Raglan Little John lathe?

[merlinart]

What ho all.

I'm thinking about buying an old Raglan Little John lathe. 5 inch swing, 24" centres, looks to be about 60 odd year old, perhaps younger. It is single phase.

Does anybody have an experience with such a beast? All advice gratefully received. 

regards

Arthur

[Dave Wortley]

Tony G? Over to you!

[Jacob Fowkes]

Great little machines in my experience. Threaded spindle nose so easy enough to make backplates for other chucks. Seems superior to the boxfords & myfords imo. All depends on it’s condition tho

[merlinart]

Sounds promising then, many thanks.

I downloaded some interesting stuff on lathes.co.uk. This one is called a Little John, not sure if a Mk 1 or 2, and I understand that their best model was simply called the Raglan 5" which came out from 1966-1971. Apparently Myford bought them out to stop production. interesting point is that they were about twice as expensive as a Myford, being close to £400 when a Myford was around £200. Looks to be pretty good, the cross tree was worn slightly dead centrally, but I guess that that screw could be re-made? There is quite a bit of tooling including two more chucks, 2 steadies, loads of collets. Together with a slightly dismantled (condition unknown)  Geo Taylor milling machine, the chap wants £750. I have to admit that I don't know much about machining, but need too, as my two local machinists have or are about to retire. My next door chap at the farm where my workshop is, is a blacksmith who makes my 3 wheeler chassis for me, and he has an old Milnes lathe, so he could instruct me as well as use this machine if I buy it all.

Thanks for your help. 

Arthur

[Charles P]

Sounds promising then, many thanks.

I downloaded some interesting stuff on lathes.co.uk. This one is called a Little John, not sure if a Mk 1 or 2, and I understand that their best model was simply called the Raglan 5" which came out from 1966-1971. Apparently Myford bought them out to stop production. interesting point is that they were about twice as expensive as a Myford, being close to £400 when a Myford was around £200. Looks to be pretty good, the cross tree was worn slightly dead centrally, but I guess that that screw could be re-made? There is quite a bit of tooling including two more chucks, 2 steadies, loads of collets. Together with a slightly dismantled (condition unknown)  Geo Taylor milling machine, the chap wants £750. I have to admit that I don't know much about machining, but need too, as my two local machinists have or are about to retire. My next door chap at the farm where my workshop is, is a blacksmith who makes my 3 wheeler chassis for me, and he has an old Milnes lathe, so he could instruct me as well as use this machine if I buy it all.

Thanks for your help. 

Arthur

Never had had a Raglan but I have owned an early type Geo Taylor mill. Small footprint, light weight machine. If it has the original drive arrangement with table feed it could make a decent machine but the collets on mine fitted directly into the spindle and were unique (a bad thing) and the bearings were tapered and plain, limiting speed and making refurbishment challenging.
IMHO buying unknown machine tools when you admitttedly have little experience can be a source of pain and much further expenditure. You can, of course, have a great experience as well!
If it wasn't lockdown I'd suggest taking a knowledgeable friend.

[bob46320]

A few questions.
1) Does it have the screw cutting gearbox ? - which makes screwcutting set up a doddle.
2) if no S/c gearbox, does it have the S/c set of gears ?
3) Does it have both a 3 jaw chuck with both inside and outside jaws (6 jaws in all) and a 4 jaw independent chuck
4) Does it have at least 1 faceplate.
Nice to have - Jacobs chuck for the tail stock, some tools etc.

Boxford / Raglan - Not a lot to choose but for production, the Raglan does have its own feed shaft whereas the Boxford has a combined feed/ lead screw. Downside, Raglan has flat bed ways (same as Myford), Boxford has the 'V" ways said to give better precision over time.

Chucks are expensive £80 plus
S/c gears £15 plus for each gear
Market price probably £800 upwards

Follow this to find out about the Raglan lathe
http://www.lathes.co.uk/raglan/

[merlinart]

Well, Nigel my blacksmith chum did come with me to take a look at the lathe and all the spares/components etc, plus overall wear, and he thought that the lathe alone would be good for around £500 plus, in fact his further view was that all the spares would probably make that alone if I were to sell them off as separate items...which of course i do not. The mill i was more uncertain about, but if I got closer to £600 the pair, I think I'd do quite well.

Arthur

---

Hi Bob

Yes I looked that site.

It has a face plate, plus two other chucks one being a 4 jaw, and my chum Nigel thought that the 4 jaw chuck had had very little use. Not sure about the screw cutting gearbox side of things, will check further with Nigel, he probably noticed more than me. As indicated on another reply, Nigel reckoned that all the spares/extras/tools would sell of for around £500, which of course, I would never do so as would most certainly be a necessary part of the investment. I also like the idea of an older machine being so much better built. Raglan started up in 1942, which in itself seems very interesting, during war time.

I think I've sold the idea to the wife...in fact she's looking forward to me getting my Ruby chassis out of the kitchen, where I've been painting it, far warmer than the workshop!

Arthur

[Austin in the Shed]

Never had a Raglan, I've had an ML7 and now a super 7 as one of my lathes but would only use it for light /non ferrous work by choice.
Boxford is a better and slightly larger,heavier more industrial lathe and a Raglan slightly larger.
A small vertical mill is a good idea too ,better without a morse taper spindle .Trying to do a milling job on a lathe with a vertical slide is a pain and you're bound to run out of slide travel.
Go for the largest lathe you are comfortable with,and preferably with a gearbox if you are intending to do screwcutting.
If the Raglan falls through look for a Harrison L6 or 140 ,possibly a Colchester,or a Kerry 1024?  although you might have to use a phase converter.
The more accessories the better,getting them now may be difficult and expensive s/h.
Don't buy one with a worn bed,(Try lifting up the saddle when at the chuck end then wind to the tailstock to see if it get tight ).

[merlinart]

I think if I can get it all at the "right price" then I've got room for improvement. I've got a spare new unused motor (for drill/lathe etc) hanging about, not sure what the output is, but will look into it all this week.

Things are looking up, I'm on a spot of chemotherapy at present and apparently getting better/things shrinking as they should, and need to get active in the workshop, before the state pension kicks in in July. Funny old state of life at present, suddenly there are a number of things that need doing rather fast, or perhaps faster than it all seemed this time last year.

Are there any nutters on this forum who enjoy Swiss trains and mountains as I do? I'm trying to release equity from the house to buy a tiny studio flat in Bergun, SE Switzerland, superb spiral railway tunnels on the Albula line down to St Moritz....damned flat sold last week before the money has come through...but clouds have silver linings so they say, so onwards and upwards!

Arthur

[Chris Garner]

I used to travel widely in Switzerland using the railway, SBB CFF FFS. The thing to remember is, if you're late, don't bother running for the train - they always leave on time!
My most memorable journey was a trip up to the top of the Jungfraujoch - 11,300 feet.