Thread: My new but old lathe

That looks to be in good shape but what brand is it ? Any data plates on it ? It looks somewhat like a early Brakenbury and Austin lathe MIKE

Hi Chris,

Try a bit with scotch brite pads and kerosense, then when the greasy gunk is gone switch to scotch brite pads with Lanox, for large flat areas i've been getting good results by putting a scotch brite pad on a random orbital sander.

For areas where you want a bit more shine, like dials and such, try using Autosol polish, but don't use it on the mating surfaces like ways and such, just on the non-mating surfaces.

Looks like it will be a nice machine, I can't see any parts missing on the tailstock, I think might be referring to lateral adjustment system for taper turning, there should be screws for adjusting tailstock alignment however.. I'll wait till eagle-eyed Stuart has a look

Regards
Ray

Interesting lathe. Good find!
Looks like a flat bed with an inverted V way or square way in the front slideway.
You are right: something is missing. The screw holes for the two adjusting screws appear top be there but the tongue or anvil for them to push again isn't. Could it be an L-shape thingi that registers in the shallow longitudinal keyway in the centre of the top part of the tailstock?
Joe

Here are some better images of the tail stock.

Originally Posted by morrisman

That looks to be in good shape but what brand is it ? Any data plates on it ? It looks somewhat like a early Brakenbury and Austin lathe MIKE

No plates but searching google shows very similar models so I'd say you are correct, I'll be building a bench over the next few days and will take some better pictures of the machine then.

Thanks ray I'll give the kerosene a try.

Hi,
I think Joe has it right. I wonder if it broke and someone milled it off to clean it up or if there is meant to be a key/tongue bolted into that slot?
On my lathe its up the other way so I cant help much more.

While we are asking question. Why are the adjustment screws offset? That would seem to be a silly thing to do.

Stuart

(deleted my other post as I started writing it before Chris posted the new pictures)

Looks like all you need to do is make a block that fits in that slot snugly and screw it to the TS body. And possibly tap some new threads for the adjusting screws. Though it would be nice to know how it was originally, if than info can be found.

Thanks, just sent the seller a message and will see if something was missed.

I've got a mill here so worst case wont be so bad, I'm searching to see if I can find any images of what it looked like originally but so far no luck.

Originally Posted by morrisman

That looks to be in good shape but what brand is it ? Any data plates on it ? It looks somewhat like a early Brakenbury and Austin lathe MIKE

Mike,

FWIW although there are some similarities, I doubt it is a Brackenbury and Austin.

1. All the Brackenbury and Austins I have seen have the carriage handwheel on the left of the apron.

2, The lathe in the photo appears to have either a split flat front way or a flat way and vee way on the front. I've never come across a B & A which did not have just two flat ways.

3. I haven't seen a B & A lathe with the extension wings on the back of the carriage to go around the tailstock like the one pictured.

Some indication of the country of origin might be obtained from checking the fasteners used. If they are 55 dgree Whitworth, it is probably English or Australian (most likely, because of the Empire Preference trading concessions which applied before WW2). If they are the 60 degree American coarse thread, whatever it was called at the time (NC?), it is probably of American origin. From memory, and I might have this the wrong way round, some old German machinery had Whitworth fasteners but with metric heads.

Frank.