18-02-2014, 12:02 PM
Hi,
I wandered into the garage at 9 o'clock this morning and an hour later the Lorch was in pieces. Care is needed in one of these strip downs because lots of parts are not only bolted/screwed but have locating pins and these pins can be extremely tight so a gentle approach is called for otherwise castings can become fractured.
I'm pleased I finally decided on a full strip because this gives the opportunity of checking everything and in this case I've found hidden lubrication points. The idler roller buried in the head-stock base was found to be located in the bed under the head-stock and this idle roller hasn't received lubrication for many years because the grease cup was buried out of sight but remarkably it still runs freely although it will be removed in due course and fully serviced. The strip-down went without problem and will make it much easier for me to clean and re-paint all the components before reassembly. The cast iron tray is substantial and would have been a real pain to take back down to bright metal for a re-paint in fact stripping has made everything a lot more manageable to handle. I would not recommend a novice take this approach especially on a rare lathe such as this Lorch. I've taken lots of digital images. After dinner I'll do more work; weather permitting one day I think I'll use my new soda blaster on the big tray and also possibly on the cast iron stand in order to speed the restoration up a bit. It will be luxury to paint the bed without lots of items in the way.
Kind regards, Col.
I wandered into the garage at 9 o'clock this morning and an hour later the Lorch was in pieces. Care is needed in one of these strip downs because lots of parts are not only bolted/screwed but have locating pins and these pins can be extremely tight so a gentle approach is called for otherwise castings can become fractured.
I'm pleased I finally decided on a full strip because this gives the opportunity of checking everything and in this case I've found hidden lubrication points. The idler roller buried in the head-stock base was found to be located in the bed under the head-stock and this idle roller hasn't received lubrication for many years because the grease cup was buried out of sight but remarkably it still runs freely although it will be removed in due course and fully serviced. The strip-down went without problem and will make it much easier for me to clean and re-paint all the components before reassembly. The cast iron tray is substantial and would have been a real pain to take back down to bright metal for a re-paint in fact stripping has made everything a lot more manageable to handle. I would not recommend a novice take this approach especially on a rare lathe such as this Lorch. I've taken lots of digital images. After dinner I'll do more work; weather permitting one day I think I'll use my new soda blaster on the big tray and also possibly on the cast iron stand in order to speed the restoration up a bit. It will be luxury to paint the bed without lots of items in the way.
Kind regards, Col.
Happiness is a wreck of a cabinet to restore.
