Visby lathe

Hi

A local here owns a New Visby lathe made by Purcell in Sydney NSW . It is the older 1940's version with flat belt drive from the motor under the headstock . It would have to be close to the crudest lathe I've seen, in terms of the casting and the general finish . But it has a lot going for it - it has a long bed and it does function effectively and it is a simple design , not much can go wrong . The gap bed is deep and it will swing a decent diameter . He is looking for a manual for it .

Mike

Hi just found this on google hope it helps. It's about 3/4+ of the page down under Purcell.
Due to interest in Purcell and New Visby lathes (and a lack of technical data) the following catalogue collection has been put together
P900 PURCELL Comprehensive Catalogue Collection covering the: Visby, New Visby in M. 1, Mk. 2 and Mk. 3 types, the "Record", Conehead (and geared-head versions), Heavy-duty 10.5 and 12.5 industrial lathes and the 4.5" South Bend Clone. 56 pages. £35


click here for lathes.co.uk home page

Kryn

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Originally Posted by morrisman

Hi

A local here owns a New Visby lathe made by Purcell in Sydney NSW . It is the older 1940's version with flat belt drive from the motor under the headstock . It would have to be close to the crudest lathe I've seen, in terms of the casting and the general finish . But it has a lot going for it - it has a long bed and it does function effectively and it is a simple design , not much can go wrong . The gap bed is deep and it will swing a decent diameter . He is looking for a manual for it .

Mike

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Got one here was my first stand alone purchase. Second hand and has done a power of work accurate and refurbished in the early 80's.Had great range of feeds and speeds.They are rough in finish a were made in wartime and was the precision not looks and were not made for retail customers as such.
Still here but needs another rebuild[one day] as my brother in law decided to start grinding fly wheels and clutch pressure plates with a tool post grinder he made.I was working away at the time.not what you call impressed but we had other more accurate machines.
I dont know how many wheels were widened in those days and we used to split them and widen also machine centres out too and fit up rims trued and tacked.
We would always send them to a coded[DLI]welder when tacked up. No manual sorry.few years ago I loaned the top cover to some one who was copying a cover missing.Sadly he decided to use mine and went with the lathe when he died and was sold by his family.Lost it after all wasnt going to hit up on a grieving family over a lathe cover.We live and we learn. John.
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Quote:

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Originally Posted by morrisman

Hi

A local here owns a New Visby lathe made by Purcell in Sydney NSW . It is the older 1940's version with flat belt drive from the motor under the headstock . It would have to be close to the crudest lathe I've seen, in terms of the casting and the general finish . But it has a lot going for it - it has a long bed and it does function effectively and it is a simple design , not much can go wrong . The gap bed is deep and it will swing a decent diameter . He is looking for a manual for it .

Mike

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Got one here was my first stand alone purchase. Second hand and has done a power of work accurate and refurbished in the early 80's.Had great range of feeds and speeds.They are rough in finish a were made in wartime and was the precision not looks and were not made for retail customers as such.
Still here but needs another rebuild[one day] as my brother in law decided to start grinding fly wheels and clutch pressure plates with a tool post grinder he made.I was working away at the time.not what you call impressed but we had other more accurate machines.
I dont know how many wheels were widened in those days and we used to split them and widen also machine centres out too and fit up rims trued and tacked.
We would always send them to a coded[DLI]welder when tacked up. No manual sorry.few years ago I loaned the top cover to some one who was copying a cover missing.Sadly he decided to use mine and went with the lathe when he died and was sold by his family.Lost it after all wasnt going to hit up on a grieving family over a lathe cover.We live and we learn. John.ps paid about 600 dollars for it in the early seventies that was lots then compared to today where more industrial machines are readily available now. You had to pay a premium price as demand exceeded the supply.J.

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Originally Posted by j.ashburn

Got one here was my first stand alone purchase. Second hand and has done a power of work accurate and refurbished in the early 80's.Had great range of feeds and speeds.They are rough in finish a were made in wartime and was the precision not looks and were not made for retail customers as such.
Still here but needs another rebuild[one day] as my brother in law decided to start grinding fly wheels and clutch pressure plates with a tool post grinder he made.I was working away at the time.not what you call impressed but we had other more accurate machines.
I dont know how many wheels were widened in those days and we used to split them and widen also machine centres out too and fit up rims trued and tacked.
We would always send them to a coded[DLI]welder when tacked up. No manual sorry.few years ago I loaned the top cover to some one who was copying a cover missing.Sadly he decided to use mine and went with the lathe when he died and was sold by his family.Lost it after all wasnt going to hit up on a grieving family over a lathe cover.We live and we learn. John.ps paid about 600 dollars for it in the early seventies that was lots then compared to today where more industrial machines are readily available now. You had to pay a premium price as demand exceeded the supply.J.

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Hi John

That is interesting . This particular example has got a small crack across the rear V way, about half way along the bed, it does not seem to affect anything , I think it was caused by a fault in the casting process . The casting is rough as guts .

When you say yours had a rebuild , do you mean a bed regrind ? The spindle bearings are bronze and are quite generous and robust from what I saw . I liked the helical bull gear .

They seem to be fairly common , so maybe another will turn up one day .

Yes , I think it was a case of get them out the door , because during the war, lathes were in short supply .

Mike

Quote:

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Originally Posted by morrisman

Hi John

That is interesting . This particular example has got a small crack across the rear V way, about half way along the bed, it does not seem to affect anything , I think it was caused by a fault in the casting process . The casting is rough as guts .

When you say yours had a rebuild , do you mean a bed regrind ? The spindle bearings are bronze and are quite generous and robust from what I saw . I liked the helical bull gear .

They seem to be fairly common , so maybe another will turn up one day .

Yes , I think it was a case of get them out the door , because during the war, lathes were in short supply .

Mike

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Hi Mike yes they are rough out of the sand very little fettling done yes war finish. were lots of them and were sent to tech schools too for the war effort students made bits.Every one who had a lathe or told the govt was to contribute some thing per week for the war effort material was supplied.It was use it or lose it aand some did.the garage where I finished my apprentice ship had to allocate x hrs Xx machines.Very complete machine shop they had.They made parts for Bofor's guns,from memory was parts for the sights and sundries.a weekly visit from and inspector who measured and picked up finished components and left raw material.
I have another story about the ''cottage '' workshop environment that prevailed in WW2. that is for another time.
Re the N Visby that crack be to a retraction fault exposed by machining and prob green casting too Colchester DSG used to bury their castings to speed up the curing normally left out in the open to let the stresses work out.
We reground head stock spindle and fitted the bronze bushings to suit bed was ok and we shimmed head stock and tail stock. we got it pretty right.At 1 stage we considered raising the centre height as it was a solidly made machine we were going up 4 inches more. that was abandoned when we bought a John Lang lathe a very accurate old machine. that is another story too[ boring Lanz Bulldog tractor blocks held in saddle and line bored between centres.
re wartime machines saw a lathe a few years ago made at Collingwood Tech. Turret lathe with a plaque attached to bear made for the war effort by students staff Coll wood Tech.
My cousin has a lathe made by apprentices at the Naval Dockyards williamstown vic.
Another similar 1 saw in Bendigo and am sure the apprentices would have done similar in most Govt munitions establishments as part of their training as lots in those days was done ''in house'' overseen by a apprentice master.ps the helical back gears are made to make them quiet albleit needing thrust compensation as helicals create end thrust.
There are few N Vis lathes around 3 i know or knew of around here in the district. what lurks in boys sheds amazes me always. J.

I took a few pics showing the helical back gear and the thrust race . The straight gear drives the reverse tumbler mechanism

The motor is 3 HP . The bed has been knocked about up near the chuck, lots of little dings in the removeable gap section . The leadscrew and 1/2 nuts are very good, this lathe has done very little thread cutting work .

Mike