# early Clausing 5912 purchase



## Chopper1 (Dec 22, 2018)

I traveled up Pennsylvania yesterday to look at (2) prospective purchases. The first was a Logan 820. It was in really great shape and came with tons of tooling, accessories, even a toolbox. I also looked at an early series 5912 Clausing. I was able to cut what I thought was a great deal with the owner of the Clausing.

We strapped it down to a skid and the shop owner used his Bobcat to load it into the Sprinter van. Pulled it down to 4 corners and my son and I were off back to Virginia with a bit more weight in the back of the van. It took me about 3 hrs and lots of rigging and re-rigging to extricate it from the van with my mobile engine hoist. Can't be too careful. So now it sits in the shop waiting for a clean-up. I know I've heard others say they have seen some filthy lathes, but this one is the topper for sure. It came out of a job shop and I am sure that much of this dirt and grime is 50 yrs old. 

To this point I have only pulled the turret accessory off, and removed the spindle hand wheel and left side covers to locate the belt numbers. The motor drive belts(3) are marked: DA358 3VX630 9NX1600 they are $43/pc from Clausing so hoping to find some reasonable replacements. I will be starting my list to get it up and running tomorrow. The variable pulley belt looks to be very hard and looks to have taken a set...I'll retrieve the number off that belt tomorrow in hopes of a less expensive ($256) alternative. The VSD hydraulics need attention (rebuild)(seals) hopefully. Then its a matter of just going it one by one and correcting anything that is worn more than I would like. I can already see that the intermediate shaft fixture bushings are worn as well as the snubbers, both of which I'm sure contribute to the vibration the lathe has when first started. The entire carriage/slide/apron needs some attention....complete cleanup and possibly a few bushings. All in all its in fairly good shape. The ways are a just a little worn(carriage lock bolt test) but, don't think its an issue.


----------



## chips&more (Dec 22, 2018)

Congratulations! Looks like you have a nice lathe. If it was me. I would give it a good cleaning and change the oils and run it. Fix obvious broken things. Maybe wait on anything else. Just see how she runs.


----------



## P. Waller (Dec 22, 2018)

That is clean for an old job shop turret lathe, you are lucky that you didn't get 50 pounds of chips as well.


----------



## Chopper1 (Dec 22, 2018)

Thanks for the well wishes. 

What is the best solution for cleaning without damaging any of the paint?


----------



## T Bredehoft (Dec 23, 2018)

You've got the best of both worlds there, both a saddle and a turret. Great find.


----------



## 34_40 (Dec 23, 2018)

I agree with the others.  Clean it up a bit and run it for awhile.
Looks to be a great machine.  Congrats on the purchase.


----------



## middle.road (Dec 23, 2018)

I don't see much grime at all. 
Looks to be in pretty decent shape.


----------



## Chopper1 (Dec 23, 2018)

I began the arduous process of cleaning up the Clausing this afternoon. I was able to get the countershaft and its fixture out and inspected, the motor VSD slave off, disassembled, cleaned and reassembled the compound, partially disassembled the cross slide. The compound was almost frozen and didn't appear to have any slop at all. It went back together very well, the screw and nut were in excellent shape. The cross slide is in good shape as well, but the nut and screw show a fair amount of wear. For now though a thorough cleaning and oiling will have to do. The spindle drive belts were definitely worn and very loose, the snubbers that adjust the countershaft fixture hadn't been adjusted correctly or not taken up after the belts had stretched. The VSD belt had a little set, but not too bad. The big issue at present is the wobble in the motor pulley...the whole unit is a whopper from Clausing so I hope to be able to figure out a way to repair the bushings. Aside from that a few bushings and rubber items to tighten up the motor mount and countershaft fixture and a phase converter should get me up and running.  I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

Chip


----------



## Chopper1 (Dec 27, 2018)

Well,

Looks as though I'm going to need some thoughtful advice on this one. Prior to purchase I had checked with Clausing on the availability of items that I suspected would possibly be needed now or in the future. Yes they currently supply the big ticket items like the sheave assemblies $$$$ and the master and slave cylinders $$$...but unfortunately some of the smaller items that you would expect to be nothing to carry in inventory are NLA. I would suspect that my lathe (a early 5912) is most likely not worth supporting because they made changes to it early in the production run. Mine has the motor and countershaft VSD sheaves mounted on the bed side of the left hand cabinet. It also has the clutch/brake lever next to the quick change box. The brake shoe is not integrated with the clutch and the spindle drive belts are (3 v-belts). The spindle cabinet does not have the tool tray cutout, but it is heavy and solid and not fiberglass. So on to the unavailable items...motor mount bushings, countershaft cradle bushings, brake pad assembly, countershaft cradle belt tensioning rubber snubbers. I asked Clausing for the drawings for these items which they kindly sent, but I would guess there is a limit to the durometer level of an insulator that can be turned in a lathe vs having to be molded. So what can I make bushings out of for the motor and cradle that have a worthwhile isolating factor? The brake pad is also an issue as I see it...not giving me the ability to stop the lathe if need be. 
All of this combined with the fact that I will need to replace ($1200) or repair/fabricate the motor sheave assembly as its toast brings me to the ?...it would seem that a VFD would solve at least some of my issues. I have absolutely no experience with these and my learning curve would be steep, but I would think the thing to do would be to replace the VSD sheave arrangement with "unknown/properly sized" non-adjustable sheaves and use the VFD as a rpm control and brake...also double as a phase converter. Are there any sound concrete mods like this to the 5900 series lathes?

Thanks for any input, Chip


----------



## paoldschool (Dec 28, 2018)

That looks like a pretty nice score.  It well in your Sprinter.  That looks like a prety slick way to move machines, no tarps and ropes required...


----------



## just old al (Dec 28, 2018)

As far as the mounts go - I would check rubber goods suppliers' catalogues, or small engine catalogues for similar items and adapt as required. For reference, the generator head on my genset is mounted on rubber mounts that take a bolt on one side and a nut on a captive stud on the other. Similar but larger items anchor the motor and transmission on my Land-Rover - and are inexpensive to purchase.

The brake pad isn;t that tricky - what does it look like? Disc brake pads are dirt cheap and can easily be scavenged for material - or the pad itself milled to shape to fit the mounting whatever it may be.


----------



## Shootymacshootface (Dec 28, 2018)

You are going to love that Jacobs spindle nose chuck. I see that you only have the larger collet set. You can easily find the smaller set on the ebay. Good luck fixing her up. It will be well worth it!


----------



## Chopper1 (Dec 28, 2018)

I was able to get in a little work on the lathe today. I have also attached pictures of the progress to the saddle, cross, and compound. 

Removed the motor so that I could more easily disassemble the VSD pulley assembly. I would suspect that at some time in the lathe's life at least the motor pulley assembly has been replaced or updated as it had a plastic/delrin bushing in it. The bushing was split in 2 and missing a section. The keyway in the outer half had damage where the key had jumped out and was riding inside. The key was also mushroomed on the top. However the key fit fairly snuggly in the inner pulley slot. There is also some damage to the epoxy coating on the inner pulley slide. It may be possible to save most of this assembly. A key could be purchased or made. I believe that the keyway for the outer pulley could be re-cut in another location...180 deg from the damage...possibly the damaged area even filled in with JB weld or the like or maybe dressed and left alone. The damage to the epoxy seems minor to me.


----------



## Chopper1 (Dec 31, 2018)

Update and progress.

Eeler1 suggested I get in touch with Webb over on the Home Machinist group. Both of these individuals have been extremely helpful and encouraging. 

My lathe is an early or early-mid production 5912. Only (500) made. It worked but not well at all and needed major TLC. At some point in its life the lower hydraulic VSD unit was updated to the style with the delrin bushing and the hydraulic slave updated as well. As I showed in the last post the pulley assembly was frozen, damaged, and wobbling causing severe vibration. Webb indicated that the damage I have to the sliding pulley half should be repairable with JB Weld or the like along with a properly fitted delrin bushing. The slight damage to the epoxy coating on the stationary pulley half isn't a concern. I will be replacing the key for this assembly as well. The shaft/collar assembly was also not a factory arrangement...someone had taken a long cap screw and welded it to the collar that fits inside the sliding half. The weld had broken making it hard to remove the slave cylinder assembly. It should have (2) roll pins...one locating the long threaded shaft and the other locating the assembly in the keyway of the sliding pulley half. At this point all the needed parts have been ordered from Clausing, Webb, and bearing suppliers. While I'm waiting on the parts arrivals the cleaning, adjustments, and TLC will continue.

Thanks for the support,
Chip


----------



## Chopper1 (Jan 1, 2019)

More cleaning and adjustments


----------



## Chopper1 (Jan 3, 2019)

More cleaning last evening. Seems I got a decent set of FIMS tool holders with the lathe with a couple of tools. I also cleaned up the Jacobs Spindle Nose Chuck set and the rubber flex collet set that goes with it. I believe they will come in handy as Shootymacshootface had indicated.


----------



## Chopper1 (Jan 6, 2019)

Power washed the lower supports and large pieces that I had removed. You can see from the nastiness of the turret how thick the embedded chips and oil was...getting very close to going back together. I'll have to take a break for a few weeks because of surgery scheduled for tomorrow, but more progress coming soon.


----------



## Chopper1 (Jun 2, 2020)

Finally getting back on this rig. Cleaning, reassembling, rebuilding. I was able to use the spindle in free-wheeling mode to fit the VSD pulley bushings...yes first chips...not ferrous, but plastic. Little bit of manual labor. Getting closer.


----------



## Shootymacshootface (Jun 2, 2020)

Looking good!


----------



## mmcmdl (Jun 3, 2020)

You've made a lot more progress than I have made on my 5917 that's for sure .


----------



## Tim9 (Jun 3, 2020)

Very nice.  The sheave coating looks okay in my opinion. Definitely call Clausing and get a replacement bushing . You will need to machine the bushing once it’s been replaced. I was able to machine my Clausing new bushing using my 9” South Bend. So even though it looks like a huge pulley....it will Mount on a 9” lathe. Go lightly on the machining of the replaced bushing. I was a bit too aggressive on first try so I had to order another bushing.
    My sheave coating looked about like yours did. I just cleaned it with a rag....tiny bit of mineral spirits. You don’t want to soak it letting mineral spirits to get under the coating. Mine looked like it wouldn’t take much to degrade it. I was careful. I then lightly buffed the area around those parts where it had flaked off.....using 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper. At that stage I touched it up using JB Weld.

Waiting 24 hours.....I then cleaned it up being super careful not to do more harm than good. I think I used a precision straight edge.....fine newer metal file....and @. 220 sandpaper to clean up the spots where I repaired the flaked off delrin coating.

Anyway....I probably didn’t even need to worry about my green coating. But, no matter which direction you decide to go down....there are options and a number of owners have managed to repair these Clausing lathes. They are nice lathes. I love mine.

I’ve read where some Clausing owners recoated their pulleys using epoxy coatings.






						Clausing Varispeed Rebuild - alternatives to Moglice?
					

Moglice is so expensive - with shipping it's roughly $80 for enough just to coat the hub where the turcite has worn off, so I'd like to explore alternatives for recoating the hub.  In searching through the archives here, there have been comments about using JB Weld Slow Set, Teflon-Fiberglass...



					www.practicalmachinist.com
				












						Source for Delrin bushings
					

I'm thinking of making Delrin bushings for my Clausing 5914 Varispeed drive rather than buying the premade ones from Clausing at around $28 apiece. I didn't spot anything...




					www.polytechforum.com
				




PS...bad habits are hard to break. I see you’re way ahead of my posting. Anyway looking very nice. Congratulations Chopper 1


----------

