Some Old Cataract Restoration Pics. -unfinished Project

[Holescreek]

About 10 years ago I had a WTB ad for metalworking machinery on Craigslist. You'd be surprised how many people have machinery sitting around that they don't know what it is or how to get rid of it. I got a call from a guy that said he had a machine sitting in his back yard under a tarp.

 

[Holescreek]

I started disassembly and cleanup to take stock of what parts were broken or missing and figure out a plan for repair. Gotta love the original flaking under the head, I'd love to know how to do it.



Got the bed cleaned up



Better pic of the damage from neglect



A little easier to see:



This was the last project I ever took on with a hand scraper. I got it down to a decent contact but if I ever get it back out I'd hit it with the power scraper.

 

[co1859]

That is a great project lathe! "Gotta love the original flaking under the head" That is the coolest flaking. I would love to learn to do that. Those rusty parts - I have used Metal Rescue from Home Depot works well.
check it out
http://www.metalrescue.com/video.aspx

 

[Holescreek]

The tapered front edge that the carriage rides on was pretty badly worn as well and I didn't know of a good way to address it at the time so I decided to move the carriage contact down to the unworn portion of the angle using brass so it wouldn't add to the problem decades later.





I printed a pic off of LathesUK site to see what needed repaired/replaced on the carriage. It was too long ago to remember exactly what all I had to do without going back to the original thread on the PM forum, but I added plates to the top of the tool post t-slot, made a new tool post screw and new handle for the cross slide.



It was about this time that I made a ball turner for my lathe capable of cutting complex radii. The replacement handle was made in the Hardinge fashion with the retaining screw through the end of the large ball.



Next I got everything disassembled and glass beaded to clean the parts upfor inspection.



I masked the iron parts off and sprayed primer on the bed, headstock and tailstock but couldn't decide on a color. A week or two later I realized I had no place to set the machine up and placed all the small parts in a wooden box then hid everything under a sheet on the shelf of another lathe and forgot about it. Hard to believe it's been about 10 years!

 

[Uglydog]

This is so cool!!
I'm kinda jealous.
Those are butterfly scrapers under the head stock. According to my Scraping mentor they look really cool and might score more $ if sold.
But, they contribute little to the function, precision or accuracy.
How are you confirming alignment?


Daryl
MN

 

[Holescreek]

Alignment of what to what?

 

[co1859]

10 Years, Good thing you remembered were you put it. From the 1st rusty iron picture to the quality prep work , looks OUTSTANDING! As for Color consider museum quality - Deep Gloss Classic Black for the time period. Hand scrapes look great good job!, High polished brass, and shiny chrome. Sounds like Classic 1900s Industrial to me.

If your on a budget - Semi Gloss Black Rustoleum and Never dull polish. should look like a million bucks..

 

[Uglydog]

I'm still very much a novice scraper.
Looks like the bed under the headstock in mint.
Other parts have seen some wear.
Is the wear even? Even if it is then the headstock is possibly high.

Daryl
MN

 

[Holescreek]

The top bed surface was completely scraped in from end to end. Unfortunately there's no saving any old work when scraping in a machine.

It wasn't long after hand scraping this bed that I made my own power scraper:
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/home-made-power-scraper.18945/

The little Cataract is one of the very few projects I'll probably never finish. I have less room in the shop now than I did 10 years ago.

 

[co1859]

Looks like all the hard work is completed. At least put some paint on it and put it back together so no parts get lost.