Nice lathe, whats the make n year?
I am building up a 1920 Drumond.
Bought in pieces, rather unused.
Amazing thing.
I am building up a 1920 Drumond.
Bought in pieces, rather unused.
Amazing thing.
Workshop Machinery and Techniques
- Thread starter Vincent Brake
- Start date
It is a South Bend 9A. I don’t know what year it is, but just looked for info on their production and this model started in 1952, so newer than I thought. It is a nice little lathe… the quick change gearbox is a blessing.
Along with more swing, some more HP would be nice. That’s why I bought a second lathe with more grunt. I can’t see the plate on it‘s motor, so don’t know what the rating is, but all the lights in the house dim when I switch it on.
The first photo I just borrowed off the internet. The second photo “Big Bertha” is a McDougall lathe. It used to be belt drive, but that was converted using a VW 4 speed gearbox. Now I need a bigger mill!
In that photo, it shows the bar I was making for setting tool height. Wish I had made one years ago. Works great and so simple. Still learning
Along with more swing, some more HP would be nice. That’s why I bought a second lathe with more grunt. I can’t see the plate on it‘s motor, so don’t know what the rating is, but all the lights in the house dim when I switch it on.
The first photo I just borrowed off the internet. The second photo “Big Bertha” is a McDougall lathe. It used to be belt drive, but that was converted using a VW 4 speed gearbox. Now I need a bigger mill!
In that photo, it shows the bar I was making for setting tool height. Wish I had made one years ago. Works great and so simple. Still learning
What puzzles me in photos from UK or colonies, why do you like the top slides in a funny angle ? Nobody does this on the continent I´d think. Get a bit of vibration on the lathe and the top slide might move a tad and all your setup markings or digital quick change tool holders are crap from this. When keeping the top slide parallel all you get is lengths wrong a bit, not so bad like diameters wrong.
Vic
Vic
The funny angle depends on what I’m doing. In the photo with the brake shoes it was a matter of getting the cutting tool far enough out while keeping clearance between the carriage/cross slide and brake plate. It’s a small lathe and it was operating right at its limit. No doubt you will find strange things in all my photos …. I have no formal training, just self-taught. If you actually watched me in action, you would likely shit yourself.
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That would mean nobody on the continent cuts threads on their lathes because, if they did, they'd have their compounds set at the funny angle of 30 degrees. The compound on my lathe is equally well supported irrespective of the angle, depending only on how far the compound is extended, not on how amusing the angle.
I didn't mean to imply violation of CMI standards (Canadian Machinery Institute) with "30 degrees," but since the humorous offset angle of our colonial lathes caused puzzlement, I though it best to write 30 degrees in the hopes it would be recognized as 60/2.
Continentals don´t cut threads by having the top slide - compound? - set at any angle all year long. I see angles in youtube at any sizes, rarely at 30 or 27.5 degrees and would not bother to do that for thread cutting. Not a lot of shipyard threads on my machinery to do. So in rare cases I might set parallel top slide scales zeroed and change its position to plus 0.2mm from zero , next cut minus 0.2 mm and so on till full depth is done at zero setting . But in 99 percent of cases I don´t bother about this and have a sharp tool bit , mostly HSS lathe tool for typical mc threads. More important is decent cutting oil or grease for stainless or titanium and alu.
On my most used lathes I got DROs with quick change tool holders and I calibrate them when starting a bigger job. So no good reason to have the top slide at odd angles. Anyway, I don´t see the point still why I´d want the top slide not to be parallel . Seems to me the odd angles are meant to look clever - but I fail to get the point . . .
Vic
On my most used lathes I got DROs with quick change tool holders and I calibrate them when starting a bigger job. So no good reason to have the top slide at odd angles. Anyway, I don´t see the point still why I´d want the top slide not to be parallel . Seems to me the odd angles are meant to look clever - but I fail to get the point . . .
Vic
If anyone is impressed by me setting my compound at an odd angle, I feel sorry for them.
If you can make a clean, smooth cut 0.047" deep in hard steel in one pass with a form tool, you don't need to know about 29.5° in order to make a ½"-13 thread. But, if not, and as your fellow European Pythagoras showed us, following the hypotenuse provides a shorter and smoother path than stepping along the sides of a triangle.
Another silly angle for the compound is 5.7°, because that angle reduces the depth of cut by a factor of 10× from the motion of the dial.
Allright, even clever people on here won´t tell me what´s so clever setting the top slide at any angle for all year long. For thread cutting I rarely ever bother about setting an angle , just keep feeding into diameter slowly. Works for me anytime for half a century.
When you got a DRO on the lathe you won´t be willing to have any angle somewhere. You get used to having a number of quick change tool holders , otherwise turning a few more items than just one will be boringly awkward.
Vic
When you got a DRO on the lathe you won´t be willing to have any angle somewhere. You get used to having a number of quick change tool holders , otherwise turning a few more items than just one will be boringly awkward.
Vic