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I just picked up a Don Rex Speed Frame chair to restore - Don Rex was a Brisbane based manufacturer of furniture, a bunch of the stuff found in QLD is Don Rex (And I missed out on a pair of non...

Braze it?

Using single pack PU foam in a can in an enclosed chamber is fail - found thi sout when trying to use it inside a plastic bag to take a mould of a volume so I could build a carbon fibre airbox.
The...

Blackwoods - Do they ever have anything in stock? Between their everything is out of stock, their "We won't tell you the price in the catalogue, it's a secret" (and it's double what you can get it...

My Betalon wound up being a bit too long - not a massive amount, but enough to be noticeable (1530 is what I ordered, ddn't measure what was delivered, maybe of the order of 1570? enough that I had...

It's probably cheaper to buy an entire Ozito dremel knock off from Bunnings for it's cable than buying a dremel cable...

23 teeth on both, excellent! Thank you!
Mine doesn't have such tiny oilers - mine are 1/8th BSP (except for the shaft oiler which is 1/4BSP)

These fasteners on particular lathes are all...

There's a lever on the apron that switches between facing and turning for the power feed - I'll dummy it up tonight, but I'm pretty sure the drive gear can only engage one of the shafts.

Here's what my leadscrew and powerfeed gears look like for you
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t242/Bish_500/Lathe/IMG_20150331_185808_848_zps0dg1hknz.jpg

Pretty sure the rest of the gears on...

Hudnut, clear out some of your PMs :)

It's a pity - I reckon between my lathe and your lathe we could build one really good one.
As requested, here's a pic of the shaft cover on mine - nothing fancy....

Thanks. Will take a pic tonight - I have to pull the lube feed from the spindle cap and measure the threads tonight anyway.

Oh, and the second gear that's doing nothing on your cascade is there as a different set of ratios - swap it out for the gear that is engaged, and you'll probably have a selection of metric feeds - I...

I *think* its the same as mine - a Thor.

Plate at the headstock should say.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t242/Bish_500/Lathe/IMG_20130723_180436_564_zps346617a6.jpg
Mine's minus the Apron...

OK, thanks guys - will add that to the list of things to buy... sigh.

The SAE 80w gear oil I used is roughly the same as some 30W/50 engine oil I had lying around (gear oils and engine oils use different measurement temperatures I believe?)- I was concerned that a...

Ok, so I'm getting closer to my 40's/50's Mars Thor being up and running, and I have a question Re: lubrication of the spindle - what is the go with spindle lubrication on old plain bearing lathes...

I've just installed a betalon flat belt I ordered from https://store.lathes.co.uk/belts/betalon-multiply-flat-belting
You have to measure your length very accurately, but is seems so far like it's a...

Adding some extra tank capacity might be more helpful than you think - we were blasting with a tradetools compressor (Similar size to the OP's McMillan) that was running very high duty cycle and it...

So, finally got 15 minutes to mess with the switch unit and start cap on my Mars Thor - and it's knackered (Lathe hasn't run in 20 years at a guess). The motor that's there is a 19mm shaft 1hp single...

I once cut up a car with a jigsaw...

Castlemaine Rod shop bellhousing?

Interesting to see the original paint on these Mars lathes though.... I really must get stuck into getting mine back up and running.

Anyone see some humour in Grade 8 bolts on wooden spoked wheels?

Got one of the original bolts handy? How hard is it?

Bulltwaddle.The carbon black loaded into the rubber composition (to help with UV stability) makes the rubber sufficiently conductive that charge cannot be stored. Otherwise, everyones car would build...

RAD do the grinding too - I'd give them a buzz as a one stop shop.

Well aware of allowing for the wear in the middle - the first lathe i spent any serious time with was a *seriously* flogged out government Hercus - trying to do anything remotely precision with that...

Rather than pinching, I guess a spread could be achieved by drilling and running a taper tap in part way, (perpendicular to the nut axis), slitting through the middle of the holes, and then run grub...

Having had a 4 cylinder press together crank done (and watched the process - was done by a retired guy who for the last 20 years was the go to guy for pressed crank work in QLD), there's no jigging,...

I suspect RAD hard chroming up here in brizzy might be a usefull mob for you - they charge $300ish for a grind back/chrome/grind to final diameter for fork tubes - i suspect they do all manner of...

I guess my question was more "is the technique of intentionally missaligning the leadscrew nut a valid technique"?There appears to have been no way to adjust the nut originally.

Good luck finding bearings for them!

Seeings we're talking about crossfeed nuts/leadscrews...My Mars has a single SHCS and a dowel holding the cross slide nut in place, and no adjustment screws or clamping type nut adjustment - so I was...

Any ideas as to what the devil this thing is?http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/mount-mellum/miscellaneous-goods/metal-lathe/1042289273

Jerry bought a Ex TKA ZX7RR down in Adelaide about 10-11 years ago I guess - was a very trick thing... not sure how many there were put together by TKA over the years.

Lovely. Do you know any of the other owners of ex TKA superbikes? Does Jerry Kushnir still have his?

Fair enough.I guess that makes it easier to slide them sideways on the rails to set spacing.

Please tell me those G-clamps aren't all that's holding those rams up?

All us guys restoring ancient machinery can only wish for that sort of rust :P

A 4" grinder with a flapper wheel operated one handed isn't going to do a huge amount of damage... a 9" with a cutting wheel operated one handed - well, it's asking for trouble.I've started refusing...

Chinese knock-off? :P

No injuries makes it a "Near Miss"...

I saw one of these in the flesh on the weekend (not the one on Evilbay).It's a BEAST. makes my Mars Thor look like a little Hercus.

Sodder is a dialectic variation - I have never heard an american say solder. Ever. Even electronics guys.

Same way they get Al-ooo-min-um.

Same deal with Alfas - except a smaller diameter shim - maybe 10mm tops to sit on a 9mm valve stem.

From memory compressed air into the lube hole on gun drills worked really well on acetal - blew long streamers of swarf out the back...

And this is why I'm slowly hunting older machines - My 50's built Mars Lathe is just so much more substantial and better put together than any of the chinese lathe's i've had the preasure of using ni...

From my experience with friction cutting sheet aluminium, it will be all bad - the layers of flashing will get fused at the cutting face.

Sidchrome will look for any excuse to not honor their old "lifetime guarantee" - I had a 60's or 70's manufactured breaker bar that parted company at the head - they decided that it must have had a...