I bought a lathe, help!

[neevo]

I've been on the lookout for a lathe for ages, but the prices were just too high (approx $800) and so I pretty much gave up on the idea. However Lady Luck showed me a 24hr eBay listing and I jumped on it, even if it turned out to be a dud, I was sure I could at least make my money back as it only cost me $320. Reason for the thread is I want to work out a) how this thing works b) how I can check its in working order and look to repair/replace any bits that need attention.

Here it is in all its glory:





The motor was attached to the stand in a way that I need to double check to make sure its suitable. Looking online it looks like the Hercus lathe has this motor attached separately to the bench in a way that is far enough away to allow tensioning of the belts. Here is the motor:



So what help do I need?

1. Any pointers on how this thing works or even pointing to a manual would be fantastic
2. What should I look to do to clean this thing up? What should I check to make sure its in good condition (straightness or wobblyness)
3. The motor is pretty rough so I am thinking of replacing it, can I swap it out for a direct drive model instead or should I just replace the motor and keep the belts?
4. The belts are buggered. Where can I get replacements?

Thanks in advance.

 

[AlphaDogChoppers]

A cobbler or leather guy should be able to make you a belt. It requires a single belt, and you move the belt to different pulleys to change the speed. You could make the belt yourself if you got a piece of heavy leather. Use a belt sander to taper the ends, overlap and glue the ends together with contact cement.

 

[SONICJK]

Awesome man!
I just redid one i think there's a link in my signature.

That one looks nice!

 

[cqyqte]

Stick with it, search the web you will find information on it's operation. The old lathes are far more useful then the cheap little new ones. I found a 1947 Craftsman and I wouldn't ever part with it. Even though the tolerances might be off you can refurbish them with a little work.

 

[AlphaDogChoppers]

Google "leather drive belt" and you will find suppliers and information that will help you with the belt.

 

[neevo]

Cheers all. Someone suggested a rubber seperntine belt instead of the leather one as an alternative to leather and glueing. Might see if I can find one in the right width/length.

Also PJ mentioned making v pulleys instead of the flat ones as I can use a different belt instead which would be less inclined to slip. Might make that the first project.

If I try and replace the pulleys would Alu be ok or would it have to be steel?

Looking to replace the motor too as I think that's seen better days. I can get a new 1HP 1400 RPM motor for about $150 which seems fair and should get it working reliably again. Is that the right power/RPM I should be going for?

Lastly I am really keen to find the lead screw gears that are missing. Anyone have any pointers on which ones to look for? Is there a plate for these machines with all the ratios etc?

 

[cqyqte]

If you can't find a leather cobbler buy a Gates notched belt the right length and flip it inside out so the notches run on the outside...

I have seen that work in a pinch!!!

 

[SONICJK]

1 hp is plenty.
See my lathe thread about the treadmill motor. Great way to go IMHO eliminates all the hear changing and gives you an infinitely variable speed with great torque for free if you can find a treadmill for free. I paid 25 bucks for mine

 

[cliffno350]

My atlas ten inch lathe, lead and worm gears needed help and the only place to get mine was hand made at a machine shop for 150. Maybe a place to look and if local they can supply or tell you where to get dies.

 

[swan]

http://www.anvilfire.com/FAQs/lathes.php hit the links for set up and missing parts.

 

[neevo]

Sonic can you link your thread in here too for easy access? I will scour eBay and gumtree to see if anyone is trying to clear an old treadmill. Variable speed is a huge bonus so I will definitely look down that path in either a treadmill motor or even a new one if that doesn't yield any results.

 

[neevo]

Big day in the shed today playing around with my new lathe. I am really starting to think I got a bargain on this piece of equipment as the more I delved into it the better it worked and tighter it felt. The plan for today was to put it back together, replace missing bolts etc and generally try and run it for a second to see what I had.

First job of the day was stripping the 4 jaw chuck and getting it moving freely as it was quite tough to turn. I unthreaded it from the backing plate, undid each of the jaws, cleaned them up with compressed air and silicone spray and put them back together. Didn't really do much for the action unfortunately but at least I can say its clean in there:



Later on I put a bolt in the jaws and I have to say it took a while to get it centred, think I will look at getting some 3 jaws as soon as possible.

Next up I took the end cover off and inspected the end gears. I worked out the top lever is for the slow speed (also have to unlock one of the main gears on the lathe) and the bottom lever is to reverse the screw:



When I got the lathe the slow gear lever had way to much travel on it and the gears would over extend and lock up:



Turns out the adjustment on the lever was out. I found this small screw and locking nut and discovered it limited the travel of the slow gear arm, a quick adjustment and it was working perfectly:



Next up I reattached the motor spindle arm and cleaned up the threads on the tensioner arm as they were full of gunk. Got it all working smoothly:



I didn't like the mismatch of bolts on the machine, so I went to my local hardware store and bough all new hardware for the lathe feet, motor spindle arm feet as well as the gear covers and motor mounts:







When playing with the end gears I found out that the set screw was a little loose and was jiggling around a bit:



A quick tightening of these two screws and all the slop was gone:



Next up was a thorough check of all the end gears as something didn't look quite right:



Turns out something wasn't right, the middle gear (adjustable position one) was not on the original bolt:



This hack job meant it rubbed on the frame of the lathe near the set screw cog:



I planned to buy a new bolt for it but in the end the 1/2" I purchased didn't quite fit properly, might get it on the lathe when I'm finished and get it adjusted. I also took the time to work out which gears I have so I can try and identify which ones are missing and look to replace them:





So I have 44/54, no idea what that means, but hopefully I can get the others to get the set screw working perfectly.

Next job on the list was to find some washers so I could space out the gears on the end and minimise the rubbing on the frame, I fixed the frame rub but got a touch of gear rub instead. Oh well, still need to work that one out:





It was at this stage I popped the motor back on and tested it, might keep it for the short term and see if I can get the lathe running before I look for a new one (variable would be ideal), I wired in a switch for the motor, screwed it to the table and ran an earth to the table too:



Test fire and it all worked fine:



Lastly I was desperate to fire the lathe up and so took to joining the belt that came with it, it was a rough job and I decided to do it off the lathe, with the plan of taking the lathe apart a bit to put it back on. I wired up the belt fine:



I even worked out how to put it on the motor pulleys, however could not for the life of me work out how to disassemble the lathe pulleys to run it through there, so my plan to run the lathe failed at the last hurdle:





So I'm pretty happy with where I've finished for today. Still need to get a belt for the main drive to the lathe and get a replacement bolt for the gears on the end, but I think I'm in a position to test the lathe and see if it will cut anything:

 

[neevo]

Looking to get a belt and found a mob on eBay that makes custom belts with wire loops at the end, this this might be the ticket, what do people think?

I measured the pulleys and they are 1" wide, would I use a 1" wide belt or thinner?



I adjusted the pulleys to the smallest length and measured up so I could find the smallest length pulley:



I also measured the thread on the lathe to see how to get a 3 jaw chuck, do I look for a backing plate and chuck with the same diameter thread?



Also Sonic are you able to show me how you controlled the speed on the treadmill? There are some cheapie going on eBay that might do the trick.

 

[SONICJK]

There are two ways to control it, easiest option is find an old treadmill that has a dial to control the speed of the treadmill, then you just pull te motor and the control unit and you're done. (Use the same dial to control it)

Second way is to get a DC Motor controller off eBay or similar to do the same job.

This is all I needed