Yet another "Identify this Tool/Device..."

[benmychree]

I agree. I'm probably dating myself, but had an almost exact copy years ago when I owned a auto and truck repair shop. Turning generator armatures was common. The lug on the bottom was clamped into a vise. You picked the collet for the proper shaft diameter, set the tool for the depth of cut, and turned the crank. With the advent of alternators most of the business went away so it sat on the shelf as a novelty. I recently gave it to a collector.

The one that I have, (same As the one in the patent info) uses only one collet, but has various shouldered bushings for different size armatures; most armatures that I have seen have no centers in them, at least on the commutator end, and they are quite hard, especially starters.

 

[Bob Korves]

I used to have a 1965 British Motors MGB in the 1970's and '80's, and the Lucas (prince of darkness) generator and starter needed regular cleanup of the armatures, and undercutting on the generator commutator. I carried spare brushes for both and wrenches to get them off the engine if I wasn't close enough to home to make do until I got there. At home I had spares for each on the shelf, ready to bolt on. I had an armature lathe that was mounted on a factory piece of plywood, with instructions listed there along with the manufacturer's name, which I cannot remember at the moment. It looked like a miniature machinist's lathe, though much more crude and simple, and it would only really do work on automotive armatures. Amazingly, the MGB was quite reliable other than the starter and generator. I built the car from a hulk and a pile of assorted parts to choose from, and built the transmission from a bare case and several boxes of mixed parts from other transmissions, a real jigsaw puzzle -- but it worked just fine.

 

[Bob Korves]

The one that I have, (same As the one in the patent info) uses only one collet, but has various shouldered bushings for different size armatures; most armatures that I have seen have no centers in them, at least on the commutator end, and they are quite hard, especially starters.

The one I had used something like the iris of a camera lens (but a lot stronger and a lot more crude) to fit different sized shafts at both ends. It had vertical handles at each end that I pulled to set what were essentially crude steady rests, Then it had a horizontal handle to advance the cutting tool into the commutator, no power feed.