I was given this little lathe by a chum who moved from Hull to a small bungalow down south, so needed to downsize. It was obviously of some age, and a bit neglected and rusty, but I never look a gift horse in the mouth, and thought it would come in handy for little metalworking jobs. At the time, I'd no idea about it's history or original purpose, so I sought the advice of my friend and fellow forum member, Colin, ('Retired') who knows about such things! It came qwith a box of bits and pieces, the purpose of which was obscure to me. Colin immediately knew that it was a watchmakers' lathe, for which Lorch were renowned.
With Colin's help I discovered that Lorch was Founded in 1885, trading under the names "F.Lorch", "L.S.& Co." and "Lorch, Schmidt & Co." Lorch was a German precision machine-tool company, ulitmately driven out of business when - in November 1976, the merchant bank backing it withdrew support. Lorch seemingly enjoyed a long and illustrious history as makers of precision lathes, high-quality watch-making production machinery, specialist watch-repair tools and collets - the latter widely used by other makers needing precision work-holding capabilities. Lorch never made large machines,their machine mostly being smaller bench precision and watchmakers' types, and though unknown to me until Colin put me in the picture, they're are well known in engineering circles and long-lasting, as this example shows.
I've no idea of its age, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were 80 - 90 years. I stripped the lathe down and cleaned all the separate components and bearings, and reassembled it. There's no 'end float' or play in the headtstock bearings, which is a tribute to Lorch as I doubt anything on it has ever been replaced. Judging by marks on the lathe bed, it looks as though it's had a hard life and has earned its keep when in its prime!
My chum also gave me a 1/3 HP motor to drive the lathe, and that too is quite ancient - certainly 1920s - 30s. It was made by Lancs Crypto, which eventually metamorphosed into Crypton, who to this day, make sophisitcated engine tuning equipment for motor vehicles. In the position in which I wanted to use the motor and lathe - with the motor mounted on the garage wall just behind the lathe - the rotoation of the motor needed to be reversed. I'd no iea if that could be done, or how to do it, so again, I sought Colin's advice, knowing that for several years he worked for Brooks Motors. He advised me to identify the 'start' winding on the motor, this being higher resitance than the 'run' winding, and to simply reverse the connections of the start winding, leaving the run winding undisturbed. I followed Colin's advice, and it did the trick. I stripped the motor down, removed all the old grease, cleaned and re-greased the bearings and it runs very smoothly.
I obtained a a length of 6mm diam plastic belting from Chronos, which you simply cut to length to make a drive belt, heat the ends and press them together to make a 'welded' joint. I just heated up an old knife blade, pressed the two ends either side of it till they melted, then pressed the melted ends together and when the joint had set, trimmed off the surplus around the join with a craft knife. The belt is slighlty elastic, and runs nicely under light tension.
The lathe and motor have three pulleys, and having checked the speeds with an RPM meter, it runs at 1,675 RPM, 1,075 RPM, and 650 RPM. The latter slower speeds may come in useful if turnnig plastics such as Polypenco. (Nylon).
I've attached a few pics, including a close-up of ther motor and drive belt. My small workshop (10ft x 8ft) is already too crowded with woodturning and radio stuff, so I had to build a lightweight shallow bench at the end of the garage, which has to accomodate two cars, weith not a lot of space for much else. The other clutter at the end of the garage gives some idea of the small size of the lathe. In 49 years of married life discovered that if I put up lots of shelves, and put lots of stuff on them, it creates an illusion of tidiness. Well it's a ruse that works for me, even though most of it is really just clutter.
One of the pics - taken outdoors - shows the lathe and some accessories along with the motor, as it was when I was given it.
I'm indebted to Colin ('Retired') for his advice and encouragement, without which the lathe would still probably be where it's been for about five years - sitting under the bench gathering dust!
Apart from a few pounds for the drive belt and a few nuts and bolts, that's all it's cost me.
Hope that's of interest.
David.
With Colin's help I discovered that Lorch was Founded in 1885, trading under the names "F.Lorch", "L.S.& Co." and "Lorch, Schmidt & Co." Lorch was a German precision machine-tool company, ulitmately driven out of business when - in November 1976, the merchant bank backing it withdrew support. Lorch seemingly enjoyed a long and illustrious history as makers of precision lathes, high-quality watch-making production machinery, specialist watch-repair tools and collets - the latter widely used by other makers needing precision work-holding capabilities. Lorch never made large machines,their machine mostly being smaller bench precision and watchmakers' types, and though unknown to me until Colin put me in the picture, they're are well known in engineering circles and long-lasting, as this example shows.
I've no idea of its age, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were 80 - 90 years. I stripped the lathe down and cleaned all the separate components and bearings, and reassembled it. There's no 'end float' or play in the headtstock bearings, which is a tribute to Lorch as I doubt anything on it has ever been replaced. Judging by marks on the lathe bed, it looks as though it's had a hard life and has earned its keep when in its prime!
My chum also gave me a 1/3 HP motor to drive the lathe, and that too is quite ancient - certainly 1920s - 30s. It was made by Lancs Crypto, which eventually metamorphosed into Crypton, who to this day, make sophisitcated engine tuning equipment for motor vehicles. In the position in which I wanted to use the motor and lathe - with the motor mounted on the garage wall just behind the lathe - the rotoation of the motor needed to be reversed. I'd no iea if that could be done, or how to do it, so again, I sought Colin's advice, knowing that for several years he worked for Brooks Motors. He advised me to identify the 'start' winding on the motor, this being higher resitance than the 'run' winding, and to simply reverse the connections of the start winding, leaving the run winding undisturbed. I followed Colin's advice, and it did the trick. I stripped the motor down, removed all the old grease, cleaned and re-greased the bearings and it runs very smoothly.
I obtained a a length of 6mm diam plastic belting from Chronos, which you simply cut to length to make a drive belt, heat the ends and press them together to make a 'welded' joint. I just heated up an old knife blade, pressed the two ends either side of it till they melted, then pressed the melted ends together and when the joint had set, trimmed off the surplus around the join with a craft knife. The belt is slighlty elastic, and runs nicely under light tension.
The lathe and motor have three pulleys, and having checked the speeds with an RPM meter, it runs at 1,675 RPM, 1,075 RPM, and 650 RPM. The latter slower speeds may come in useful if turnnig plastics such as Polypenco. (Nylon).
I've attached a few pics, including a close-up of ther motor and drive belt. My small workshop (10ft x 8ft) is already too crowded with woodturning and radio stuff, so I had to build a lightweight shallow bench at the end of the garage, which has to accomodate two cars, weith not a lot of space for much else. The other clutter at the end of the garage gives some idea of the small size of the lathe. In 49 years of married life discovered that if I put up lots of shelves, and put lots of stuff on them, it creates an illusion of tidiness. Well it's a ruse that works for me, even though most of it is really just clutter.
One of the pics - taken outdoors - shows the lathe and some accessories along with the motor, as it was when I was given it.
I'm indebted to Colin ('Retired') for his advice and encouragement, without which the lathe would still probably be where it's been for about five years - sitting under the bench gathering dust!
Apart from a few pounds for the drive belt and a few nuts and bolts, that's all it's cost me.
Hope that's of interest.
David.
