Found Dreaming

I went to an auction last week. Always dangerous!! I went for a blacksmith post vice, I didn't get it. It was a strange auction, I don't think the auctioneer cared how much money he got, he just wanted to be done. The vice was in a garden shed with a bunch of other stuff and junk, he sold all contents in one lot. I would have had to rented a U-Haul. I tried to buy the vice from the guy but he wanted too much.
Anyway.... in the garage was this lathe, in the listing he had it listed as a wood lathe. ?? I guess that kept serious buyers away so I got a deal. It's a 9 inch with a 4 1/2" bed. It came with all the books, a 3 and 4 jaw chucks, 2 Jacob chucks, and a steady rest. Just no chuck key. I'm going to clean it up and make sure it's all oiled, order a key off e-bay and try it out.

well done Jerry;)

I wasn't sure how I was going to load it and get it home. I planned on taking the lathe off the table and load them separately but there was a guy there with a forklift. He picked it up and set it in the truck. I drove home and slid it off onto the carport and rolled it into the garage. I used to move a bunch of big stuff, usually by myself. People thought I was nuts, but I used my head instead of my back.

Your head can move a lot more than your back can. Back when I ran an old country shipyard on the Chesapeake Bay I used to move and lift some heavy stuff. I have always weighed 130 pounds soaking wet, so there is not much muscle available for lifting. One of my best tools for moving huge oak timbers was a pair of cast iron wheels, probably from an old horse drawn mowing machine. They were about four feet tall. I had a solid bar one inch axle between them maybe four feet long, and over that a piece of two inch iron pipe riding in heavy grease.

And a simple crane. This one is so simple and obvious it's an absolute miracle no one uses them any more. A small straight Oak tree, or any kind of pole, with three rope guys, one behind and one to each side. Suspend a chain from the top of the pole with some kind of chain-fall or come-a-long and you can lift the heaviest things imaginable. All of the force on the pole is pure compression—no bending forces at all. Most of the weight is transferred to compression on the pole, and most of the remainder is taken by the back guy. Other shipyards spent ten or twenty thousand dollars for a used crane; I spent maybe twenty dollars for rope and another twenty for a come-a-long. I was in the deep country so Oak trees were there for the asking. In this case I used my head instead of my pocketbook.

Of course all of this was back in the 1960's and 70's. Now if you tried to use such low tech machines OSHA would no doubt have you in prison because they aren't government certified. (for the Ozzies—in the USA, OSHA is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration—as close to the tyranny and nonsense in George Orwell's book 1984 as you can come.)

Richard

Rasper wrote:Your head can move a lot more than your back can. Back when I ran an old country shipyard on the Chesapeake Bay I used to move and lift some heavy stuff. I have always weighed 130 pounds soaking wet, so there is not much muscle available for lifting. One of my best tools for moving huge oak timbers was a pair of cast iron wheels, probably from an old horse drawn mowing machine. They were about four feet tall. I had a solid bar one inch axle between them maybe four feet long, and over that a piece of two inch iron pipe riding in heavy grease.

And a simple crane. This one is so simple and obvious it's an absolute miracle no one uses them any more. A small straight Oak tree, or any kind of pole, with three rope guys, one behind and one to each side. Suspend a chain from the top of the pole with some kind of chain-fall or come-a-long and you can lift the heaviest things imaginable. All of the force on the pole is pure compression—no bending forces at all. Most of the weight is transferred to compression on the pole, and most of the remainder is taken by the back guy. Other shipyards spent ten or twenty thousand dollars for a used crane; I spent maybe twenty dollars for rope and another twenty for a come-a-long. I was in the deep country so Oak trees were there for the asking. In this case I used my head instead of my pocketbook.

Of course all of this was back in the 1960's and 70's. Now if you tried to use such low tech machines OSHA would no doubt have you in prison because they aren't government certified. (for the Ozzies—in the USA, OSHA is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration—as close to the tyranny and nonsense in George Orwell's book 1984 as you can come.)

Richard

Here they're called workplace health and safety and they can be a royal pain in the butt

I've cleaned and checked out the lathe as much as I can right now. The ways have a little wear and all the bearings in the head seem very tight and solid. The gears show almost no wear, but I can't see into the gear box. I think over all I got a pretty good machine. I'm going to order some cutting tools and tool holders. Also a new belt, I tried to make one and it slips very badly.

look on line for a serpentine belt, I'm guessing you have a bench grinder,

and if you haven't found it yet I think I have a PDF of the southbend pamphlet how to run a lathe

I found a belt online and I have a couple copies of South Bend's book. I know I'm really going to have to study how to clamp odd shaped stuff into the 4 jaw chuck. That is one thing I haven't tried yet.

its kinda like run the jaws in till they touch and then tighten em up so you hole your part on the center your after. somethings are better done on a face plate. Which by the way is a great cast iron casting project, you just have to melt a bunch of the stuff.

A little hint on sharpening HSS, is what ever works for you is the right way. put a fine and course stone on the grinder

DA