# My Clausing 5913



## jwmelvin (Nov 18, 2021)

Back in March of this year, I bought a number of tools from a local estate. One of my favorites is the Clausing 5913, 12x36 lathe, which came with a full compliment of chucks and collets, taper attachment, steady and follow rest, etc. Unfortunately, no metric threading setup (which requires a new quadrant and some gears, and is impossible to find). Here's how it sat when I bought it, and me getting it into my garage workshop:









It seemed to be in pretty great shape, so I mostly just changed the headstock and apron oils, wiped it down a bit, and lubed it. The variable-speed drive, which can be an issue on these, appears to be in fine shape:



I made a spanner to turn the chuck retention collar:



I modified some shelving from the prior owner to make a storage cart:






I modified a shelving unit to hold tools:



The lathe has been great and I really like it. The taper attachment is a little crusty and there's sometimes a bit of smoothness lacking from the cross-slide screw, so I decided to disassemble from the carriage up and make sure everything is clean and as well cared for as possible. That was last night, and it seems pretty good to me. I'll be cleaning up some parts as I reassemble them, and replacing the felt wipers.

The parts:





Up close on the cross slide and its gib:





Up close on the carriage ways:





So there's a bit of scoring on the ways, but nothing major, and it doesn't seem all that worn. I have not measured anything on the lathe since leveling the bed to remove twist.

Here's the apron gearbox, which looks perfect to me and I won't be taking it apart further:



I just thought some of you may enjoy seeing the pictures. I welcome any advice while I have it apart. There don't seem to be many things I should do besides clean and reassemble with the new way wipers. I have a new seal for where the cross-feed screw goes through the carriage, though I've not seen any leaks.

-jason


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## mmcmdl (Nov 18, 2021)

I tried to take a pic of mine this morning Jason but it got lost in the garage . Maybe Sunday you can help me find it !


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## woodchucker (Nov 18, 2021)

It's right over there Dave, under those other 30,000 tools.


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## mmcmdl (Nov 18, 2021)

woodchucker said:


> It's right over there Dave, under those other 30,000 tools.


Hey ! You were right .  Mine came with the optional beam clamp accessory package , along with a bunch of other crap .


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## markba633csi (Nov 18, 2021)

That's what a good used lathe should look like, where you don't have to do a lot to it, just start using it
Good find!  I like the collet rack too
-M


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## Alcap (Nov 19, 2021)

You lathe looks like it had a very pampered life ! Enjoy using it .


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## jwmelvin (Nov 29, 2021)

I got everything cleaned up with my taper attachment, cross slide, and compound. Then centered the tailstock, which shows no droop or lateral misalignment.



Today I made a tool-height gauge. Just a fixed piece that I somehow, miraculously cut to length within half a thousandth of my target. It’s a piece of hydraulic shafting (hardened chromed exterior) with an aluminum base section.


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## Rootpass (Nov 30, 2021)

Beautiful! You may have done better on you height gauge than you realize! Joe Pie has a good video on making the same style for anyone who might be interested!


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## jwmelvin (Nov 30, 2021)

Rootpass said:


> Joe Pie has a good video on making the same style


Thank you. I do remember that video and used a similar technique because of it. First I was stacking gauge blocks to use a DTI like Joe and then I remembered the fancy dial indicator I hadn’t yet used, so used that to compare my height gauge to a turned section of stock:



That let me figure out how much to cut off and also check it when finished.


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## Rootpass (Nov 30, 2021)

“ I remembered the fancy dial indicator“

That sounds too familiar!!! Lol those type of height gauges have to be the best out of any of them. I would encourage everyone to make this style.


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## Janderso (Nov 30, 2021)

Nice Clausing!@!!!!!!


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## magu (Dec 1, 2021)

That's a very nice lathe you scored, and well outfitted too! 

Is that a powermatic 143 next to it on the trailer? I stumbled on one of those when buying a die filer and laid it down the same way.... it occurred to me when I got home and looked in the bed of the truck that the gearbox had been full of oil....


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## jwmelvin (Dec 1, 2021)

magu said:


> Is that a powermatic 143 next to it on the trailer? I stumbled on one of those when buying a die filer and laid it down the same way.... it occurred to me when I got home and looked in the bed of the truck that the gearbox had been full of oil....



Yes indeed, I realized the same thing about the powermatic band saw. I didn’t so much mind the oil on my trailer but it took a long time to stop running out of all the crevices so I have a variety of spots to show where it moved about the shop. That move was a mad frenzy so I’m happy that some leaked oil was the biggest issue I had.


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