Love of lathes.

[camallison]

Blasting booth - when I hired a blasting unit some years ago, I rigged up something similar to the booths that welders work in. A metal tubular frame (old conduit) was the frame, and then old tarpaulins from a friendly local haulier for the walls and "roof". It was just a case of weighting down the bottom of the walls with bricks and putting an inspection lamp in there so I had a chance of seeing what I was doing. A chap in the village then bought it off me for a nice wedge of cash - the materials cost me nothing!!! Approximate dimensions were 2m x 2m x 2m.

Little of the blasting medium escaped and so the neighbours were kept happy when I worked on our driveway.

Colin

[Eddystonepete]

Yes Alan its a Fobco, It was that colour when I bought it ! Partly agree with you about reverse for removing chucks but if you loosen it slightly then start reverse while holding the chuck it works OK.

Peter

[AlanBeckett]

Ah, so, the Esteemed Mr. F.O'Brian of Swadlincote, just up the road from here - http://www.lathes.co.uk/fobco/

I wasn't meaning your method Peter, it's the Heroes who turn while running backwards - Back Toolposts and all that.

Alan

[Eddystonepete]

Hi Alan, talking about heroes, the previous lathe I had was a Zyto. a nice rigid bed, just under 3/12 in swing. The one oddity about it was the wheel on the carriage worked in reverse! i.e. to move the carriage right, you turned the wheel anticlockwise, no kidding!. I dont have to tell you how many tools I smashed. I altered it by moving the rack to below the leadscrew and turning it upside down!. Yes the Fobco, nice simple machine. I bought mine from a lad 2 miles from me, quite well used but only £30. Would be nice to have a 3 phase motor on it fed from the inverter and a change over switch. The Mareli motor I,m using on the ML7 has proved reliable and easy to mount.

Peter

[Joe]

Oh, I believe you!

- Joe

[AlanBeckett]

I believe what Joe means is that the Pools is the same. Oddly, a big Drummond that I have is also the same - http://www.lathes.co.uk/drummond5inchphotoessay/
Mine isn't as swish as that. I got used to it on the Pools, but when I got other more conventional Lathes I had to think a bit.

Fobcos are good, but what you really need is a couple of Denbighs

Alan

       

[m1ecy]

I have a roundhead Colchester Student in the mechanical workshop, it is showing it's age a little, but will turn nearly anything I need it to.

I had to replace the feed nut on the cross slide, the previous owners seemed to care little for maintenance, or lubrication, it wasnt kept in the best area for a lathe either, in the same room that abrasive chopsaws were used!

Whenever the factory floor got painted, the lathe got a coat as well, while I would love to strip it all down and repaint the machine, it is there to work, and not look pretty (which it certainly does not!)

I do have to look at the motor drive contactor, I think there may be a slightly sticky, or poor contact there, as there are odd times when there is a definite sound of arcing on starting the motor - a judiciously applied tap with a boot on the apron persuades it to behave!

It came with a guillotine from a liquidation sale - my real reason for submitting a bid, while I find the lathe useful, the sheet metal cutter was the prize, that being said, it was a bargain, and came with a lot of tooling.

Will pop some piccys in the right thread, once I have had a chance to give it a clean up - it has seen a lot of use this year making up odds and ends for people!

[Alan Douglas]

My dark green paint was easier: I already had it on hand for my house doors and shutters, oil-base enamel. As received, my lathe had four or five coats of paint on it, the last being a robins-egg blue.

[Eddystonepete]

Hi All, so who recognizes the speed control knob in the centre of my lathe control panel ?. First to guess correctly gets a prize. The remains of an instrument that triggers even worse than Roy Rogers Horse.

Peter

[Refugee]

You have reminded me of the day back when I used to work as a computer refurbisher.
We shared the building with two other sets of works.
The printer bought a vintage printing press because it had a document serial numbering attachment and it was as big as a full industrial lathe and he had stripped it down to get it out far enough to remove it from the old building it lived in.
It arrived on a flat bed truck with a crane behind the cab and the chassis had to go on a pallet truck that screamed as we shifted it into his little print shop.
Getting it off the pallet truck was a fiddly job with lots of wedges and bits of wood just like you used to get it on the floor where he wanted it while all back together again and got it going.
He used it quite a lot in the end but he never did a cosmetic restoration though.
I don't think I could ever run to more than a watchmakers lathe here due to space and hard standing.