Lathe Bed Manufacture

[Paul LousickParticipant @paullousick59116]

Casting and machining of a lathe base.

 

 

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

“Available for pre-order today!”

Joking aside, nice to see something that’s mostly disappeared from our consciousness here – not so very different from what Lott & Walne’s in Dorchester (and I guess a lot of other businesses in market towns across the country) used to look like, and not so long ago..

Thanks.

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

The quote below came to mind and I’m as guilty as everyone else feeding at the low price/poor quality trough.

“There is hardly anything in the world that cannot be made a little worse and sold a little cheaper, and those who consider price alone are that man’s lawful prey.” John Ruskin

Tony

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

 

There’s a photo somewhere of a lathe bed being gang milled in one operation on a huge mill. Now I can’t find it.

 

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

I like Tonys Quote ! Very True. Points to note,

13:50 The application of a mold wash to inprove the surface finish.

16:40 The need for the blocks on top of the mold to stop the metalostatic force lifting the top of the mold off as the mold is poured.

21:00 The way the planer bed is reversed by automatic belt change over, how it is set can be seen later.

32:00 The operation of the clapper box.

Noel

[PlasmaParticipant @plasma]

Christ on a bike!  My dad worked in a local foundry, they managed to stay in business till the 90’s. Now the land is a housing estate.

I was only young when dad took me for a tour of the furnaces and moulding shop where he worked. But I can honestly say no one was working in bare feet or flip flops!

No wonder we can’t compete against cultures that allow worse kind of practices than our industries had in even the darkest days of the industrial revolution.

 

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

That bed was made of the VERY  BEST spheroidal graphite iron, and then left for 12 months to stress relieve before machining ! You pays your money and takes your chance ! Ah well. Noel.

[Plasma]

On Plasma Said:

I was only young when dad took me for a tour of the furnaces and moulding shop where he worked. But I can honestly say no one was working in bare feet or flip flops!

To be fair, they did concede to at least a couple of them wearing trainers.

 

 

[Dave Halford]

On Dave Halford Said:

 

There’s a photo somewhere of a lathe bed being gang milled in one operation on a huge mill. Now I can’t find it.

 

There’s a quick glimpse just after 6 minutes into this video

Bill

[derek hall 1Participant @derekhall1]

What a great video!

I did my apprenticeship very near Colchester Lathe company, and knew several other lads there.

It was always known locally as Colchester Lathes in the plural rather than Colchester Lathe…..

All those specialist machines, gone. All those skills gone. A lot of boring manual routine tasks would now probably automated.

There was a part of the video where one of the ladies was inspecting the rollers of the bearing and after inspection just chucked them into a box (yes I know the rollers were hardened), but it did make me chuckle as the voice over mentioned the high standards of measurement and tolerances!

[Paul Lousick]

On 1 January 2025 at 23:47 Paul Lousick Said:

Casting and machining of a lathe base.

 

 

Thanks for posting that, Paul

I’ve only just got round to watching it; and found it thought-provoking on so many levels that I am lost for words !

MichaelG.

[mgnbukParticipant @mgnbuk]

So much to cringe over there !

“AOC” * grade CI that produced castings of a quality that you would expect of such a material. Despite leaving large machining allowances, working surfaces still have horrendous inclusions and porousity after machining.

The planer operator is seemingly oblivious to the well known “fact” that carbide tooling can’t be used on such a machine ! The uncovered flat belt reversing drive can’t transmit enough torque to drive the tool (table stalls at one point) & the tool slide / clapper box is “clapped out” – it deflects visibly when a cut comes on.

H & S and environmental concerns totally absent, as is care when handling the “finished” product. I wonder what the life expectancy of the workers labouring under such conditions is – I guess similar to here in the late 1800’s ? There are still iron founders near me that can cast in a sand floor as shown. Broadbent Machine Tools in Mytholmroyd machined large lathe components on planers in a similar way in 1983 when I worked there, so it isn’t that long since things were done in a similar way here – but in a rather safer working environment overall !

Yet despite all that, the end result will be a lathe that is capable of doing work to the level of accuracy required of it. There appear to be several indigenous lathe makers in Pakistan producing basic lathes of this pattern (belt drive headstocks with “dry” back gears) that appear regularly in this type of “how it’s made” video from the region. I doubt that these machines get exported & sell for a price that is affordable in their home market.

A different world.

Nigel B.

* AOC grade = “Any Old Cr&p”

[peak4Participant @peak4]

I’ve seen quite a bit of discussion over the years about the accuracy needed for producing gear teeth.

Bill

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