Mega Adept

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 13/11/2014 13:02:52:

I hope I'm doing it justice, I hope to bring it along to MEX, at least some of it, as a loan exhibit. I'm really chuffed with how the rebuilt bed is looking.

I shall look forward to seeing it. Have you decided which day you are going to throw yourself to the wolves?

Cheers,

Rod

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Hi Rod,

Will decide this weekend, I need to make sure I don't conflict with any of the SMEE lectures, if I can (or no-one will come).

Neil

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

My Adept has a 180W shaded pole motor, 1450rpm, driving through an Adept counter shaft.

Ian S C

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Thanks Ian,

I'm sure my new spindle could take more power, I just did a mental calculation of the power that I could get through 1/8" thick 1mod gears at 1000 rpm using some formulae I found in the Davall gear handbook.

Run in at 1200rpm driven by my main lathe and lots of 3 in 1. Spindle feels lovely in the bearings now, pushing it into the tapered bearing as hard as I can, it won't drag or seize. Getting keen to see it in action!

Neil

[Chris TriceParticipant @christrice43267]

You might find pressure from the tailstock or a drill might change that once it's running. I assume theres some kind of feature in the spindle design that takes the thrust?

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

There will be opposed roller bearings either side of the rear bearing. The next job is making the four adjusting nuts. Ground up a nice internal threading tool today.

Neil

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I'd say anything up to 200W 1450rpm would be OK, originally Adept had a foot motor That you could buy for a pound or so.

Ian S C

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

ETW recommends similar powers for lathes of this size. Nothing helpful in Machinery's though!

Made the bearing thrust rings (and a spacer to go in place of the gear at the back of the mandrel), still have to either drill holes of make slots for adjusting spanners.

You can see progress with fairing in the new headstock as well. Pretty sure it will be at least as good as the original.

Neil

[Mark CParticipant @markc]

It will be in Machinery's, it's just hidden.

look up the properties for the likely materials you will want to work, decide how much material you want to remove and then use the formulae for calculating the power required and then add on some extra for losses (assume you are 80% efficient is always a good start). Then you have a minimum power requirement for your application.

Mark

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Would have been better with a camlock and a No 4 morse up the spout.

If you want a motor stick your head in next time you are passing, got a shed load of small single phase motors here only done test running on machines and not worth selling on due to postage etc. It cost me well over an hour to pack a motor and get it to the PO and at present day commercial rates that's serious coin.

[WALLACEParticipant @wallace]

I’m just looking forward to seeing the 5″ gauge ‘Mallard’ locomotive you’re going to machine up on it – and serialise in ME over the next 37 years… … .

W.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I've worked out (properly) that the back gear will only take 0.1 HP (.8 mod gears, 1/8" face width at 1000 rpm). Now that's probably rather conservative, but it suggests that 1/8 hp is probably plenty, which is also in line with ETW's suggested motor size. I suspect I can go a bit bigger, given that the belts will slip long before my gears explode, but 100-150W is probably about right.

> It will be in Machinery's, it's just hidden.

No it isn't hard to find, the smallest motor the table suggests is 3HP for a lathe of average service and 5HP for heavy service, but that's 12" swing…

Cheers John – I think it would fit up an MT4, but I'd be delighted to root through your motor box

Neil

[Steve WithnellParticipant @stevewithnell34426]

Neil,

Once you've finished the adept, I'll send the courier round with my Dad's Brittania…it's got new lead screws on the cross slide and compound, so that's a start for you !

Steve

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Don't tempt me Steve!

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Nice little thing just happened. I have a bit of accurately sized 1/2" steel that I found at the tip, with a nut on each end. it appears to be a motorcycle suspension component, as it was with some other random bike bits. Ages ago I cut 2" off the end as a nutted mandrel to fit in the 3-jaw or a collet.

Forgetting I need a mandrel at the core diameter, I popped this in an ER32 collet in a 'stevenson block' for drilling the bearing lock rings. To my surprise, the rings screwed straight on. the nut fitted neatly onto my spindle!

This means two things: first my 'test bar' is the unusual size of 1/2" by 20 tpi whitworth form, and second – I must have made a half-decent job of cutting both internal and external threads as they screw up nice and snug.

That's cheered me up!

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

A bit more progress, this is the back-gear eccentric shaft in place, plus I've finished the bearing adjustment washers.

Apologies for the grubby background.

Much delay now while I ponder making the gears.

Neil

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 16/11/2014 14:45:03:

Nice little thing just happened. <etc.>

.

Time to engage the 'Infinite Improbability Drive' I think, Neil.

… It could take you who knows where.

MichaelG.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Not that improbable, I realised my 'mandrel' is probably 1/2" UNF at 20tpi – so maybe my 55-degree home made tools are closer to 60. Don't suppose it matters if they are a matching pair!

Neil

[john jennings 1Participant @johnjennings1]

Browsing the bookshelves I chanced upon BONDS O’EUSTON ROAD “Light Engineering Catalogue” dated 1964. It portrays a lost world of limited choices and a catalogue amazingly thin in detail.

In particular it features the Adept Lathe the subject of this thread.

The model offered was the version without leadscrew retailing at £9.12 .A four jaw chuck (no size specified!) added £3.10 and a 0-¼” drill chuck a slightly extraordinary £ 2.45.

Motorisation was available a “Foot Motor” (some form of treadle?) and Countershaft totalling £6.35 and Six lathe tools £ 0.65 .

To give a context a Myford ML7 was £70.75 and a Super 7 at £102.35 , both as bare lathes (but probably including an electric motor).

The Unimat SL at £33.50 pointed to the future being complete with a 3 jaw chuck, drill chuck and motor.

Interesting there are no fewer than five hand shapers starting with the Adept No 1 at £16.00

(All prices decimalised.)

John

[pgk pgkParticipant @pgkpgk17461]

To give a context a Myford ML7 was £70.75 and a Super 7 at £102.35 , both as bare lathes (but probably including an electric motor).

Interestingly if you put the figure of £102 into the two inflation calculators I chose at random from google then the forst gave a figure approx £1800 and the second £1400. A starting salary in the profession i retired from would have been circa £1500 in '64 and £28-30K now such that 18-20x values are reasonable.

Now if myford was selling new super 7's at £2K retail now ……….

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

More to the point, the Adept was a tenth of the price of a Myford with no chuck, motor, screwcutting or even leadscrew and fitted in a shoebox.

A mini lathe costs about a tenth of the price of a new S7.

The S7 has been improved ina few ways isnce 1964, but not a fraction as much as the mini lathe represents an improvement on the Adept. Yet some people still find fault with them at that price…

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Humbrol 15 Midnight Blue is a perfect match for Adept blue!

Neil

[Robin KingParticipant @robinking15611]

Ah, but were they ever blue originally? Mine, of some fifty plus years ago was black, and I'm fairly certain that was the original colour. Oddly enough I added a rear mounted back gear arrangememnt to it using some gears from Bonds.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

No2 shapers mostly seem to be blue. My No1 is unpainted.

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

I inherited an Adept lathe and that was certainly black, I no longer have it as a friend took a shine to it.

Martin P

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