Hello I am from Aylesbury

[Jerry FelsteadParticipant @jerryfelstead79800]

[Jerry FelsteadParticipant @jerryfelstead79800]

Hi,

My name is Jerry and I have just joined.

I have (nearly) one long side of the garage as my workshop so its a bit narrow.

I have a recently bought a Drummond round bed lathe. I already have a Chinese bench pillar drill and a double-ended grinder.

I have made small tools in the past and am just starting to make an Ellie Steam Tram. I also have the castings for a Stuart 10H engine so I shall have a go at that as well. Although I have worked in engineering all me life, I have not done much with machine tools.

I will let you know how I get on. I expect to have to ask lots of questions so I hope you will bear with me.

Kind regards,

Jerry.

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

Welcome, Jerry this is a very active forum, there will be good advice on every subject you can think of, especially steam models.

[Brian HParticipant @brianh50089]

Hello and welcome Jerry, ask away with your questions, there will usually be people on here with answers although you may have to decide which answer is right for you.

Brian

[Jerry FelsteadParticipant @jerryfelstead79800]

Hi Old Mart and Brian H,

Can I ask a couple of questions about my round bed Drummond lathe. I am wondering which will be the best way to level at all up. I think I will need to shim it as my bench is not very flat. Bearing in mind that the bed is round, has anyone any advice on the best way to set it up? The bench has a heavy steel top and has been used for welding so it is a bit wavy. Or should I get a thick piece of wood to go between the lathe and the bench?

When I got the lathe it had been fitted with a brand new QC tool post with three holders and a number of new tools with cutting tips. The toolpost looks a bit big for the lathe and I thought about making an original looking toolpost out of a piece of steel. Does anyone know what it should look like and have any rough dimensions? Also, will the lathe turn too slowly for the new type tools to be any benefit. I've got loads of bits of HSS.

Thanking you in anticipation.

Jerry.

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Welcome to the forum

H

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Welcome!

A VAST range of knowledge and experience on here.

You sound like a candidate to become a member of the vale of Aylesbury Model El Engineers. When things approach normality again.

Reading the various posts will be both interesting and informative, (if confusing at times when opposing camps start arguing! )

Howard

[Andrew TinsleyParticipant @andrewtinsley63637]

Hello Jerry,

Leveling a round bed Drummond isn't the same as say an ML7. I simply tighten down the two bolts at the headstock end. If either of the two tailstock fixing points are "grounded", then I will put a bolt in that point and tighten it down.

There will probably be howls of anguish from other (non round bed) members. But it has always worked for me, even if there are no fixing bolts at all at the tailstock end!. To be fair I will usually shim one of the tailstock fixing points in the unlikely event that neither touch!!

Andrew.

Edited By Andrew Tinsley on 07/06/2020 19:23:21

[Jerry FelsteadParticipant @jerryfelstead79800]

Thank you Andrew for the advice.

Jerry

[Keith LongParticipant @keithlong89920]

Hi Jerry – on my round bed I made sure that the bolt that secures the bed into the head stock is done up properly, but I leave the bolt that secures the bed to the tail support loose so that the bed can find it's own location in the tail support. Then just put hold down bolts through the 4 feet. Not had a problem with that arrangement even though the lathe is on a wheeled cabinet on an uneven floor. So long as the bed retains its relationship to the headstock the rest can float a little. Your are unlikely to able to induce twist in a 3 inch diameter cast iron cylinder without a lot of effort!

[Lee RogersParticipant @leerogers95060]

Hi Jerry. As above on the leveling , just get it solidly mounted and level-ish. You will do far better with HSS tools, as you have guessed there is not enough wellie to get the best from insert tools. Hang on to them though ,handy for breaking the surface on cast iron then procede with HSS. The Norman Type toolholder is an ideal project but I think you'd need a mill. The standard one was a claw type, rigid but time consuming to set up.There is a very friendly Facebook group for Drummond and Myford lathes . FB not everyones mug of tea I know but decent guys for advise and spares sales/swaps. Theres many a good job been done with a Drummond Roundbed , enjoy.

[Jerry FelsteadParticipant @jerryfelstead79800]

Thank you guys for your help.

Jerry.

[Jon CameronParticipant @joncameron26580]

Hi and welcome to the forum, as Lee says above there is a good facebook group for drummond lathe users if you wish to join it and have facebook.

When the term levelling the lathe is used it doesn't mean that the lathe has to be perfectly level to the surface of the earth to work. What it means is it must be level to itself, so there is no twist in the bed which would cause you to cut a taper. Although you wouldn't want to a lathe could be mounted and levelled on a vertical surface, they were also used on ships in the navy, which should hopefully give you some idea that the lathe doesn't have to align itself with terafermer. So long as it is aligned with itself and doesn't cut a taper, although it may be difficult to do much with a round bed in the way of levelling, (others have posted their way of levelling a drummond round bed). What id suggest is to look up rollies dads method of lathe alignment, and have a read of a PDF that you'll find through google. This explains the principle very well and should explain why you do a test cut to make sure that the lathe isn't cutting a taper and how to go about it, and adjust it out if needed.

Regards

Jon

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Welcome to the forum Jerry,

Yes this is a very busy forum, I'm struggling to keep up!

Neil

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