- Joined
- Jun 7, 2016
- Messages
- 3
Hi Everyone,
Sorry, I'm very new to all this so my questions will likely be daft. Spent a lot of time as a kid watching my dad using a lathe but I've yet to turn anything myself. Old man passed away over a decade ago now and his big lathe was gifted to a friend, but I've always wanted to set up a home machine shop. Anyways, rummaging around in his old boxes I found a little lathe... and that I can smuggle into the house and set up without riling up she who must be obeyed.
Unfortunately after cleaning it up, I'm having a little trouble figuring out exactly what I'm dealing with here. I'm looking for any advice. I'd like to get it set-up with a small (80mm) three jaw chuck and able to spin small jobs. Plenty of other improvements come to mind, but baby steps.
So this is the lathe, plaque reads Harris Scarfe Limited Adelaide. Researching them, they are a department store in Adelaide Australia. Nowadays they sell clothing and pans etc, but there are a few flyers from their early days showing they sold machinery etc. Cant find any mention of a lathe from them though.
The only other hint, BIRMAL. Research tells me that is the Birmingham Aluminium Castings company, and they made parts for hundreds of other suppliers, bit of a dead end also.
Where I come unstuck is that the spindle is unlike other small lathes I can find. Watchmakers have a hollow spindle a collet can mount into, mini lathes have male threads you can spin an backing plate/adaptor on to.
In this one, the spindle is part of the pulley casting and it's located by a taper that feeds into the pipe held in the rear mount, and another taper on the front of the pulley/spindle shaft locates it in the front mount. The steps of the pulley are also reversed to most small pulleys I see. An 8 by 1.5 (I think) thread is cut into the spindle and the dead centre looking jobby screws into that.
Have plenty more pictures and measurements of various other bits I can supply, but appreciate this post is long as is.
Can anyone advise what I should be looking for when searching for compatible parts on this lathe? Is it a Jewelers Lathe, Watchmaking Lathe, 8mm lathe, Hobby metal lathe, Mini lathe, Micro lathe etc etc etc. Stepping through them all none of them seem to be setup like this one.
Sorry, I'm very new to all this so my questions will likely be daft. Spent a lot of time as a kid watching my dad using a lathe but I've yet to turn anything myself. Old man passed away over a decade ago now and his big lathe was gifted to a friend, but I've always wanted to set up a home machine shop. Anyways, rummaging around in his old boxes I found a little lathe... and that I can smuggle into the house and set up without riling up she who must be obeyed.
Unfortunately after cleaning it up, I'm having a little trouble figuring out exactly what I'm dealing with here. I'm looking for any advice. I'd like to get it set-up with a small (80mm) three jaw chuck and able to spin small jobs. Plenty of other improvements come to mind, but baby steps.
So this is the lathe, plaque reads Harris Scarfe Limited Adelaide. Researching them, they are a department store in Adelaide Australia. Nowadays they sell clothing and pans etc, but there are a few flyers from their early days showing they sold machinery etc. Cant find any mention of a lathe from them though.
The only other hint, BIRMAL. Research tells me that is the Birmingham Aluminium Castings company, and they made parts for hundreds of other suppliers, bit of a dead end also.
Where I come unstuck is that the spindle is unlike other small lathes I can find. Watchmakers have a hollow spindle a collet can mount into, mini lathes have male threads you can spin an backing plate/adaptor on to.
In this one, the spindle is part of the pulley casting and it's located by a taper that feeds into the pipe held in the rear mount, and another taper on the front of the pulley/spindle shaft locates it in the front mount. The steps of the pulley are also reversed to most small pulleys I see. An 8 by 1.5 (I think) thread is cut into the spindle and the dead centre looking jobby screws into that.
Have plenty more pictures and measurements of various other bits I can supply, but appreciate this post is long as is.
Can anyone advise what I should be looking for when searching for compatible parts on this lathe? Is it a Jewelers Lathe, Watchmaking Lathe, 8mm lathe, Hobby metal lathe, Mini lathe, Micro lathe etc etc etc. Stepping through them all none of them seem to be setup like this one.
