Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,710
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Lathes. Dez
@dez
Club Retro Rides Member 34
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Apr 23, 2021 21:07:01 GMT
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I had a look for a similar thread and couldn’t find one, so... Lathes. I’ve had one for years, this monster old Colchester job. I bought it off here years back, to turns out it’s around ww1 date (pre 1920 at least). It was fairly agricultural but gave me a good knowledge of ‘basic’ turning practice, and made some stuff over the years- from the odd bushing and spacer, up to turning down wheel centres and making propshafts. I’m going to be changing workshops soon and I knew this was going to be a bit big for the new space I had earmarked for it. Id known of another lathe for quite a while that I fancied that was smaller but much higher precision, and it came with a load of really nice accessories too. It required a little work but the price reflected that. The timing was perfect too as they were looking to sell. So now I’ve got a Smart & Brown ‘sabel’. This was as it came. No extra charge for the straw, bird sh1t, and thick layer of dirt! It was partially disassembled, there is surface rust, the work lamp is broken as are the door handles, and the tailstock clamp is missing. But on the whole it’s complete, is quite high spec, and some research online lead me to the conclusion they’re a very well regarded machine. Interestingly given its age (production stopped in 1961) it has metric screw cutting capabilities. Obviously the fact it was already resida green so it matched my colour scheme was a contributing factor too 😆 So, a deal was done and it made its way into my workshop.
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Last Edit: Apr 23, 2021 22:10:22 GMT by Dez
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bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,858
Club RR Member Number: 71
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Lathes. bstardchild
@bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member 71
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Apr 23, 2021 21:17:43 GMT
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I'm in
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Apr 23, 2021 22:24:18 GMT
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I have one of these, Nothing special but with a more rigid tool post and shallow cuts I have managed to make a variety of bushes, hub adaptors, hinge pins, spacers etc, even got one of the Lotus 13" alloys on it to clean up the rim. Milling part is only really usefull for small areas though, really would like a proper mill one day.
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,710
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Lathes. Dez
@dez
Club Retro Rides Member 34
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Apr 23, 2021 22:38:02 GMT
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The first thing to say about this lathe is that if it looks familiar, it’s because it’s one of the many South Bend 9” clones/improvements out there. It just this one is quite heavily upgraded, and built to a much higher standard than a South Bend or the common clone over here, the boxford.
Major differences include a different bed profile, a larger spindle thread, and much larger head bearings. There also some insanely over-engineered aspects of quite mundane details. Like the boxford, these lathes use a dewhurst reversing switch. But either mr. Smart or mr. Brown seemed to think just bolting it onto the machine casing and having a big long lever to operate it was rather uncouth, so instead it’s hidden behind the headstock with a shaft that runs through the headstock casting to a smaller lever mounted to the front face. Obviously a smaller lever would require more effort, so it is gear reduced to compensate for this! It details like this coupled with the really high fit and finish that by all accounts made these lathes rather expensive when new.
Back to my example, and after spending literally a day cleaning it, I bolted the lathe bed back down to the stand. I then reassembled all the belt drive setup that had been disassembled, sorted out some errant wiring, and flicked the switch for the first time. I was greeted by the HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN of electrical non-cooperation. Some disassembly and testing commenced, I figured the switch was working ok after cleaning up the contacts, so I decided it was probably the capacitor. I ordered one and two days later it turned up, I fitted it, and this was the result.
Success! Now it does the spinny spinny again, I can work on some of the other issues it has.
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,710
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Lathes. Dez
@dez
Club Retro Rides Member 34
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Apr 23, 2021 22:44:09 GMT
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kevins what exactly is it, one of the modern Chinese jobs? It’s hard to judge it’s size, Chuck must be tiny if you can fit a 13” wheel in there over the bed 😆
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Nice lathe Dez. I have a Colchester Bantam, wouldn't be without it. Are you on the mig welding forum, they like a good lathe on there.
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Proton Jumbuck-deceased :-( 2005 Kia Sorento the parts hauling heap V8 Humber Hawk 1948 Standard12 pickup 1953 Pop build (wifey's BIVA build).
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awoo
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,503
Member is Online
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Perfect timing, I bought my first metal lathe yesterday. It’s a German made hobbymat md65, from around the 1980s. Good solid construction, not massive which is fine for my needs and painted bright yellow.
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Apr 24, 2021 11:10:17 GMT
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I have a 1974 iirc built Coronet Major with all of its attachments and then some. Done some nice stuff for various people over the years. Not used it in possibly 18 months, and have considdered selling it, but then realise the ballache it would be to remove and load it into a van. Great thread for sharing and learning here Dez
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Apr 24, 2021 21:25:27 GMT
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kevins what exactly is it, one of the modern Chinese jobs? It’s hard to judge it’s size, Chuck must be tiny if you can fit a 13” wheel in there over the bed 😆 It's a chester, they imported some of the chineese ones and claim to have refined and set them up properly, we have a couple of chucks and a faceplate, the standard one in the pic is pretty small has internal and external jaws probably something like 110mm external and 90mm internal with about 25mm through the centre, we also have a larger one with 4 independent jaws, the face plate is around 300mm diameter. Ours has the long bed which is around 4 feet and we opted for the screw cutting option as well. The basic machine seems fairly well made from the point if view of the slides and bearings , the only thing that is poor is the belt drive, the belt tension is via a idler which has no easy way of adjustment without messing around with tyre levers.
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adamb
Part of things
Posts: 320
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I’ve got one of these sat in the shed, bought it many years ago, had to dismantle it to move it due to size/weight and never had the chance to put back together.
How much are these beasts worth now?
I’d like to try and uncover it this summer and put up a for sale ad...
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,710
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Lathes. Dez
@dez
Club Retro Rides Member 34
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Apr 25, 2021 16:20:23 GMT
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I’ve got one of these sat in the shed, bought it many years ago, had to dismantle it to move it due to size/weight and never had the chance to put back together. How much are these beasts worth now? I’d like to try and uncover it this summer and put up a for sale ad... A smart & brown you mean? Depends entirely upon model and condition really. Plus what accessories are with it. For example the collet Chuck setup that came with mine adds a considerable amount to the value, as does the extra faceplates etc. It came with.
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Apr 26, 2021 14:28:06 GMT
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The first thing to say about this lathe is that if it looks familiar, it’s because it’s one of the many South Bend 9” clones/improvements out there. It just this one is quite heavily upgraded, and built to a much higher standard than a South Bend or the common clone over here, the boxford. certain parts of it look identical to the 1943 Southbend 10 I've got in the workshop. - and that's a damn good & accurate lathe so something over engineered over that will be ace.
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Take the Next slot right coming up on the left.
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spiny
Club Retro Rides Member
Wiki Admin
I am abivalent towards car electrics ...
Posts: 1,330
Club RR Member Number: 167
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Lathes. spiny
@spiny
Club Retro Rides Member 167
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Apr 26, 2021 15:21:00 GMT
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This is my Boxford 'School Lathe' circa 1952 according to the serial number. It's fine for making bushings, but the lead screws and cross feed scres have too much wear to be accurate - it judders too much to get a good finish on anything, but it's helped me out a few times
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Last Edit: Apr 26, 2021 15:21:14 GMT by spiny
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v8ian
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,749
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Apr 26, 2021 15:28:27 GMT
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Blew the dust off my Colchester Bantam today, simple job needed done, time consuming too, but its now done,
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Atmo V8 Power . No slicks , No gas + No bits missing . Doing it in style. Austin A35van, very different------- but still doing it in style, going to be a funmoble
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adamb
Part of things
Posts: 320
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I’ve got one of these sat in the shed, bought it many years ago, had to dismantle it to move it due to size/weight and never had the chance to put back together. How much are these beasts worth now? I’d like to try and uncover it this summer and put up a for sale ad... A smart & brown you mean? Depends entirely upon model and condition really. Plus what accessories are with it. For example the collet Chuck setup that came with mine adds a considerable amount to the value, as does the extra faceplates etc. It came with. Definitely a smart & brown, and I’ve always believed it was a sabel. It looks pretty much identical to yours, incl the lower bed with the cupboard/drawers. Not sure what parts it’s got fitted, but it came with boxes of what I believe are spares/accessories. Shame it’s under a pile of my dads garden furniture at the moment or I’d go and have a look / get some pics.
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bazzateer
Posted a lot
Imping along sans Vogue
Posts: 3,653
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Apr 28, 2021 20:33:42 GMT
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All nice, I'll be getting my Dad's Myford one day. I've told him there's no rush but at 88 he seems to think it'll be sooner rather than later.
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1968 Singer Chamois Sport 1972 Sunbeam Imp Sport 1976 Datsun 260Z 2+2 1998 Peugeot Boxer Pilote motorhome 2003 Rover 75 1.8 Club SE (daily) 2006 MG ZT 190+ (another daily) 2007 BMW 530d Touring M Sport (tow car)
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,710
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Lathes. Dez
@dez
Club Retro Rides Member 34
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Apr 28, 2021 20:36:51 GMT
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Blew the dust off my Colchester Bantam today, simple job needed done, time consuming too, but its now done, What you been doing there Ian? Actually cutting splines?
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,710
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Lathes. Dez
@dez
Club Retro Rides Member 34
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Apr 28, 2021 20:38:50 GMT
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The first thing to say about this lathe is that if it looks familiar, it’s because it’s one of the many South Bend 9” clones/improvements out there. It just this one is quite heavily upgraded, and built to a much higher standard than a South Bend or the common clone over here, the boxford. certain parts of it look identical to the 1943 Southbend 10 I've got in the workshop. - and that's a damn good & accurate lathe so something over engineered over that will be ace. Yeah from my brief uses so far it seems very nice, even with the play in the cross slide shaft. By the time I’ve rebuilt that and shimmed it up it’s going to be super smooth.
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,710
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Lathes. Dez
@dez
Club Retro Rides Member 34
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Apr 28, 2021 20:41:46 GMT
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A smart & brown you mean? Depends entirely upon model and condition really. Plus what accessories are with it. For example the collet Chuck setup that came with mine adds a considerable amount to the value, as does the extra faceplates etc. It came with. Definitely a smart & brown, and I’ve always believed it was a sabel. It looks pretty much identical to yours, incl the lower bed with the cupboard/drawers. Not sure what parts it’s got fitted, but it came with boxes of what I believe are spares/accessories. Shame it’s under a pile of my dads garden furniture at the moment or I’d go and have a look / get some pics. They tend to command a pretty good price compared to actual south bends and boxfords, especially with good accessories. You’d need to look exactly what is with it really, and as always with these things, condition is everything. That why mine was cheap, but the things it needed werent insurmountable and have proved pretty easy for em to put right this far. But putting it together, getting it running and being able to show it working adds a huge amount to the price.
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,710
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Lathes. Dez
@dez
Club Retro Rides Member 34
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Apr 28, 2021 20:45:16 GMT
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This is my Boxford 'School Lathe' circa 1952 according to the serial number. It's fine for making bushings, but the lead screws and cross feed scres have too much wear to be accurate - it judders too much to get a good finish on anything, but it's helped me out a few times If the actual slides aren’t too warm you can usually shim a lot of play out of the screws pretty easily. Definitely worth dismantling to see where and how the play is actually manifesting itself, especially with such good parts availability for boxfords.
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