I now have possession of the lathe. It came with a 5C collet nose and Royal lever closer, plus something like 140 collets, mostly Hardinge. Also got the 3-jaw, 4-jaw, and dog-driver chucks, three driving dogs, and the steady rest. No slotted faceplate or follow rest.
Seller also threw in a collection of side-milling cutters that I can use in the Millrite.
Toolpost is funky, a wrench-activated sort-of aloris, but no pistons or wedges. Also got lots of bits and holders, plus some knurlers.
Lots of spooge and dirt. Threads in particular need to be cleaned, to allow free motion. The dog driver plate had some bits of aluminum stuck to the L-00 taper, from tightening the plate down without first cleaning the mating surfaces.
Motor is 3-phase 220/208-volt 2 HP, and appears to be original.
By the way, to remove a chuck, which way does one rotate the big ring that grabs the thread on the L-00 taper? It's hard to turn in either direction, probably from spooge and chips in the threads, and I'm reluctant to press on without knowing the correct direction.
The wood will not beat up the ring, but it can't be good for the headstock bearings to be beating on the spindle. I change chucks fairly often. I forged a hook spanner from some 1" x 1.5" bar stock for my L-1 LeBlond.
I loosen and tighten the L00 ring on my Kerry 1140 with the C spanner provided. The ring is hardened and harder than the C spanner so while the C spanner looks beaten up the ring looks undamaged and is probably
Hmm ... is it perhaps the Dickenson style common in the UK with Myford lathes? The toolpost has two vertical male V-ways, which match female ones in the holders. The toolpost wrench a bent shank socket wrench rotates a cam which draws in a T-stud which engages a T-slot in the holders between the female Vees. There are two sets of V-ways and T-studs -- one for turning and one for boring/facing. Each holder has a long knurled thumbnut to raise or lower the holder, and an Allen-head cap screw to lock the thumbnut to the proper height.
Not quite as convenient as a wedge style Aloris or clone, but pretty close to as rigid and better than the piston style. I've got one on my Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC (a significantly smaller lathe).
Spritz them with WD-40 to soften the old lubes so you can undo things and wipe them clean -- then put on good lubes (E.G. Vactra No. 2 waylube) in place -- though be prepared to wipe it off before mounting the chucks or plates.
Ouch.
Great!
This agrees with my experience -- though you could have told by looking at the threads on one of the chucks or plates which was not currently mounted.
Again -- spritz in WD-40 to loosen up the spooge before removing it. And put a board across the ways to take the weight of the chuck without dinging the ways when it comes loose. It is not as sudden as a threaded chuck, but these are heavy enough to be a surprise the first time or two. :-) Ideally -- take a 2x6 or 2x8 and make matching V-grooves in the bottom so it won't slide off. To make mounting a chuck easier -- secure another to the top surface and sand or otherwise cut an arc in it to match the chuck at the right height. You'll need to make one for each diameter of chuck of course.
The rings on Clausings which I have seen have blind holes drilled every so many degrees -- every 60 or 45 degrees, I think. They accept a radial pin spanner. I use a dead-blow hammer to drive mine. And if I am in a gearing which makes it easy for the chuck to turn the spindle, I engage the back gear while keeping the pin in for direct drive. Be sure to remember to undo this before applying power. With your 2HP motor and (I believe) the variable speed pulley, you might have enough torque to damage the back gears otherwise.
Of course -- some have milled notches instead of drilled holes, and there you use a hook spanner instead.
Also -- be *sure* to put the nose protector on (and snug the ring) before putting in the collet adaptor -- or you will have difficulty getting the adaptor back out.
Mine has shallow milled slots plus a blind round hole every 60 degrees, and came with a big radial-pin spanner that fits perfectly.
The milled slots appear to be intended to provide a hand grip, being a form of knurling.
I've using a lead hammer on the spanner, but a dead-blow hammer would also work.
I don't know what a nose protector is, or if I have one. The lathe came with collet nose and closer (made by Royal) installed, and I have not yet taken them apart.
I have no idea what many of the knobs and handles on the lathe do, or how to take it apart, and will order the manual from Clausing next week.
This sounds like it could be what I have. The body is marked "RAPID I.S.A" in an ellipse, plus "TIPO-M" in a rectangle. Where would one find information on these holders? I guess that RAPID is one maker, probably British.
The mounting of this toolpost onto the lathe compound rest is homebrew and strange and ad-hoc, and seems floppy. This deserves a bit of reengineering.
Been doing that, but been using acetone to get that last bit of spooge off. Actually, a mix of acetone and WD-40 is quite effective.
I don't think the welders ever oiled the lathe. Nor did they use it much. When I pumped Vactra #2 into all the oil fittings, vast amounts of dirty oil flowed out at first, and it became easier to move whatever had thus been oiled. The dirt seems to be accumulated ferrous wear products, not grit.
The ways are flame hardened and look good, so the wear products probably come from the cast iron saddle sliding on the bed ways.
All the chucks need a cleaning, but the dog driver seems to be the only one used.
I thought of that, but never having had the collet nose apart, was afraid to be too strong with it.
I have yet to mount the chucks, but this is nonetheless good advice, especially the wooden purpose-built holding fixture for mounting and dismounting chucks.
That got my thinking. I assumed from how smashed up the holes on that ring are that it is Aluminum. But I see now it is attractive to a magnet.
I thought of myself as babying that ring by using a stick to hit it after all the damage it has taken being hit with metal at Boeing and/or AIE Industrial in the 40 years before I got the lathe.
The link to the picture of my lathe is still good from the auction, 6 years later:
I've been getting by with a good whack with an open palm.
On mine (and others I've seen) it's an aluminum piece that fits over the spindle nose with external threads that fit into the spindle nut. It protects the threads on the spindle nut and extracts the 5C spindle sleeve (adapter) by pushing the sleeve out when the spindle nut is loosened. In the picture below, the nose protector is at the lower right hand corner of the manual:
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Make sure you have the serial number handy - they have something like 25 versions of the 5900-series manuals and need the S/N to get you the right one. You might also check on manuals for any accessories that you might have. I think that they threw a couple in for free when I ordered a manual.
Hmm ... "TIPO-M" suggests Italian or Spanish manufacture ("tipo" being "type"). Not sure about the "RAPID I.S.A.", but you could try a Google search for it.
Hmm ... the one on my Emco-Maier Compact-5/CNC secures with a center bolt to a steel plate which is secured via four Allen-head cap screws to the cross-slide. (No compound on the CNC version, as angle cuts are done by programing the CNC.)
The toolpost bolts to either of two different positions, depending on the diameter to be machined, as the CNC cross-slide does not have sufficient range to handle the maximum radius part down to he center in a single pass.
Examination of the underside suggests that it was intended to clamp down on a tapered stud instead of clamping down to a flat plate -- but I haven't gotten around to making a matching taper for it yet.
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The spooge could be splattered ferrous metal melted by flame cutting and scattered over the whole shop. Their not lubing things much has the benefit that it did not grab hold of more of the airborne junk, since it sounds as though they never cleaned it. :-)
I've seen some spanner wrenches with a curved tip to fit into a radiused depth. slot
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O.K. The nose is tapered, with a projecting key to engage a matching key slot in the chuck mounting plates -- or built in.
When a collet adaptor is in place, there is nothing for the pull-down ring to pull on unless there is a nose protector slid over the nose (with the taper and keyway) and tightened by the ring.
The collet adaptor has a flange which extends out a bit beyond the small-end diameter of the nose.
The collet adaptor gets *very* firmly wedged in the internal taper of the spindle.
When you need to take it out -- you loosen the lock ring, which then pushes the nose protector towards the tailstock, and pushes on the flange of the collet adaptor -- popping it out. (Assuming that you don't have a collet mounted at the time, of course. :-)
In my case -- the nose protector (ordered from Royal through Scott Logan) was aluminum, and was included with the collet adaptor. I already had the lever style collet drawbar. I'm not sure whether they all were aluminum, or whether earlier ones were steel.
I did have to extend the drawbar by about an inch, because the L-00 spindle was about that much longer than the 2-1/4x8 threaded one -- which had a different collet adaptor (to a different taper) and had a ring which screwed on the 2-1/4x8 spindle nose. It used the same approach to popping lose the adaptor -- and the ring itself was drilled with holes for a pin spanner.
The manual will be a significant help. However, until it gets there we'll see how much I can provide from my 5418 belt change lathe.
1) On the carriage you will find:
a) A handwheel which turns a pinion which engages a rack gear under the edge of the bed to move the carriage.
b) A lever at the right-hand edge of the carriage which pulls up to close the half-nuts. (Interlocked to the feed lever, so you can't pull both up at the same time.)
c) Possibly -- a threading dial attached to the right-hand edge of the apron and with a gear on the end which engages the leadscrew -- for telling you when to close the half-nuts while threading.
d) A short lever which moves in a 'Z' shaped groove. Up engages slow feed along the bed. Down engages slow cross feed. It has to be slid along the center bar of the 'Z' to switch from one to the other, so you are unlikely to overshoot and go from longitudinal to cross-feed or vice versa when you simply want to stop. You should use this for feeds when cutting, and leave the half-nuts only for use when threading.
e) At the top of the apron is the cross-slide, with a crank to move the cross slide (and it can be power fed). Above the cross-slide is the compound with the T-slot for mounting the tool holder.
2) Below the bed under the headstock is the quick-change threading gearbox. It has:
a) The usual lever where you pull out on a knurled knob, swing it down, and slide it sideways to select a particular set of gears.
b) A paddle lever on top which has three positions, left, center, and right -- with center pointing out at you.
This selects one of three factors-of-two reduction ratios before the lever just mentioned.
c) Sticking out through a hole in the left-hand cover of the headstock is a short knurled shaft. This is attached to a sliding pair of gears. Sliding it in connects to the input of the above gearbox at one ratio. Sliding it out at another ratio -- a factor of 8 different from the first.
all three of these work together to select the thread pitch -- and to select the feeds. There should be a metal chart giving the threads and feeds for each setting combination. The figures are above the slots for the lever in (a) above, and you will find in fine print the corresponding longitudinal feed, with a multiplier factor for the cross feed which is slower.
Now -- we get to things in which yours will differ from mine, as you have variable speed. Sometimes that is from a wheel with two levers on top of the headstock, or sometimes a crank and a lever from the front of the pedestal below the headstock. I've not used these, as mine has belts which you change after opening the front of the pedestal and no variable speed. So -- I can't guide you on these. Mine also has a switch box on the front left of the headstock with a lever and knob for selecting motor behavior.
Left is forwards.
Center is stopped.
Right is reverse.
Yours probably at least has a start-stop switch. I don't know whether your variable speed also offers forward/reverse selection or whether you need to switch the motor for that.
If you are lucky, there will also be a taper attachment mounted behind the carriage to allow cutting repeatable tapers.
Hmmmm....in the photo, there is a tool box suspended under the chip tray. Looks like a good idea. Is that still there, and if so: How useful is it? Does it get a lot of chips inside? What do you store in it.
Nothing came up on Google. Who knows if they are still in business.
"Dickenson style" implies multiple makers. What are likely names? Maybe Myford has a favorite maker?
The one I have appears to be intended to mount on a cylindrical post with a smaller cylindrical screw clamping it down. There is a sliding pin with a rounded nose that is intended to engage location holes at various angles in a plate that is not in evidence, to prevent rotation. There is no taper.
I don't think this toolpost came with the lathe, as it is cobbled to the lathe.
The black stuff was inside, in places airborne iron oxide dust could not go. But it was never cleaned. Actually, I think that the lathe came dirty, because there was a lot of hardened cutting oil and chips in the chip pan, and the welders cut dry - I didn't see anything like a coolant circulation system. If it had had one, I bet it would have been included.
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