This last year has been the first in a decade when the wife and I haven't been to the Peak District, normally we go 2/3 times a year and stay at Rushop Hall, a splendid old converted farm, it is so quiet there.
If anyone else is looking for a copy of Mr Sparey’s The Amateur’s Lathe, there is one in the box of books looking for a new home on my study floor. I have no idea how to sell things on eBay but will happily put it in the post to any other Sevenist who has just acquired a lathe.
A good old fashioned book first published 1948 from the days when model engineers could make a 1/4 scale V8 engine or 4" traction engine on a Drummond round bed and pillar drill.
Well worth a read for a budding lathe user.
As Bob Culver wrote you could get more interested making things than restoration.I did when wanting an oil button and belt speedo drive for my chummy 30 odd years ago.
Strongly recommend books aimed at the amateur. Model Engineering have published in recent times. Other books are aimed at efficient metal rmoval rates not applicable to light amateur lathes and one off work.
Although with imagination much can be done with a robust drilling machine I dont know how persons acheive restorations without a lathe. It is not so much for precison parts which are difficult and tedious for the amateur (ie bearing houses to .0005") but for washers, spacers, jigs etc. Most amateurs have one or two carbide tools but HSS are more forgiving of technique.
Some years ago I read about a working rotary earo engine made entirely by an amteur in OZ who had never been involved in such work prior to retirement. Old Drummond adverts carried a similar engine made entirely on a very basic round bed lathe. Lathes even new are very modestly priced today. In the early 30s an amateur lathe without motor or chucks was typically L25. Near 2 months tradesmans pay. Now a fortnight complete. And here lathes have about trebled since 1970s whereas wages have increased 20 times and much more. Mine new eons ago not the investment I thought but better than a Pentax!
As Bob says,I don.t know how people can restore particularly a vintage car or motor cycle without a lathe and drill.Modern classics I feel you can buy the parts and just fit them if you know what I mean.
I only buy one magazine regularly,Classic Bike,Their resident engineer Rick Partington has pages of hints and tips on restoration and is often making something on his Boxford for a repair.
A good article. Intro and photos of protected mechanism perhaps makes the lathe seem complicated. My lathe file finished by Indian peasants long ago , needed far far more than levelling to turn true! Much of the challenge and skill of lathe work is the attaining and preserving of concentricity, which could perhaps be more emphasised. I have always found the left and right tool nomenclature very confusing. In older books much of the emphasis on tool angle stems from treadle days when energy was precious. Many now use one or two tools for near everything.
Old lathes free of bespoke motors, nylon gears fancy drive belts etc can be kept going forever although precison work requires considerable skill.
I had a little Chinese lathe I used to make little things on. Small steam engines and parts for my little props and gadgets. I 'upgraded' to a Emco which isn't much bigger but more solid and better built. Still not big enough but it has been invaluable with my Riley 9 build once I set it up for thread cutting. I've made a gearbox mount and the rear suspension mounts and other things for it. I am getting far more confident on what I can do now.
The Emco was missing most of the change gears so I 3D printed a set (first in PLA then in Nylon which is much stronger) and it works very well. But it is a faff having to manually change gears (it's not the gearbox version unfortunately) and not having a thread indicator is very annoying. I have to stop the lathe, pull the tool back to a known mark then reverse the carriage all without disengaging the lead screw. Once my move is complete I can foresee an upgrade to a bigger machine one day.
That's why you need three lathes: a watchmaker's to repair instruments; a mid-range 5-inch centre height for 90% of the jobs and a 7-inch for the odd heavy job (and making a bit on the side fixing the local farmer's tractors and diggers). However, one of the best all-round jobs - not too big, not too small, fitted with a screwcutting gearbox, power sliding and surfacing feed and quiet running is this: http://www.lathes.co.uk/taiwan/ For other hints and tips on selecting one see: http://www.lathes.co.uk/faq/page2.html
It is curious how lathes lose gears; not as of much other use for anything else. Most amateurs avoid screwcutting if possible. Curious what you thread. Do professionals manage not to retract the tool? The thread indicators are very simple. No use when cutting matric on imp lathe and vice versa.
Colleague recently acquired thru trade Me a like new condition Taiwanese copy of the austere Myford model for $600 (L300).
And lathe owners please keep them covered when not in use. Dust and rust rapidly age.
