You never know what’s out there!

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

One aspect of buying an old lathe without having ever tried your hand at home engineering is that later on, when you’re a bit better informed by the good folks on here, you start to find the folly of that initial “great idea”. In my case it’s buying something so obscure that there are few of them around (that being said three of them have appeared on ebay in the last 6 months) and tooling for them is rarer than gold plated rocking horse poo!

 

Well a chance purchase from an advert on Homeworkshop.org has turned up a fixed and travelling steady for my ancient lathe! The seller didn’t know what lathe they were from and a brief exchange of emails with some measurements indicated the fixed steady would be a close fit for my Barker which suggested it was worthwhile making a punt on a “make do and mend” basis.

 

It turns out the fixed steady is a 100% fit and the travelling one needed two holes tapping in the saddle and will need a slight bit of trimming to bring the horizontal arm level with the centreline. I am absolutely over the moon and cannot believe my luck. Just need to clean them up and make new brass arms for the travelling steady (hasn’t got any)

 

Just wanted to share my joy!

 

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

Finding old lathe accessories

[Brian Dickinson 2Participant @briandickinson2]

Nice one

[magpieParticipant @magpie]

Nice one John ! My dad used to say ” if you find a bargain, think twice before you buy, because you will no doubt find a better one very soon after “. Over the years, i have bought many ” bargains” only to have dad proved right soon after.

 

Cheers Derek

[AndyBParticipant @andyb47186]

Hi John,

 

Congratulations, it is such a thrill getting the parts so longed for!

 

Is yours the bar bed like on Tony Griffith’s site? It looks a marvellous machine with all sorts of trick ideas!

 

Stuff like that was made to last…it is why I love my old Drummonds…at least the parts are easier to get hold of

 

Andy

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

Posted by Andy Belcher on 01/12/2011 20:01:39:

Is yours the bar bed like on Tony Griffith’s site? It looks a marvellous machine with all sorts of trick ideas!

 

Stuff like that was made to last…it is why I love my old Drummonds…at least the parts are easier to get hold of

 

Andy – it sure is. Must weigh half a ton! TBH I’m still finding out what it can do. The rotating headstock is proving useful for any angle turning. The 2′ between centres is great for drawbars and the 1″ capacity mandrel very useful. Interesting to read on Tony’s site that they were able to restore one by making a new bar. Can’t imagine being able to do that with any V bed lathe without finding a new bed!

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

Well found, that man!

 

Steadies normally use phosphor bronze, rather than brass. more expensive, but less prone to wear.

 

Neil

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

Stub: thanks mate. I went to the metal supplier today and got some brass rod but when I got home realised I’d estimated the size wrong. I thought they were 3/8th so got 10mm but they are closer to 12mm so back I’ll have to go. Will ask for phosphor bronze this time!

 

Anyway here they are:

Sorry they are slightly blurry. I had to turn the flash off so the exposure is longer

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Posted by John Coates on 01/12/2011 20:07:56:

 

…………………………………………. Interesting to read on Tony’s site that they were able to restore one by making a new bar. Can’t imagine being able to do that with any V bed lathe without finding a new bed!

Hi John,

 

vee beds can be reground relatively easily, but at a price!

Terry

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

Posted by Terryd on 02/12/2011 04:55:50:

 

vee beds can be reground relatively easily, but at a price!

 

I think Tony’s story relates to being able to effectively replace the ‘bed’ by the simple method of sourcing/making an accurately ground round bar of the right size. I equated that to having to make a new V bed from scratch and just commented that sorting the Barker out would be cheaper than doing the same for a V bed.

 

But then not having a V bed lathe I could be talking out of my bum!

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Posted by John Coates on 02/12/2011 08:40:56:

Posted by Terryd on 02/12/2011 04:55:50:

 

vee beds can be reground relatively easily, but at a price!

 

I think Tony’s story relates to being able to effectively replace the ‘bed’ by the simple method of sourcing/making an accurately ground round bar of the right size. I equated that to having to make a new V bed from scratch and just commented that sorting the Barker out would be cheaper than doing the same for a V bed.

 

But then not having a V bed lathe I could be talking out of my bum!

 

Hi John,

 

I can see no reason to ‘make’ a new vee bed unless very seriously damaged, such as a broken casting. Then I would just buy a new lathe.

 

I can see and appreciate your point concerning the simplicity of a bar bed lathe, but one simply would regrind a vee bed, not ‘make’ one, whereas a bar bed cannot be reground. You must also remember that the new bar should be precision ground and probably hardened. mild steel would wear too quickly, nor be accurate enough I suspect. The cost of hardening and accurately grinding a bar of that size would not be cheap methinks. But then again I may also be talking out of my bum.

 

Best regards

 

Terry

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

But the bums round here often speak with great wisdom, even if they are a bit niffy.

 

Neil

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