Is this lathe a good restoration candidate?

Someone wants to sell it, supposedly a 12x48 Clausing. Looks a little too rusted to my taste.

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Has anyone ever restored lathes in similar condition, how much time did it take?

Reply to
Ignoramus5355
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It doesn't look that bad. You can ask on the Practical Machinist "Antique Machinery" forum, restoring old lathes is their favorite hobby.

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Reply to
DT

The surface rust is almost a non-issue...

Now, how good a condition is the lathe in? Severe wear near the headstock=bad. Not running in all the gears=bad. Parts missing=bad. parts broken=bad.

For rust, I'm sure there are many ways to handle it. My favorite: pressure wash the heck out of it after several dosings of engine degreaser. follow with several dosings of Lime away (phosphoric acid) and pressure wash. One final shot of engine degreaser to kill all acid trace. Then go over whole machine with a scotchbrite wheel. A coat of paint and it will look like new.

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend

I will see this woman on the weekend, maybe something will come out of this. Thanks.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus5355

Ohhhhh..... The 4-jaw has a bunch of rust on the bottom that makes it look possible that the chip tray filled with water. The rust on everything else looks pretty bad, like 20 years in an unheated garage. If you intend to have the bed ground, then go for it. I have real doubts about it ever being a usable lathe without that or a LOT of manual effort.

I know something about massive lathe rebuilds, as I did one b hand on a 15" Sheldon. It was worth it, as it is now a FINE toolroom lathe, but it took something like 22 months! (It was nice aerobic exercise, though.)

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

Would not want something that I could not do in a week. I have enough projects as it stands. I finally cleaned up the garage enough to work on installing the DRO on the mill, for example.

I will talk to her, maybe I can see it tonight or tomorrow. If it is light rust and she can agree to a low price, I will get the lathe. The plan was to clean it and install a VFD. I have some 5 HP VFDs with somewhat broken enclosures, that are hard to sell but will do well inside a lathe like this.

Reply to
Ignoramus5355

Only YOU can determine what condition it's actually in (pictures can be deceiving), how much you can do in a week, how important cosmetics are to you, and whether the restored lathe might even meet your needs.

If you want to make precision parts and hold to dimensions measurable only with a ten-thousandths micrometer, you may never get there. If you want to display it in your living room, that may be out as well. If, on the other hand, you want to do no more than keep it in your garage to turn down an occasional bolt head or make a bushing for a lawn tractor, it may be perfectly adequate just as it is.

John Martin

Reply to
John Martin

Considering your activities on ebay, I would think that if this isn't something that works for you, that you could part it out and sell the pieces.

I guess the price is the issue. What does she want?

Wes

-- "Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

Reply to
Wes

Ah,ha. There is a woman involved.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

something that works

I bought the lathe, all details, pictures and price are in my other post about it, scary stuff

i
Reply to
Ignoramus5355

Meh.

For cheap enough, just about anything can look like a bargain.

I'd want to see it firsthand, and determine how much is rust, how solid the rust is, and how much of the "coating" is filth stuck in oil, if any.

Weigh that off against your needs.

A guy that needs plus or minus a sixteenth, would probably be onto a deal, a guy that thinks he can get it all the way back to spec, without spending any bucks, is delusional.

Cheers Trevor Jones

Reply to
Trevor Jones

Yeah. I bought it. See my post about it.

Reply to
Ignoramus5355

Hmm ... where is the 48"? Judging by what I can make out of the steps of the folding rule, that is closer to a 24" one between centers. Did he measure the full length of the bed instead of the distance between centers?

And the spindle bore looks a bit small for a lathe of that size, suggesting that it is an older one. You want a bore of at least 1-3/8" to allow mounting of 5C collets. This looks a lot smaller than that.

The points which I mentioned above should be sufficient to reject it. But I also don't particularly like the looks of the bottom quarter of that 4-jaw chuck. It looks as though the whole machine sat out in the rain for a while, and the chip pan filled with water to rust the part of the chuck which was thus submerged.

Not enough detail on the ways -- but the center section does look badly rusted.

Also -- the design of the traveling steady (follower rest) looks as though it is for an older lathe than mine -- if it is truly for a Clausing at all. That one appears to bolt onto the side of the carriage between the ways, while the later ones (my model 5418 for example) have a flat bottom on the steady which bolt onto the flat tops of the left arms of the carriage -- much easier to get to, and more rigid.

Also *one* replacement half-nut makes me wonder what happened to the machine. They normally come in pairs.

I would suggest skip it.

Enjoy, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

I'm looking forwards to threads on you getting it going if it is practical. Hope you got one you can save from the melters.

Wes

Reply to
Wes

thats a Chipmaster, one of the finest lathes IMHO ever made.

I own one..a 13x36. Hardened ways...that someone used a tool post grinder on without covering the ways...cuts a .003 taper per the 8 inches closest to the headstock.

The guy I loaned it to, is using it for pumping unit bushings..works just fine for his application.

Id check the lathe for operation, making sure everything is working normally (if no power feed, pull the end cover on the headstock, and there is a small (16 penny nail diameter) shear pin under the knurled knob on the primary shaft)

That surface rust may or may not have effected anything. Id bet it hasnt harmed it a bit, except cosmetically.

Now what the previous wear and tear did to the machine...only good testing will tell.

It looks to be complete, with the proper steady and follower rests, the proper L00 spanner and tooling.

The data lable in the knee panel..on the door that opens to the coolant tank underneith, has the size of the machine printed on it, if you clean off the spooge.

Im going to say its likely to be like mine..a 13x36

Id not turn it down because of its looks at all.

They are simple to operate, rugged, convient to run

gunner

at yoyodyne they were all veterans of the psychic wars exiled from the eighth dimension where the winds of limbo roar"              mariposa rand mair theal

Reply to
Gunner Asch

Correction...Master, Mk 1 1/2

at yoyodyne they were all veterans of the psychic wars exiled from the eighth dimension where the winds of limbo roar"              mariposa rand mair theal

Reply to
Gunner Asch

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