Hi All, This past summer, I posted some pics in the dropbox of a 10" Sheldon I picked up via a coworker for pretty short money. The "before" pics are in the dropbox:
Sheldon.txt Sheldon1.jpg sheldon2.jpg Sheldon3.jpg sheldon4_drive.jpg
I have been working on this machine on and off since I got it in May. The paint was pretty bad, but overall the machine was in pretty decent shape. It appears that it spent most of its life in a low use ebnviroment. It was clearly never used as a make-10,000-of-this-one-part type machine. It was last known to belong to a company in NJ that made vacuum tubes, may have spent it's whole life there. The place closed down in the early '70s, and the machine sat in a dry barn up unitl I got it in May.
I have spent a fair amount of my free time going through this lathe, taking stuff apart, cleaning and lubing and stripping paint and re-painting. Boy do I hate stripping paint. Primed all of the stripped stuff and painted over with 2 coats of "New Ford Grey" ceramic high-temp engine enammel. This was not intended to be a museum quality restoration. I am not generaly overly pickey about the paint on my machines, but this was UGLY when I got it. So I figured that if I did not do it now, I never would. I am pretty happy with the outcome.
I went through all of the bearings, etc. Nice machine. All of the screws are tight with minimal backlash. No broken or missing gear teeth,decent 3 jaw, 4 jaw,nothing important missing, no ridge on the ways, etc. There is still some flaking visible on the lesser used areas of the ways.
The motor that was in it was not original, but was a 1/2 HP, old and had no reversing setup. I stumbled on a 2.5HP VFD for 50 bucks, so i put my hands on a free 1.5HP 3phase motor and installed that in the lathe. The 2.5hp VFD derates nicely for single-to-3phase conversion to near
1.5HP. As this lathe has the cast iron pedastal mount, it has a storage compartment under the tailstock end that I made into an electrical cabinet to mount the VFD, fuses, contactor and master power switch. Worked out nicely, protects the VFD from debris and as I mounted it on the inside of the door, it swings into plain view for wiring, testing, programming changes and such.I just got to get this machine into position and get it leveled and wired into power this past week. I have only turned a few test parts using the old lantern toolpost, but this is a nice running machine. Smooth with little vibration, no funny noises. I can't wait to get a QC toolpost fitted to this.
Thanks to all of you guys that sent me info and advice on this machine. I can't wait to start using this thing.
I posted a few "after" pics in the dropbox:
Sheldon_AL1.jpg - overall shot from the headstock end
Sheldon_AL2.jpg - A bit closer view of the headstock end of the machine.
Sheldon_AL3.jpg - A shot of the Magnetek VFD that I mounted in the tailstock end pedistal base.
Sheldon_AL4.jpg - Shot of the headstock, chuck and topslide.
Sheldon_AL5.jpg - Shot of the gear train that drives the QC box.
Sheldon_AL6.jpg - shot of the tailstock.
Sheldon_AL7.jpg - shot of the under-cabinte drive with the new 1.5HP, 3 phase motor.
Hope you all had a great Christmas, and have a healthy, happy new year.
Al A.