Love of lathes.

[AlanBeckett]

on lathes such as this Lorch with positive location it's easy enough but on lathes without positive location then the fun and games begin when it comes to alignment.

Joe's still working on it
The Chipmaster is OK and I'm leaving it that way.

Alan

[Joe]

Too ****** true!

- Joe

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Gary; I value your opinion and will give the colour some consideration because I still need to buy the paint. I'm absolutely useless with colour and I've just asked Bron to check the original colour as seen in the pictures and she agrees with you Gary in that it's grey; I thought it was dark green? Whatever colour I choose I want this Lorch to look decent after all I'm putting a lot of time and effort into it. The standard motor colour at Brooks is Admiralty Grey which is a lighter colour than on the lathe and a regular colour for machinery. Myford paint is sold on eBay in grey?

I don't blame you Big Al in leaving the Chipmaster well alone; once you take a spanner to a lathe then all is lost until the full rebuild is completed? One thing always leads to another but its never boring but might be costly?

Oh dear Joe trying to align your lathe is like a hiding to nothing given its age because of wear over the years and it will drive you barking mad; the harder you try the worse it will become; just for fun though you could try turning Tufnol head stock bearings on a lathe with a broken main head-stock bearing casting plus 45 cast iron gears which I found most entertaining during ownership of my Myford MF36. During cutting the gears the 1.5hp motor expired in a cloud of smoke which cheered me no end. Lathes are just wonderful though giving hours of enjoyment at little cost.

Kind regards, Col.

[ex 2 Base]

Hello Colin and others.You musy be quite an expert by now on lathes Colin, keeps the brain active. I rebuilt my super seven several years ago after have the bed reground. I took it to pieces and it was 6 weeks before I had the oppertunity to start reassembling it once again, that really did tax the grey matter. I made myself a test bar with a 2 morse taper and about a foot long to ensure that it cut parallel afterwards.Back to the repulsion motor they were always noisy and as some one else mentioned the com is shorted out by centrifugal action then runs as an induction motor. They must have been expensive to make and purchase, but would start under some load such as compressors.I remember a lot of butchers freezers had them,I don't think they are available new any more. A couple of years ago I wanted information about a Brook motor,I think it was a new centrifugal switch,I can't exactly remember, howerver I rang Brook/Crompton Parkinson who said ring this number which turned out ot be Doncaster. They said you need this Tico number and they said we don't make the spares any longer.Apparently Tico is an electronic firm who just bought out Brook and other motor manufacures here in UK. Incidently I gave away my copy of "Keep your Motors Running" a couple of years ago,but kept "The Induction Motor" book. As you will most certainly know Brooke made a single to 3 phase converter based on an induction motor and capacitors, we fitted a few on farms. We fitted some big ones made by Westing House, Two lines or phases in 440 volts and three phase out 440 volt, big and heavy. Sun is shinning here in sunny Scarborough.Bye now must get working.Ted

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Ted. I'm not an expert on lathes but know my way around one having had lots of practice.

When I worked at Brooks; our Doncaster and Honley factories made the small motors; Brooks headquarters here in Huddersfield where I worked made motors up to 180 frames as did the Electrodrives factory and Guiseley made the really big motors; Bull made the DC motors. Hansen Gears used to add gearboxes to our motors their factory being a few yards away. Inverters were supplied and fitted across the road in No8 works which was also spares and repairs. Wakefield Control Gear supplied all the starters etc. We here in Huddersfield became a central despatch hub handling goods for all of the above; it sure wasn't boring?

Over the years I must have loaded thousands of "phase changers" these being a motor close coupled to another motor as a complete unit; I'm glad I never had to pay for one of these? If it was made by the Brook company then it most likely came through either No5 Despatch or No6 Export departments. What a shame this once huge company has ended up the way it has which of course applies to lots of our heavy engineering; still we are busy with fast food outlets and supermarkets? My only purpose at Brooks was to get rid of the finished product as fast as possible and my teams were always regarded as not adding anything to the motors because we were in distribution; it was so wonderful to be fully appreciated like this?

This old com motor Ted sort of rumbles under power; it works OK but given it's age and me being critical I can't accept a rumbling motor on anything I rebuild even if it is classed as character; I'll possibly convert to variable speed through a VFD unless I can pick up a decent Brook Gryphon single phase motor but I've a lot of work to do first.

Stripping any machine then not touching it for weeks is sure to end up in frustration once re-assembly starts and is the reason it pays to take lots of digital images and draw sketches with notes; what appears so logical upon stripping suddenly becomes very complicated at rebuild; it pays not to rely on memory alone?

I find the easy way for me to align the head-stock is to simply install the chuck which is used the most and chuck a length of round bar stock about an inch in diameter nipping this up tightly leaving four or five inches protruding from the chuck jaws then take a light cut to true the bar; now using a micrometer I can quickly determine how much run out there is and adjust to eliminate this; old lathes and old chucks are usually well worn so using this method gives a true reading; once the head-stock is running true then the tail stock can be adjusted. On my broken Myford I used to quickly align the head-stock for sliding cuts but as the lathe was so worn I then had to re-align if wanted accuracy on the facing cut; a load of hassle but I achieved accuracy (0.0001") on a scrap lathe.

The sun is shining here now Ted and after dinner I'll be wandering into the garage for another session on the Lorch.

Kind regards, Col.

[AlanBeckett]

I find the easy way for me to align the head-stock is to simply install the chuck which is used the most and chuck a length of round bar stock about an inch in diameter nipping this up tightly leaving four or five inches protruding from the chuck jaws then take a light cut to true the bar; now using a micrometer I can quickly determine how much run out there is and adjust to eliminate this.

That's how Colchester says to do it.

Alan

[camallison]

Hi,

Thanks Ted. I'm not an expert on lathes but know my way around one having had lots of practice.

When I worked at Brooks; our Doncaster and Honley factories made the small motors; Brooks headquarters here in Huddersfield where I worked made motors up to 180 frames as did the Electrodrives factory and Guiseley made the really big motors; Bull made the DC motors. Hansen Gears used to add gearboxes to our motors their factory being a few yards away. Inverters were supplied and fitted across the road in No8 works which was also spares and repairs. Wakefield Control Gear supplied all the starters etc. We here in Huddersfield became a central despatch hub handling goods for all of the above; it sure wasn't boring?

Over the years I must have loaded thousands of "phase changers" these being a motor close coupled to another motor as a complete unit; I'm glad I never had to pay for one of these? If it was made by the Brook company then it most likely came through either No5 Despatch or No6 Export departments. What a shame this once huge company has ended up the way it has which of course applies to lots of our heavy engineering; still we are busy with fast food outlets and supermarkets? My only purpose at Brooks was to get rid of the finished product as fast as possible and my teams were always regarded as not adding anything to the motors because we were in distribution; it was so wonderful to be fully appreciated like this?

This old com motor Ted sort of rumbles under power; it works OK but given it's age and me being critical I can't accept a rumbling motor on anything I rebuild even if it is classed as character; I'll possibly convert to variable speed through a VFD unless I can pick up a decent Brook Gryphon single phase motor but I've a lot of work to do first.

Stripping any machine then not touching it for weeks is sure to end up in frustration once re-assembly starts and is the reason it pays to take lots of digital images and draw sketches with notes; what appears so logical upon stripping suddenly becomes very complicated at rebuild; it pays not to rely on memory alone?

I find the easy way for me to align the head-stock is to simply install the chuck which is used the most and chuck a length of round bar stock about an inch in diameter nipping this up tightly leaving four or five inches protruding from the chuck jaws then take a light cut to true the bar; now using a micrometer I can quickly determine how much run out there is and adjust to eliminate this; old lathes and old chucks are usually well worn so using this method gives a true reading; once the head-stock is running true then the tail stock can be adjusted. On my broken Myford I used to quickly align the head-stock for sliding cuts but as the lathe was so worn I then had to re-align if wanted accuracy on the facing cut; a load of hassle but I achieved accuracy (0.0001") on a scrap lathe.

The sun is shining here now Ted and after dinner I'll be wandering into the garage for another session on the Lorch.

Kind regards, Col.

One company in a similar sector that has done very well is Rotork for whom I did a 4-year turnaround job on one of their subsidiaries. By specialising and innovating, they have kept well ahead of competition and expanded to own most of their supply chain. See them at rotork.com

They continue to keep the City happy with a solid performance year after year.

Colin

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Big Al. It's highly likely I was taught how to use this method to align an head-stock but I've been doing it this way for many years and it works; it's still far from easy though for a novice? If Joe is trying to align his lathe head-stock then I bet he's having endless fun and pleasure?

I hope Rotork continue their success Colin; thanks for adding the details; it looks an impressive company and been running for 60 years. Perhaps they can supply a suitable valve so that I can control my personal cloud? Having said this my cloud must be bothering someone else today because it's glorious at the moment just like a summers day and mild. We here in Huddersfield had a big valve company called Hopkinson's; I believe a few years ago there was a management buy-out and the company transferred to Elland; out of curiosity I've just browsed the web and it appears Hopkinson is now part of the Weir group.

http://www.weirpowerindustrial.com/default.aspx

I just knew that as soon as I touched this Lorch with the intention of a light restoration and tidy up it would quickly escalate into another full blown restoration and sure enough it has.

I've just spent a couple hours attacking one pair of the cast iron legs with the angle grinder creating lots of noise and dirt. I kitted out in safety gear but after two hours non stop grinding my hands started to tingle each time I touched something so I've just knocked off for today; for a change though I could work with the garage door wide open to let a lot of the smoke and dust escape. Using an angle grinder is one of my least favourite jobs but it sure is very effective at leaving bare metal quickly; much quicker than my soda blaster and certainly much cheaper because I'm still using the same grinding disc after hours of use and I buy these discs very cheaply at Rufforth Auto Jumble; discs for my very old but trusty B&D 4" angle grinder are becoming difficult to obtain because the bore required is 16mm whereas modern angle grinders accept 22mm bore disks? I've got a good supply of disks both cutting and grinding in stock.

The pictures show what an angle grinder can do for those who have never used an angle grinder; the two pictures of the foot show before and after; cleaning this section was rapid. Care is needed though because angle grinders by nature are fierce and will remove lots of metal leaving unsightly gouges and tramlines. Never run an angle grinder without its guard because an exploding disc at 11,000 rpm can inflict serious injury.

Some areas are inaccessible to the grinder and I might use the soda blaster to clean these just for speed depending on weather. The garage now smells of tortured metal which lingers for many hours.

Kind regards, Col.

               

[Refugee]

I have a wire brush for my angle grinder. There is less risk of leaving tram lines and gouges in the metal when getting paint off.

[Radio Fixer]

"... creating lots of noise and dirt", "I could work with the garage door wide open to let a lot of the smoke and dust escape."

Sounds a bit like a neighbour I don't want Colin. On the other hand if I needed a bit of turning done ... So there could be payback

Seriously though you know you like a FULL on restoration ... easy wouldn't keep you busy and fired up for long.

I'm impressed: Lorch would be pleased with the way its going and how its going to look when finished.

Gary