[Lathe] 16" Von Wyck Machine Tool Co.

I remember working on an ancient lathe nearly forty years ago that had a threaded-spindle chuck frozen in place. I'm thinking it was a big old LeBlond. The guy that was rebuilding the lathe made up an interesting arrangement to wrench the chuck free of the spindle.

He took two pieces of 2" x 4" or 2" x 6" CRS and drilled and tapped two big bolts (5/8 or 3/4") in the steel pieces aligned edge to edge. Two washers were slipped between the blocks and the bolts were inserted and tightened. Then a hole was bored through about 1/4" bigger in diameter than the machine's spindle. The chuck was laid face down on the shop floor with the spindle pointing straight up and this "wrench" was bolted in place around the spindle and blocked up to be level and approximately centered. The washers were still in place as spacers between the two halves. A small pot of lead was melted and then poured into the gap between the wrench and the spindle and then everything was disassembled and the lead ring was cut into halves with a small piece of sharpened brass bar stock.

You know that tough, sticky sap that runs out of pine and cedar trees? The old guy had a coffee can with a pretty good collection of the stuff. He heated some of that on a stick and smeared a little on the spindle and the bore of the wrench caps before popping the lead back in and reassembling the wrench onto the spindle without the washers separating the two halves. The bolts were then tightened until they smoked and then about a quarter turn past that that!

The big 4-jaw chuck was clamped down onto another piece of thick wall tubing lying across its face. A couple of shop rags were wrapped around the spindle's journal areas and a larger pipe was slid up over it, with the pipe being probably 8-10' long. Another pipe was slid onto the 2 x 2" tube welded to the wrench's lower cap. With a man standing on each pipe about midways along their length, the old guy mounted the piece of tubing clamped into the chuck. It sounded like a .22 rifle firing when that chuck broke loose, or at least that's how I remember it.

To help my rambling make sense, below are a couple of sketches I banged out with hopes of tying things together. First, how the wrench was configured and bolted to the spindle. Second, a combined overhead and side view, with the three football shapes representing the mens' positions while breaking the chuck free. I hope the Von Wyck doesn't require anything this aggressive but if it does...

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It's about time someone posted anything on a Von Wyck. I too have a 16" Von Wyck (similar but different to yours) and the amount of pictures/information on these machines is extremely limited. In addition to your pictures there are probably on 2 or three other pictures that you can find via. Google/Bing.

I'll post pictures of my beast soon. My machine was very well taken care of and the chuck spun off like butter. I can dislodge it easily by engaging the back gears and using a 2x4 in the chuck jaws.

I have a 3 jaw Bison chuck on it now, perhaps I can answer questions re: the threaded spindle.

Welcome.
 
I've been meaning to post my progress for some time, I've been busy with other projects haven't had much time to work the lathe. Everything but the bed and the legs are disassembled. Ghostdancer, thank you for sharing the story, sound like I'd need to take it to the shop if I decide to change the chuck. Kdecelles, I have a 3 jaw self leveling Bison chuck myself, what thread does your Bison chuck adapter have (2-1/8"x6)? Did you cut the adapter thread yourself? Let us know where you post your photos.
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Under the chipping paint on the left rail its showing signs of hand scraping.
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The gears on the back of the apron looked flawless.
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The Carriage turning wheel has seen better days.
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First welcome to the site, your lathe looks to be in very good condition for its age and rarity. If you can document as much as you can for future use. That's what makes buying a lathe like yours tho badged not hardly any info out there about them. I think if you apply plenty of penetrating oil every few days. Then even a little heat with a propane torch will help the metal to expand and contract it may take several days but it will help . Your gears can be brazed up and recut much cheaper then buying them. I'd bet there 14.5 degree gears the standard . Pending on the diameter which cutter you need.
I'm in the same fix on gears for a 20" Rockwell delta drill press the table and head lift crank gears missing teeth.
Glad you decided to save her from scrappers. I hate good items being thrown away , when I grew up we fixed things and repurposed items till totally useless then thrown out.
 
I'm going to attempt posting some pics of my von wyck, apologies if this doesn't work
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
A couple of the gear shrouds are removed for cleanup/repaint


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
This is what i get for not logging in for a month, i dont get to see the photos :(
 
It's not you, it's the tap-a-talk thing. The pictures often show as "the dreaded red X". Sometimes if you click the "reply" button on the far right of the thread box you'll be able to see the pictures in your reply, but it doesn't always work.

-frank
 
Tried to copy and post them but it didn't work -- sorry.

-frank
 
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