First Metal Lathe, Cleaning And Other Tips Needed!

I don't suppose it really matters, hand wheel or ballcrank. You would get used to either, I expect. I just found it unusual, not necessarily undesirable.

-frank
 
First off welcome from another new guy who also recently got a new to me old lathe. I used mineral spirits and used dryer sheets to clean all the greasy parts. I finally got a book and tore it completely apart and used the oven cleaner and pressurewasher trick. It took me 3 months to get it all clean and prepped for paint. I think you'll find these guys and this site to be very helpful and full of shared knowledge. I've found it to be addictive. Good looking piece of machinery you got there.
 
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The half-nut lever intrigued me as well, but I've since found it on a couple of older machines -- see the pic of a Seneca Falls below. Can't remember the other ones it appeared on, but they were the typical heavy-hitter names like Oliver, Seneca, etc. That ballcrank appears more often than I expected as well, so I'm drawing a blank so far on an exact match.

-frank


ax11x2.jpg
 
I really appreciate the interest in helping me identify the old girl- with no previous knowledge of old lathes to draw upon I certainly am at a loss for a manufacturer.


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Ive not seen this lathe before but, as someone mentioned it may be a re-branded machine. The company is still in business in PA but does not appear to sell machines any longer. For clean up I like the purple de-greaser from Auto Zone or Wal-mart. It has to be cleaned off with another cleaner but it does a great job of cutting that level of grease and dryed oil. Wear gloves, its rather hard on the hands.
 
Figured it wouldn't hurt to bump this thread with another question-
The gear train currently on the lathe has gears that are part of the change gear "set", right? And the gear ratios are all set by 4 gears if I'm not mistaken. So by that logic I'd have 4 gears on the lathe and 8 gears loose like in the picture giving me a full set. Is that correct or am I missing something?

Also, any idea how I would begin to locate a gear chart for this lathe?


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