Victor 1340GHE, New to Me

Today I tackled the coolant tank again. An improved catchment system was set up. I removed the coolant pump for better access to the inside of the tank. My wife was about to toss an Oxi-Clean tub and scoop into the trash. The little rectangular scoop looked like the perfect size and shape for cleaning the tank and it turned out to be perfect. It got down into the corners and was small enough to get through the pump opening without losing the contents.

Over two gallons of various versions of water and oil were recovered. After breaking up the compacted chips/oil/sludge contained behind a baffle almost a half gallon container of that mix was removed. Mineral spirits and a plastic putty knife helped get the last bits out, along with an entire roll of paper towels. The tank was so clean that I vacuumed out the last chips.

The follow-up plan is to plug the coolant drain in the chip tray and not use the coolant system. I have almost a full gallon of undiluted Kool Mist. That will last a while.
 
The lathe has been degreased as much as possible without completely disassembly. I’m painting it with Majic light Ford gray tractor, truck and implement paint along with Majic’s catalyst. The catalyst increases the cured hardness and gloss while decreasing the dry/cure time. The color turned out to be much lighter than the color chip made me believe. It’s closer to white than I expected but that‘s OK. It surprised me how far the paint went. Since this isn’t a restoration quality paint job on a mostly fully assembled machine I used a 4” foam roller and a good 1-1/2” angled brush. The rolled on paint looks pretty good. The brushed on areas tended to get run no matter how I tried to prevent them. It took 3 coats to get good coverage regardless of the method of application. A few sheet metal covers and the fiberglass cover over the end of the headstock still need to be painted. So far it’s only taken 1 quart of paint and 3/4 ounce of catalyst plus 5% by volume of mineral spirits to help it flow out. Unlike other catalyzed paints that I’ve used any leftover Majic paint doesn’t harden overnight. Each of two batches was still good the next day. That was a nice surprise.

I didn’t want to use the lathe until all of the parts were painted, a backsplash built and installed and the machine set in its place and leveled. Unfortunately on my other lathe, an 11” Grizzly bench top model, the power feed finally quit working. The worm gear that drives the carriage for turning has been getting worse for a long time. A replacement was ordered in January and showed to be in stock at the time the order was placed. It’s been on back order ever since. Consequently, the Victor was pressed into service still sitting on rollers.

None of the work that needed to be done immediately is more than 5” long so I wasn’t concerned that twist would affect the outcome. The first job was to fit a back plate to a new chuck and then I made some 1/2” x 3-1/2” Fillister head screws for the battleship USS Texas. It’s been a long time since I ran any lathe bigger than 1 HP. Wow, what a difference! Even though the cross slide screw and nut are badly worn it’s still a huge imp over the bench top lathe. It took cuts as deep as .040” at fast feed rates effortlessly. That was as deep as I wanted to cut on 3/4” stock. It sure beats pass after pass at .020” and slow feed rates on the little lathe.

First chance I’ll machine backplates for the 5C and ER40 chucks so I can move all work to the bigger machine. The Grizzly will be sold after the repair parts arrive and I splice a new Acme threaded rod onto the cross feed screw of the Victor.
 
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