Thread: Another Lathe thanks to Ray and Bruce and GQ's encouragement.

Originally Posted by Anorak Bob

I had gone out to a place called Bill's Machinery last weekend and discovered a trove. A Dean Smith and Grace lathe, a Sagem mill, a Reed- Prentice vertical mill, a Churchill cylindrical grinder and a trio of Tough woodie lathes. And no camera.

For a long time I have had a desire to be able to do a small bit of wood turning. Little things, handles, knobs etc. Then Ray posted his scraper handle photos followed soon after by Bruce's walnut handle.

I mentioned the sighting of the lathes earlier to RodM and he warned me off, reckoning the mess they generate is close to intolerable. There would be as much chance of me using a wood lathe in my shed as there would be me using a router. Too much oil. So my desire of ownership was wavering. Then I had a number of discussions with Bruce via email and last night with Gregory in person. I thought if I did buy the lathe I could mount it on castors, store it in the garden shed and wheel it out for a bit of open air turning.

So armed with the Nikon I went back to Bill's. Returned home with 97 photos and no Tough, thinking it was too big.

5 hours later I went back out there and bought the thing. Cheap at $200.

I will post the photos of the other machines elsewhere.

BT

Did you come up with a suitable explanation for how you got the thing for the missus?. If you cleaned and painted it you could say you won it in another raffle

Hi A / Bob,
Well what a lucky Chap you are. 3 Tough's to pick from @ $200 a throw.
They should be 10TPI. on the spindle thread. I only see 1 Banjo to hold the Tool Rest.
So if that is what you got, & your into Metal, You may like to have a go at making a Banjo with a Cam Lock on it. Keep Googling, & you may find one to copy.
Sandpaper 150 Grit will clean up the Bed, top, side & under. Have a look at the Big Washer under the Tail Stock & copy that as well, as you will need one for the Banjo.
There will be 3 Screws on the Red Plates on the Head, & if you take them off, the Bearings are there. There might be a plastic Covering on the Bearing, & if you remove that carefully, you can regrease the bearing, & replace the P/ Cover. I use Molykote to Grease my Bearings.
You could also make a 3 1/2in Hand Wheel, with Left Hand Thread for the Left End of the Spindle.
Those Doors on the Cabinet may rattle as well.
I spent $ 480 all up on a Variable Speed Box, 240V in 3 Phase out, plus a 1 HP Motor, but a 2HP, 3 Phase Motor would have been a lot better.
I went to SEW Eurodrive to get my box, but they were in Tullamarine, Vic. & I have not had 1 thing go wrong, in the 3 years I have had it.
The Box I have will run a 2 HP, as well, & the only thing with it is, it does not have a Speed read out, but does have a Hertz read out, & that is what I go by.
You Have a great Lathe, & I hope this helps a little. I have had mine since 1990, & most time it is run on 3000 RPM. & never missed a beat.

Originally Posted by Graziano

Did you come up with a suitable explanation for how you got the thing for the missus?. If you cleaned and painted it you could say you won it in another raffle

It's funny how it goes. I was telling my wife about the Dean Smith and Grace lathe, showed her a few photos and she asked me whether I wanted it. I noticed her cringe a bit when I told her the asking price of five large. But if I had a bigger shed....

Bob, if you buy the DSG, you'll have to build a shed extension quick. Two problems will be solved.

I've seen Bill's stuff on ebay at times. I thought his prices were high but I guess they're just dealer prices.

PS: Do we get to see the DSG pics?

Bob
I believe you will get a lot of enjoyment from the "Tough" wood lathe.
Mentioned before its good to cross over from metalworking to woodworking from time to time, the two complement each other, as do the measuring tools,used.
There is also something wonderful about wood, thats hard to describe, in a few words, but it will be good to have the wood lathe on hand.
After reading "Issatrees" post & his fondness of the Tough & the 3000 rpm I just went & put a Rev counter on my old homebuilt lathe & its max is 2000 rpm.
Most of the turning Ive done has been at lower rpm, but the higher speed would be useful.
Following the forthcoming scrapefest, Bob,I can picture the Tough lathe bed getting a mottling or frosting.
Plenty of photos please as restoring progresses
Well done on the purchase.
regards
Bruce

Originally Posted by issatree

Hi A / Bob,
Well what a lucky Chap you are. 3 Tough's to pick from @ $200 a throw.
They should be 10TPI. on the spindle thread. I only see 1 Banjo to hold the Tool Rest.
So if that is what you got, & your into Metal, You may like to have a go at making a Banjo with a Cam Lock on it. Keep Googling, & you may find one to copy.
Sandpaper 150 Grit will clean up the Bed, top, side & under. Have a look at the Big Washer under the Tail Stock & copy that as well, as you will need one for the Banjo.
There will be 3 Screws on the Red Plates on the Head, & if you take them off, the Bearings are there. There might be a plastic Covering on the Bearing, & if you remove that carefully, you can regrease the bearing, & replace the P/ Cover. I use Molykote to Grease my Bearings.
You could also make a 3 1/2in Hand Wheel, with Left Hand Thread for the Left End of the Spindle.
Those Doors on the Cabinet may rattle as well.
I spent $ 480 all up on a Variable Speed Box, 240V in 3 Phase out, plus a 1 HP Motor, but a 2HP, 3 Phase Motor would have been a lot better.
I went to SEW Eurodrive to get my box, but they were in Tullamarine, Vic. & I have not had 1 thing go wrong, in the 3 years I have had it.
The Box I have will run a 2 HP, as well, & the only thing with it is, it does not have a Speed read out, but does have a Hertz read out, & that is what I go by.
You Have a great Lathe, & I hope this helps a little. I have had mine since 1990, & most time it is run on 3000 RPM. & never missed a beat.

Thank's for the advice Issatree.

When I departed Bill's yesterday morning with no lathe, I bought myself a consolation prize for forty bucks, an ASEA 1.1kw 1420 rpm 250/440V 3 phase motor thinking that if my mill's motor let go I would have a replacement, albeit 1/2 a horsepower down in power, with the same 24mm shaft. Turns out I already had the exact same motor on standby at home. So this "new" motor could possibly lend itself to a Tough transplant. The motor pulley bore could be a problem. There may not be enough meat between the bore and the bottom of the smallest pulley to accommodate 24mm.

I bought a TECO 2.2kw VFD from the States for considerably less than the same unit costs here. Maybe I have to look at acquiring another.

Another option and possibly less expensive, might be a 1 hp single phase motor.

The banjo has been broken and welded. I could make a new version from either cast iron or steel. There is no tool rest. Hercus have a 6" rest for sale on their Ebay site.

I was "talking" to Bruce "Abratool" the other day and he suggested making an adapter to allow the fitting of Hercus 1 1/2" x 8 chucks and faceplates to the 1" x 10 nose. I do have a beater 4" 3 jaw that I could use along with a light pattern 6" 4 jaw that's not a beater but is simple to clean.

My biggest problem is not having a shed to use the lathe in.

BT

p.s. You scraped in before me Bruce!

Bob
All this talk of wood lathes etc has fired up my interest again.
I had a bunch of jobs to do this morning around the house,fix a leakey brick chimney,
replace pool lights,wheel in some sand for stone masonry repair, & so the list goes on ...
But no..... I got more interested in my old wood lathe, set up a piece of coachwood & just "turned" ...marvellous stuff, the aroma of wood shavings & particularly Scented Satinwood...one of my favourites. Yes, I have a problem, & I think you will also get hooked.
So its now 11-40 am & nothing done. Its time for a coffee.
Just busy doing nothing, its not all that bad.
regards
Bruce
ps Noticed Carbatec page 42 of catalogue 2012 have steel faceplates 75mm to 150mm dia ($12 to $32) which could be bored & fitted with 1"x10tpi to suit your lathe
I think Ive seen standard threaded bushes also available.

Yes but knowing Bob, he will be turning his bowls to +/- 1 thou and hand scraping the bases

Just for the record: i have never knowingly discouraged anyone from buying another tool. This way I can point to their stuff and say " But Honey! Bob's got a wood lathe! Why can't I have one?"*

*not really. My wife believes that the tool fairies want me to have stuff.

Greg

Hi BT,

I'm happy to accept some portion of the blame for your new acquisition, wheeling it outside is a good idea and if you can set it up so that you sweep the shavings onto the garden for mulch..

You will like turning, I find it relaxing and very addictive. Most of the time you can do everything by eye, put away that micron dial gauge... no measurements required.

Everyone has their own finishing methods, I use shellac and wax (Ubeaut of course)

You will start to look at firewood with a different eye from now on...

Regards
Ray

Now you have got me going.....

My grandfather passed away early last year and left behind his technitool lathe and everything he needed to fill all of his relative's houses with bowls, lazy susans, lamps etc. It turned out my Uncle wasn't interested so it was all left to me. Of course its all still in his shed in Taree as i havn't had the time to get up there since his funeral. Argh I havn't turned timber in 6 years or so!

Ewan

Originally Posted by RayG

You will start to look at firewood with a different eye from now on...

I once nearly threw a piece of beefwood in a fire....it was just in with a delivered load of firewood.