A Possibly Very Short Restoration Thread

[n9viw]

Now the spare change gear speed control. It's obvious why they changed this thing out, and the banjo on the one currently mounted on the unit has a paint color not seen anywhere else on the unit, but at least the gears are in decent shape.

 

[n9viw]

The faceplate side bearing cap and spindle. Grooves hard enough to catch your fingernail, not likely to polish out without taking several thousands out of both. Don't know how one would keep the bores concentric and square unless he were to take it to another lathe and line-hone it. (although I do have that 14x40 Grizzly here at work... but how to stick it in my lunch bag?)

 

[n9viw]

Finally, the poor bed. I have never seen ways like this, and in my foolish novice excitement and the dimness of his shop, I never even bothered to look at them. I'm not 100% sure I would have scotched the deal even if I had seen it, I was so jazzed up... "Oh, I can fix that!" "HOW?!" "Uh, I dunno, but I'll figure something out!" <facepalm>

 

[n9viw]

So, feast your eyes on my disaster girl. Your replies will make my decision for me. I am tempted to do the least amount of work possible with the minimum of money outlaid to just get the thing functional to see how it cuts, but with the ways like that I'm sure it's going to chatter like a tree full of howler monkeys.

If it's decided (and agreed) that it's a supremely lost cause, I'll clean up and refurb what's usable, and scrap the rest. I'll definitely get my money back (now I know why it was only $225), but even that won't likely get me but a tenth of the way toward the price of another one worth having. We'll see. What say you, gentlemen?

ETA: Incidentally, savvy eyes will see it's not a 10L, but a 10R; Engine, not Toolroom. Cat# 199-Y.

 

[Nesse1]

No disrespect, but I'd part that thing out. The thread dial alone is worth some good coin.

 

[Firstram]

No disrespect, but I'd part that thing out. The thread dial alone is worth some good coin.

True but, make it work until something better comes along if it doesn't cost too much.

 

[n9viw]

@Firstram , have you any ideas on how to address the scoring on the (non-replaceable) bearings/caps, or the spindle?

I found a later bronze-bearing 10L spindle and bearing caps at Lost Creek Machine, but that would necessitate getting a 10L headstock, which I haven't yet found.

Found an early iron-bearing headstock on ebay. Not sure if that was specific to the 10R or not, but the bearing surfaces in it look great. Do you think, if I dress my 10R spindle on the Griz here at work (not removing a lot of material, just enough to take the worst of the scratching out) that I could make the replacement headstock work? I might need to remove shims, and might even have to mill off a little from the cap mating faces to give it a little more future room, but at this point I'd pee on a sparkplug if I thought it would help.

 

[matthewsx]

I wouldn’t assume that the scoring is a problem until you actually run the machine.

If it were me I’d just clean it up, oil it and find a motor to see.

Proof is in the performance.

 

[n9viw]

At the suggestion of Brian over at VM, I've written to Keith Rucker to get his take on getting the ways repaired. As I commented to him, even if I spend a grand getting the bed redone, I couldn't likely find a better machine for twice that. I've seen some worn-out 9As and Atlas/Craftsman 12s locally for $1500-2000, and refurbished South Bends go upwards of $5k.

It does have a motor, albeit 3-phase. I work as a maintenance electrician in a plant with older equipment, and we have some decommissioned 3-phase 1- and 2-hp VFDs I could go through to liberate one. Easier and cheaper than getting a single-phase motor from Harbor Freight.

Right now, I'm just going to blow the paint off the lathe and clean things up a bit at a time. I know the oiling system is kaput, so in the hopes of positive outcomes I am going to plunk down the change to get the felting kit and book on ebay. I have a compound rest coming to me in the mail, should be here tomorrow. I'm just going to pick up a cheap 250-100 AXA on Amazon or ebay and a set of cutters, and see what happens. Worst case, Keith says let it go, and I part it out. If prices on ebay are any indication, I should be able to recoup what I paid and then some, and can put that toward something else.

 

[tq60]

One outside the box thing to think about for the spindle.

This may be last resort, but there may be other options.

The spindle needs to be polished up first, same for headstock, then evaluate ti see if serviceable at all.

If not, check into poured babbitt.

That would likely involve grinding spindle a bit.

Or just use until better comes along, they always do...

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