Lathe Auto-drive Gearbox - Dominion - oil change and running

Nice looking old lathe -- love the colour!
It's great to see the old machines back in fit and form. Regardless of whether they run absolutely perfectly, it's nice to see them run. The likes of them will not pass this way again.

-frank
 
Hi Dusty
Nice lathe and drive unit. What year is that old Dominion lathe?
Cheers
Martin
 
francist said:
Nice looking old lathe -- love the colour!
It's great to see the old machines back in fit and form. Regardless of whether they run absolutely perfectly, it's nice to see them run. The likes of them will not pass this way again.

-frank
Click to expand...
Thanks Frank

Safety Green, it's not for everyone, but it was painted green before I stripped all of the paint off. It runs fairly well, but there are some quirks for sure. I bought the lathe to help with restoration of some of the other old machinery I have and will probably accumulate in future also.

Dusty,
 
That original oil looks like steam cylinder oil, it comes in black and thick as new. I don't think it would be appropriate for a transmission such as that. Often used in antique car transmissions and rear axles, to say nothing of internal lubrication of steam engines.
 
Martin W said:
Hi Dusty
Nice lathe and drive unit. What year is that old Dominion lathe?
Cheers
Martin
Click to expand...
I've been doing some research, and by the name on the Lathe (John Bertram and Sons Company Ltd., Dundas Ontario) it is post 1901, the exact date I don't know, but somewhere around that timeline. The Auto-drive unit is Dominion (Walkerville, Ontario), which is a little later, but no date on this yet, I'm still researching this. There is so little information available for this lathe, probably becuase it is a lesser known brand.

What is pretty neat about this lathe for me is that it was made in the city I used to work in, and that city is only about 25 minutes away. The building still stands, and has a museum on the lowest floor with a lathe nearly identical to the one I have.

For reference, I've shown an image of what the lathe looked like when I picked it up.

Museum.PNGBertram Overall - Copy.jpg

Thanks,

Dusty
 
benmychree said:
That original oil looks like steam cylinder oil, it comes in black and thick as new. I don't think it would be appropriate for a transmission such as that. Often used in antique car transmissions and rear axles, to say nothing of internal lubrication of steam engines.
Click to expand...

That's interesting, I wonder if that might be why is smelled burned? Not something I would expect from a device with no combustion process occurring.

The most recent owner used it for the occasional wood-turning, so I don't think it was used often at all, but it seems to be running well still. I think it's interesting enough to warrant taking the cap off to have a look inside sometime. I assume a very simple operation of shifting gears, but i'd like to see how it works anyway.

That's great insight, thank you.
 
Dustynorm said:
That's interesting, I wonder if that might be why is smelled burned? Not something I would expect from a device with no combustion process occurring.

The most recent owner used it for the occasional wood-turning, so I don't think it was used often at all, but it seems to be running well still. I think it's interesting enough to warrant taking the cap off to have a look inside sometime. I assume a very simple operation of shifting gears, but i'd like to see how it works anyway.

That's great insight, thank you.
Click to expand...
Steam cylinder oil does have a definite smell about it ------
 
Looks like they (John Bertram) made some real woppers too....
1540756324929.png

-frank
 
Yes sir, the lathe I own is the smallest they made apparently (#5), the base weight of 1200lbs. It likes to stay in one place.

Pretty amazing the size of some of these things, that must be 10,000lbs or more. If I removed ALL of my tools I could fit this big lathe in my shop....
 
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