Thread: My lathe

Incredible and interesting old beast!!

I would add some sort of cover over the pulley system.

Originally Posted by GSRocket

Just thought I would do a little show & tell since there is a little bit of interest in it. It's a Marvel and and probably made in the early 1930's. It appears to have been a metal working lathe but possibly a factory conversion to a patternmakers lathe. 2" blocks were placed under the headstock and tailstock for added height.
I'd say quite a few modifications have been made in it's life including the fitting of a tool holder. And I've made a couple including having Col Gibbs make an easily height adjustable tool turret.
Originally supplied by Goodall & Co
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Notice the oval under MARVEL...Col thinks this may have been a common casting for lathes and the oval could have been for another brand.....nothing new eh.....
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Col setting up the lathe.....The levels he uses are incredibly sensitive.....where as the bubble in a builders level might be about 2mm past the line, his level would be off the scale. The lathe is much much better once he waved his magic wand over it.
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Interesting, yeah I'd say it's definately a metal working lathe as most wood turning is done freehand so there's no need for a saddle and topslide. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about that. Maybe your mate Col could jerry rig a toolrest to fit on the topslide (maybe secure it to the turret) then you'd have the best of both worlds.
Col may have had a very accurate level, but I noticed that there's still a big hammer within easy reach .

Nice bit of restoration there, JSR.

John...Col probably uses the hammer to ward off people bugging him while working on the lathe

John...Col probably uses the hammer to ward off people bugging him while working on the lathe

Originally Posted by Grumpy John

Interesting, yeah I'd say it's definately a metal working lathe as most wood turning is done freehand so there's no need for a saddle and topslide. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about that. Maybe your mate Col could jerry rig a toolrest to fit on the topslide (maybe secure it to the turret) then you'd have the best of both worlds.
Col may have had a very accurate level, but I noticed that there's still a big hammer within easy reach .

I'd say the tray to catch all the wood shavings makes it a metal lathe.

And not saying you're wrong* about the topslide etc but there is a Myford ML8 on Trademe at the moment that has that as an an accessory....and it looks standard.


*I don't know anywhere near enough to tell anyone they're wrong about anything to do with lathes.

Maybe pattern makers lathes need a topslide and carriage to make patterns to engineering drawings . I didn't think about that before I made a rash statement . I had a closer look at the pictures and I noticed that there is no leadscrew for screwcutting don't know if that makes it a patternmakers lathe, but all the metal cutting lathes I've worked on have had leadscrews.

Nice many hours of happiness ahead.

Artme:It did come with a cover of sorts but I'm in the middle of figuring out how to fit a three speed gearbox in combination with the pullys to get the speeds down slower so
one day I'll have set up right....with cover.
Grumpy: It does come with tool rests...you slide the saddle up to the end and the
tool rest fits onto the bed. I'll post some photos but I'd say it's original with the lathe.
Patternmakers lathes do look a bit like metal working lathes. You can see where a lead screw would have fitted to give a motorised feed to the saddle and there are a number of
casting blanks and unused holes in the saddle and this is what makes Col think the lathe left the factory as a wood lathe for patternmakers but based on one of their metal work lathes.
The rubber hammer...yep, that was his quite way of saying "Shutup! I'm concentrating."

Hey GSR

WOW that is the bomb that is nice piece of machinery if its made in the 1930s that only says one thing it was built to last, Happy time turning with the beast

Nai84