Thread: finally got my lathe.

good score

forgot the pics,

Neal.

good one! I started out with a MC1100, you might find the swivel head has a few problems, but nothing you cant live with, definetly ditch the legs, a total waste of time , even with extra ballast.
Do a search on the forum as there have been several posts on various mods to this lathe.

yeh hughie did you have any specifics?, i've seen the ones with the 3 bearing live centre and bench / cast iron leg change, its what helped me over the line instead of buying a mini. Anything else worth modifying or looking into?

Neal.

you'll be happy with that one They're like the Holden Commodore of lathes - they're everywhere, lots of spares, reasonably reliable.

there's a WIP build on at the moment in the forums here somewhere for a bench for one of these. Cast iron legs can cost a bomb.

Cheers,
Dave

here's the link

Originally Posted by thompy

Well finally got my lathe, and by default my old one becomes a disc sander soon.

Its a display model from H&F the same as a mc 900 i think, couple of faults with it, someone had knocked off the live centre while on display, a couple of screws for the stand are missing, and the banjo locking (little ones) handles are a little on the dodgy side,as a result i got it for $350.

Pretty well pleased with it considering i planned to do a 3 bearing engineering centre for it anyway (i think i read somewhere here that mjings have one cheapish) and down the track some cast legs.

I also got myself a H&F 100mm chuck, while its probably not the best it was the cheapest semi sealed and indexable type, not sure if the jaws are interchangable or not, however if it doesn't cut the mustard it'll do as a 2nd chuck.

I can't wait to set it all up and get it going, 2MT at both ends, cast iron bed lovliness, swivel over bed head for larger bowls, a chuck!! (the little things excite me these days i've never used a woodlathe chuck before) and a non belt swapping drive, yes i know its not super EVS but hey i'll take it.

Neal.

MC900 it is We use this lathe at our club and at demo's.
The banjo handles re spring loaded you pull them out towards you and turn it to suit the best position. McJings or H&F will have replacements.
Th chuck takes Nova jaws I am told as a member also has one. H&F have other jaws available McJings sell as does Gary Pye the same chuck.

Cheers Dave i've been following that thread and watching, i'll find a leg solution fast i rekon but not positive wether to make myself or go the cast iron ones, and Wheelie thanks, a couple of my thoughts answered before they became real questions..thats awesome mate thank you, as for the banjo handles i think the hex nut or the inner part of the handle inside it under tha springs are worn or broken to nothing, i'll be able to look into it more tomorrow, the nova compatability is awesome and i didnt realise mcjing and gpw did the saem one d'oh.

I'm kind of hoping i can get it to pen type accuracy, i'm pretty sure a few others have so far, and by that i mean if the lathe can be that accurate i'll only just be short of ability experience and time

Neal.

Provided that - when you slide the tailstock up to the headstock - the centre of the tail-spur sits at exactly the same height as the centre of the drive spur then it'll be fine for pen-making.

With the swivel head you can jiggle it a bit to cater for any sideways misalignment. But up & down misalignment is forever. (Well... unless you want to go the path of machining/shaving/shimming)

That was a good price; I hope she serves you well!

yeh hughie did you have any specifics?, i've seen the ones with the 3 bearing live centre and bench / cast iron leg change, its what helped me over the line instead of buying a mini. Anything else worth modifying or looking into?

heres a couple to get you started

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/mc1...wobbles-31145/

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/stand-design-94071/

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

Provided that - when you slide the tailstock up to the headstock - the centre of the tail-spur sits at exactly the same height as the centre of the drive spur then it'll be fine for pen-making.

With the swivel head you can jiggle it a bit to cater for any sideways misalignment. But up & down misalignment is forever. (Well... unless you want to go the path of machining/shaving/shimming)

That was a good price; I hope she serves you well!

Yeap Skew, i am stoked at the price, and for now (my begining, for the most part i dont see me stretching its capabilities to the max, for now) it should improve over what i've experienced thus far by a long shot.

I cannot check my allignment really untill next week or so when i can get a live centre for it, i can estimate it close i guess. As for the shaving and shimming, i hope i don't have to, but i'll do what i have to. i did notice the mini's can spin 1000 rpm or so faster, thats a little bit concerning as i've read a lot of the mini guys run at full speed, in my case thats 2ooorpm for them a bit higher. my lowest speed is 500 i think, not sure if thats a concern either.

Originally Posted by hughie

heres a couple to get you started

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/mc1...wobbles-31145/

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/stand-design-94071/

Cheers Hughie, i read them both now, and i'm secretly hoping machining has improved since '06 when you made those posts (my own searching of the site didnt go back that far so thanks for the links), I'm not counting on it, but i do hope its not quite as bad as you experienced. It seems for the big stuff i've found commonly that it needs raw mass in the base to cope with larger turnings, and i'd gotten that impression.

The biggest thing i've turned thus far was a laminated bowl in school, about 260mm finished dia. initially i think i stretched the school's lathe capacity on it (probably 300mm), and i'm hoping this lathe will emulate that in principal. To get me back to square one so to speak.

Question for you though Hughie, is that chunk of camphor you had loaded up.. Is that, did you try the outboard swing of the headstock for it? Or did you focus on the allignment between centre wobbles first up? I love what you did to both stabilise and allign it, in the bench and the engineering thread locks. My lathe was pretty much preassembled so some of the shots in your post were new to me, whitch were good to see.

As an afterthought, and i dont wish to bore or be overly pedantic, in school i used a self expanding alluminium chuck for my bowl (i used a 4 independant and 3 jaw self centreing in metalworks though), i've seen the utility of and improvement on modern day chucking (and obviously common sence should prevail). With that said, there was no real manual for the 100mm chuck, are there any massive do's and don't in that regard?

Cheers again fella's.

Neal.

Just wanted to add my thanks for you fella's following the thread and takin time to comment and enlighten me on all this stuff, my past knowledge and current research has gaps. I not only enjoy it more, i feel a lot safer and confident as a result. its greatly appreciated, thank you.

Neal.

thompy,

For a fast and dirty stiffening of the stand, put a piece of ply on the bottom for a shelf, cut two trapezoids to fit snugly into the ends above the shelf, and an X brace in the back. At least 12 mm ply, 18 would be better. Medium density fiberboard or wafer board would do as well.

Drill every 150 mm or so and screw through the legs into the ply. Put a 2 X 4 or the AU equivalent (50 X 100mm?) across the front and back, and put concrete blocks, bricks, buckets of gravel, dead car batteries, etc., on the shelf for weight.

The ply should cut down the ringing of the stand, and the weight make it stable.

Have fun!

Great score there Neal!!

That should be a trusty lathe for most things, including pen turning when you have checked the alignment of the centres.

Have fun!! Go make some shavings>