cheers
Bruce

That is all I have, just a very small bit on it of all of one paragraph...

Hi there
I would like to add a few words to this discussion as many years ago I did use an Omnitool at work, however mostly in the commisioning stages. The real difference between the Omnitool and Omniturn I was never sure appart from maybe the price and I think a higher top speed. I know for the higher speed they supplied a balanced 3 jaw chuck to stop vibration. They are a very sturdy and acurate machine with only a few annoying issues.
We found the brake vertually useless, so it was converted by the supplier to an electric solenoid operated unit also quite useless as it regularly fell to bits. We finally refitted the original brake with an air cylinder, then it was fine.

The only other real issue or annoyance we found was the arrangement of the cross slide and top slide as the machine had such a heavy saddle everything else was reduced to squeeze it under the centre height and I am sure it was all intended to fit a lathe with a higher centre height. I seam to remember the tool box was so small we could not get a decent tool holder into it. Also watch the front corner of headstock as it gets the knuckles when operating the chuck.
Hope you have a good power supply as it is a 7HP or larger motor.

Having said all of this they are a very sturdy acurate no frills lathe and should last many years
Cheers
Ray

Sorry I meant Omnispeed
Can you post a few pcs as it might jog the memory a little more

Ray

Hi There,
The only photos I have are from the sale ad and they are not the best, when I get the unit home I will post some. I think the OMNISPEED and OMNITOOL basically look the same, the T bar on the front of the head has 3 positions, it has 380mm shown on it, I figure this is the swing, and the lever on the top of the head has A, B, C, D used with the T bar for speed selection.
The spindle is driven by a toothed belt, which from memory is about 75 mm wide, from the gear box in the head. This sort of makes sense for a high speed tool room lathe where you are trying to minimise vibration transfer from metal gears. I didn't think there would be lathes of this vintage with a 50 mm bore that would go to 4000 rpm. The lead screw needs investigating as when it is engaged at the g/box it rotates ok but when I engaged the half nuts it stops, there might be a clutch of some sort at the g/box or possibly a stripped gear, that is unlikely as the shaft does rotate.
The spindle is I think a D1-6, I can not see me needing to run it up to the full 4000rpm, both chucks are Elliott branded. There is a small knurled knob on the side of the apron and a square headed shaft on the front of the apron on the right of the cross slide dial, both I have no idea about.
As the apron has a oil flow indicator I am assuming it is lubricated from within? fill from?
Are the feed clutches in the apron?
There is a taper attachment but I am not sure if the shaft that attaches to the clamps is there, the clamps are in the assorted bits and peices under the bed. If I can attach the photo I took on my phone when I looked at it things may make more sense to what i am trying to explain.
Cheers
Bruce

Well got the lathe home yesterday, it wasn't quite as straight forward a move as I was anticipating. Due to my driveway sloping and curving then leveling out the tilt slide tray would not actually come all the way to the ground. After much re-positioning and cursing finally got it off by running it onto some pipes and then playing with timber blocks and a lage pinch bar. Luckily the guy doing the move was a good bloke and persisted and stuck at it until we had the lathe up on the level section. others would have said, have fun and then unloaded at the bottom of the driveway.
I pulled the top cover of the headstock off last night and all the internals look fine, the spindle being about 52 mm bore really makes for a big piece of gear.

What I need to find out is how much gear oil and what type should go in the head stock, there is a well at the back which has the pump for lubrication off the bottom. Oil is pumped up to a distribution plate which has drip holes and copper lines going to the bearings. Because of this pumped lubrication I am guessing that the entire box does not need filling, probaly only the well reservoir.
The same for the thread/feed gearbox, how mmuch oil to what level and the same for the apron.
All three have sight windows with a revolving cog.

Any thoughts from the group would be much appreciated.
Regards
Bruce

Oil could be anything from an ISO68, ISO46, ISO32... Hell my lathe stipulates an ISO10 oil...

Generalyl higher speeds use thinner oil.... I would probably go with an ISO46 or ISO32 oil..

Mobil DTE medium is an ISO46, DTE Light is ISO32 They are circulating oils.. Only reason I use Mobil is they are the only company to have a proper distributor close to me..

Shell, Castrol, Fuchs etc would all have their own range of circulating oils suitable for a lathe headstock... Shell for example have the Morlina range http://www.epc.shell.com/Docs/GPCDOC...30957_1634.pdf

Fuchs http://www.fuchs.com.au/categories.asp?cID=14

Thanks for the info. Do you use the same grade in the thread,feed box and saddle.
Regards
Bruce

I would use ISO68 in the feed box/saddle... Just plain hydraulic oil would do...

Hi Bruce,
Great looking machine. How many tool holders did you get with it?

Stuart

Hi Stuart,
Only the one unfortunately, down the track I will look into chasing some up, I have seen a few right ups on generic holders. I did get some good tooling and a spare Multi fix main body, also a smaller Dixon style QC tool post with 4 holders.
Regards
Bruce

Damn, the price of the generic scares me off, can't imagine what the real ones are worth. But they sure are a nice tool post.

Stuart

What really Pi____ me off is the rest of the holders probably were in a box 2 moves ago and are now in land fill or sitting in a box of odds and ends. Luckily I did get the out side jaws for the 3 jaw and extra jaws, plus the 4 jaw and fixed and traveling steadies and face plate. Also picked up a spare multifix B series main unit and a smaller Dixon type QC TP with 4 tool holders. Also some appropriate sized tooling with a heap of inserts.
Cheers Bruce