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The Lathe thread.

matty said:
On the subject of the VFD, I used to know an old sidecar racer in the 70s(long dead now) He used to run his three phase lathes and Mill jig borer off a old three phase motor fastened to a piece of railway sleeper, All he use to do was Flick the pulley on the three phase motor with his boot toe whilst flicking the single phase power on, and believe it or not it worked his three phase machines apparently fine. I will not pretend to know enough about three phase electrics to explain why this worked, but it did and his old workshop worked like that the 20+years i knew him .
Maybe a more enlightened ADV Bikes member more familiar with the dark arts of electrics could explain how this all functioned.
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That was a common way to produce 3-phase power back before VFDs became cheap. VFDs are really nice because they typically have a potentiometer to control speed and you can add external braking resistors for fast stopping and reversing (which is nice when power tapping). I use a VFD on my Bridgeport and if the single phase motor on my lathe ever shits the bed I'll replace it with a 3-phase motor + VFD.
 
Punkinhead said:
That was a common way to produce 3-phase power back before VFDs became cheap. VFDs are really nice because they typically have a potentiometer to control speed and you can add external braking resistors for fast stopping and reversing (which is nice when power tapping). I use a VFD on my Bridgeport and if the single phase motor on my lathe ever shits the bed I'll replace it with a 3-phase motor + VFD.
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Apparently the three phase is smoother power and allegedly gives a better Finnish to lathe work, i can not say as i have ever noticed this myself, and i do have two lathes that are three phase and a single phase converted lathe(i bought it already with single phase motor installed) .
No experience of VFDs but if yu live in an area no three phase and get chance of a industrial lathe etc its a great way to be up and running with the stock motor layout.
 
1936 American Tool Works High Duty, 12speed headstock up to 750rpm or so. 12" swing, 6' bed.


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Anyone able to give me some QCTP advice?

My lathe is .750” from the top of the crossslide to the centreline.
It looks like an AXA holder is almost .500” under the tool holder, and the tool insert holders themselves are about .500”

But given the size of my crossslide and where the fastening hole goes through it there is no way to mount the tool post in a location that allows the tool to overhang the crossslide.

I don’t have a “T” nut like most people have.

What am I missing here.

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Sounds like an AXA might be tough to fit, even without that stud. I had an AXA on my old 10" south bend, it was comfy there. There are the Aloris clone "0XA" toolholders, quite a bit smaller than AXA but maybe a mounting block could be figured- better for the tool to be too low than too high. I put a 0XA toolpost on my turret lathe which is a 7" swing- it was a good match with a plate underneath to get the tooling reasonably close to the centerline. Not the stiffest or most robust but it was cheap, it is a quickchange, has a parting tool and so on... worked.

But that stud is likely to be a problem unless you can remove it and fit a suitably made stud in its place- sure don't want to damage whats there if you can avoid it.
 
gpounce said:
Sounds like an AXA might be tough to fit, even without that stud. I had an AXA on my old 10" south bend, it was comfy there. There are the Aloris clone "0XA" toolholders, quite a bit smaller than AXA but maybe a mounting block could be figured- better for the tool to be too low than too high. I put a 0XA toolpost on my turret lathe which is a 7" swing- it was a good match with a plate underneath to get the tooling reasonably close to the centerline. Not the stiffest or most robust but it was cheap, it is a quickchange, has a parting tool and so on... worked.

But that stud is likely to be a problem unless you can remove it and fit a suitably made stud in its place- sure don't want to damage whats there if you can avoid it.
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This lathe is a 10” swing. So a small OXA would suck.
That stud is removable and I could easily turn a new one to replace it that would be flush with the compound slide.

Now that I’m thinking about it though, how often do I really use a compound slide? Pretty darn rare.

The crossslide on this thing is essentially a small mill bed (since it’s also a mill)

Maybe I’ll just machine a riser block to sit on the mill bed. It would be more rigid without the compound slide anyways, and I can make the height and overhang anything I want. Then I can use an AXA. Or even a BXA QCTP and set the centreline height at whatever I want.

And the rare time I actually need the compound slide I can just put it on and use the old tool post for whatever I need it for.
 
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MVI said:
What a beauty.
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:) Thanks.. its in reasonably good shape. The next job is turning a backplate for a nice 3 jaw chuck I bought back in December. Already made a spindle master and have the unmachined backplate ready. This family of machines was manufactured from approx 1910 thru to the early 1940's, there were quite a few design and engineering changes over that time but that said a 1940's backplate would still fit correctly on a 1912 example. This machine is pressure lubricated and uses ball bearings on all the headstock shafts (some might be rollers, not sure- I've not had it apart that far), the early 1900's design used bronze bushings and oil cups all over. The main weakness of the design is lubrication of the sector gears leading from spindle to gearbox- there are lubrication points which are always forgotten which leads to substantial wear on the gears and teeth.
 
I've always steered clear of the late 30's and early 40's Lathes. I always thought they had a hard life during the war effort.

Now that I am a little more educated, I learned some of these machines have been upgraded and highly maintained to the point, I am on the search for one myself.
 
Yeah it all depends on the maintenance. I <almost> bought a early 40's ATW Pacemaker some years ago, it came out of a factory where it had reasonable maintenance and cleaning, and was in excellent condition. My machine shown here was a bit of a mess when I got it, took a bunch of cleaning and some fixing but has shaped up well. That said, you can't argue with the evolution in design and engineering of later 50's and 60's manual lathes.

Last fall I got involved with the cleanout of an old marine diesel company which went out of business in the 1930's and was taken over by a packrat who only piled junk in the space and didn't disturb much. The machines were all early 1900's to 1920's and in exquisite condition, still traces of oil here and there, all the tooling intact, no chunks taken out of the ways, no ridges etc. So you never know.
 
Here's one I inherited from my dad. He bought it from the school he taught at and had it in our basement for years until I dragged it to Michigan and set it up in my basement. It's a little rough around the edges but works well enough to make the stuff I need to get done.

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Nice :) I put a vfd on my Bridgeport instead of a static converter or rpc, was good move because it makes really low spindle rpm's a lot easier; don't have to go into backgear as often. You may find it advantageous to pull it out from the wall about a foot, lets you slide turret back a ways which helps get work a bit closer in to the base
 
gpounce said:
Nice :) I put a vfd on my Bridgeport instead of a static converter or rpc, was good move because it makes really low spindle rpm's a lot easier; don't have to go into backgear as often. You may find it advantageous to pull it out from the wall about a foot, lets you slide turret back a ways which helps get work a bit closer in to the base
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Thanks for noticing that. I’ll definitely move it out.
 
Just picked up a copy on eBay for just under $8 shipped, always wanted to own & read it but never wanted to spend $30+ on an original copy. Mine won't be as nice as this one:
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1935 Booklet How to Run a Lathe 32nd Edition South Bend Lathe Works​

 
Just picked this one up for $15.51 delivered. 61PRRLEENML.jpg

American Machinists' Handbook by Colvin and Stanley Seventh Edition 1940​

Is there any other recommended reading other than the 40s-70s Home Machinist and Popular Mechanics magazines?
 
Alan F. said:
American Machinists' Handbook by Colvin and Stanley Seventh Edition 1940
Is there any other recommended reading other than the 40s-70s Home Machinist and Popular Mechanics magazines?
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Machinery's Handbook pretty much any edition from 1920's thru 1950's or so. Get two- one for the bathroom, one for the shop :D
 
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