Bolton HA330 Project

[matthewsx]

Made a little more progress on the Bolton today, I removed the feed gear box for a little clean-up.

I moved the start switch to the top of the machine, it will buy me time to fix or replace the piece that the control rod runs through for starting/stopping the machine. I guess it's attached to the apron for convenience when threading?

And I installed a spinning handle on the handwheel I fitted last month (it was a busy couple of weeks with my mom's 90th birthday and the wife visiting from Michigan)

Took a test cut.

John

 

[matthewsx]

I cleaned and reattached the threading gearbox, getting all the knobs actuating the right gears was a pain but now I know if I need to take it off again just to remove the whole thing.

I also tackled a project I've been wanting to do since I put it in place, mobility!!!!

Yes, I am worried about supporting the insides of the cabinets.

But that will have to wait till another day....

John

 

[matthewsx]

Major milestone today, I have a working leadscrew and feedrod I know that might not be that big a deal to folks who bought new or fully functional lathes but with the exception of straightening and re-attaching some sheet metal I'm pretty much done with repairs.

I do have some hex rod to replace the one for the switch but I'm not sure I'm going to bother with that since I have one wired up on top that is working fine and I never ran a lathe with the fwd/rev lever below the apron. Next will be working on the stand so I can level it properly and see how much accuracy I can get out of it. Don't have super high expectations but it's definitely more capable than the 6" Craftsman I traded for it

John

 

[Aukai]

Good job

 

[Firstram]

Took a test cut.
View attachment 339309

John

It looks like your tool post is assembled wrong and the handle timing is off. More than likely the plungers are in the wrong holes. Take it apart, clean/lube it up and swap the holes when you reassemble. The dovetails should be facing the chuck and parallel to the ways with the handle out of the way when properly assembled.

Nice work so far!

 

[matthewsx]

It looks like your tool post is assembled wrong and the handle timing is off. More than likely the plungers are in the wrong holes. Take it apart, clean/lube it up and swap the holes when you reassemble. The dovetails should be facing the chuck and parallel to the ways with the handle out of the way when properly assembled.

Nice work so far!

Thank you for noticing, I realized as soon as I posted that picture. I've done many set-ups since then and am pretty sure I have it on correctly now.

John

 

[mattthemuppet2]

that's a hell of trade! I imagine that the difference between your 6" lathe and this will be pretty enormous. Good work on getting everything working again. Is this the lathe that someone welded/ brazed up the gap insert for? I vaguely remember reading about it's trip down the road and fix, but that might have been someone else.

 

[matthewsx]

that's a hell of trade! I imagine that the difference between your 6" lathe and this will be pretty enormous. Good work on getting everything working again. Is this the lathe that someone welded/ brazed up the gap insert for? I vaguely remember reading about it's trip down the road and fix, but that might have been someone else.

Yes, definitely an upgrade. Lots of stuff from McMaster-Carr and using the machine to fix itself. I suppose it will be a long project now getting it squared up and as accurate as it can be after I get the backpslash re-attached and the stand fixed up. And yes, this is the one that lost part of it's gap on the ride home and I went back for it.

John

 

[matthewsx]

Just so anyone who’s looking here wonders, I gave up on this project after sending the broken gap into a black hole.

Don’t buy a Bolton anything if you can avoid it. Even getting one free might not be a good deal.

This is what I’m running now, much happier.

Samson (Tida) TD-5AA lathe

Just picked this up today. And.... So I can check it against what Mr. Fang found in 1981 :grin: John

www.hobby-machinist.com

I learned a lot from this project, mostly don’t buy a machine that’s been dropped. And stay away from Bolton.

John

 

[Firstram]

Bummer