Greetings, Liam

I assume you are in the U.K. [the clue is in the mains wiring], but I suspect the lathe may have been an import model: so far as I am aware, most flat-belt British lathes did not use the 'inverted vees' bed design.

MichaelG.

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P.S. This is an interesting read:

https://archive.org/details/lathebeddesign00hornrich/page/n4

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 11/08/2019 07:29:41

Thanks for the link.

I liked the comment that "the battle between vees and flats has given rise to much fruitless controversy".

Liam – have a look at the lathes.co.uk webpage for the "IXL Leader". There is a photo on there of one from the 1930's, looks remarkably similar to your machine. The machines were mostly built in Germany hence the continental appearance.

The Colchester similarity is also interesting as I have an IXL lathe (dismantled at the moment), with a cast IXL name plate. and definitely an IXL Leader bed The odd thing is that my machine is a gear head and the headstock is either a VERY close copy of a Colchester roundhead Master headstock or IS a Colchester headstock re-badged.

Keith

It is interesting to see the position of the half nut engagement lever on your example compared to the picture on the Lathes site. There is sometimes an comment that having it on the left is 'English pattern' cf Myford although in practice it can be either side depending on the whim of the designer. That they made both pattern's is unusual.

You should send some pictures, particularly of the saddle to Tony at the Lathes site so he can add this variation to the archive.

Liam Hutson:

I think that this sort of upgrade is usually a shop-made effort calling for some straight forward turning and dividing. GHT's MEs Workshop Manual may give you some ideas about how to go about it. You would need to identify the leadscrew pitch of course and decide whether to go for radial or diametral marking ie whether a given depth of cut is off the radius or diameter of the work. From your photos it looks as though one problem would be the location of a witness mark.

I see from the link to Tony's website that on some of these lathes "cross and top slide were fitted with, for the time, generously dimensioned micrometer dials" and it would be helpful to know how the manufacturers approached the problem. He can be very helpful but does say that his email load is very heavy.

I can't suggest a specific source of an existing item and, apart from the cost of such things bought as spares, there might be some reluctance to sell them for use on a "foreigner".

Interested to see this lathe seems to be an IXL.

I owned for a while a larger lathe badged IXL, which from Tony Griffith's site was German-made, but by Ehrlich, and IXL was a dealer putting its own plate on things.

Well looking at the pictures of your lathe ,yes l agree its an IXL as for model l do not know ,but the bed an tail stock etc looks like my IXL 6" model AKT from 1920 and running with its old over head set up,thou not used a lot now ,well till this week when the good old mL7 threw its toys out of the pram,but thats another story ,mybe will think about giving the ixl a tidy up this winter and indeed mounting the motor like your lathe,as over head drive makes it a pain to fit the lathe in another place,but good luck with your lathe.

john

Hi. I know that this is an old thread, but it seems to include people who have (or had) one of these IXL lathes and some of you may still be out there. I have recently refurbished one that had spent too long outside, but I have a question……

Is it possible to install a continuous belt, in which case how do I remove the spindle? the casting is continuous (no half shells) so the spindle must come out to the left or right. I have dismantled the bearings at each end but can't see how to remove the spindle. I don't want to hit it or press it because I don't know what's inside.

Any help is welcome

Alan

but note the half nut lever is on the left, see earlier comments.

Thanks for the help, yes, the bushing on the right looks to be larger than the left, and I am assuming that the drive pulleys and gears are keyed or splined on the shaft as there are no (apparent) grub screws etc.

Happy Christmas!