New old tools

[Paul Allwood]

I bought a bigger lathe off Facebook Marketplace this morning - much bigger than my current lathe. The bed is about 5' long. It's old and will need some TLC, but it's solid.





It also comes with a bunch of useful bits - big 4-jaw chuck, big faceplate, fixed and travelling steadies, a good selection of gears plus a few old turning tools.

The 3-jaw chuck is weird - I've never seen one quite like it. Has anyone seen one of these chucks and know anything about it ?



While we were there I also accidentally bought a mill drill that he was also selling. It's not a Bridgeport, but it will be a big step up from milling on my little lathe.



I got both for $1,600. Pick them up next weekend.

Now rearranging the shed is another project.

I think I'll sell my existing small lathe and 2 drill presses, probably for as much as I paid today.

 

[PHPaul]

Nice!

That is an unusual-looking chuck. Any chance of a face-on view?

 

[Paul Allwood]

Nice!

That is an unusual-looking chuck. Any chance of a face-on view?

That's the best I've got until I collect it next weekend.

 

[Sawburner]

Here is a web site for you to check out, they can probably help you identify the chuck. They have all kinds of old machinery.
Vintage Machinery

 

[Paul Allwood]

Here is a web site for you to check out, they can probably help you identify the chuck. They have all kinds of old machinery.
Vintage Machinery

Thanks

 

[Yooper]

I promise you the mill will be a game changer. Any tooling with it?

No, I have never seen a chuck like that.

 

[Paul Allwood]

I promise you the mill will be a game changer. Any tooling with it?

No, I have never seen a chuck like that.

Yeah, I'm thinking it will be way better than milling on the lathe. The only tooling with the mill is the vice and set of collets in the pic and some drill bits. The bloke I bought it off bought it a couple of years ago intending to use it to teach. All he had done was pull it apart, clean it and put it back together. He has now retired and hadn't gotten around to using it.

Improvements I'm thinking about for the mill are some sort of 3-axis DRO, something to maintain the X/Y position when raising and lowering the head, and maybe X and Y power feeds....more projects. Any ideas for these, other improvements or tooling gratefully received.

 

[Kennyd4110]

A round column mill is certainly better than no mill, but I grew to detest the one I had and sold it to help buy a used Bridgeport-life is better now.

Congrats on your old iron finds!

 

[Workerbee]

Its a nice mill for light duty work, but I personally wouldnt spend much on upgrades for it, unless I was only going to use it for very light work. Otherwise it could be very disappointing to me. Thats just my thoughts, Im sure yours will vary.

 

[JohnDB]

I also accidentally bought a mill drill that he was also selling.

 

[Caden]

Knowing your projects, I'm sure you will find a good use for it.

 

[Paul Allwood]

Knowing your projects, I'm sure you will find a good use for it.

I hope so. I think just getting them set up and ready to use will be projects by themselves.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Great find sir!

Adding DRO's is a pretty straight forward process, and they are relativly cheap on places like Ali-Express.

I have ordered 4 from them, and I actually recieved 3 of them. (I just cancelled the CC charges on the one I did not get. )

You do have to be careful of thier "marketing ploys" though....For instance they will advertise a 3 axis DRO for say 99 dollars, but when you click on it, it "magically" turns into just the scale for that amount......Or some similar "bait and switch" tactic.

Nice finds!!!!


EDIT: Be sure to document and post "the move" too..... Guys like me are always interested in stuff like that

 

[cliffboyer]

Nice score. Would love to have that mill.

Lathe is prime candidate for a VFD conversion.

 

[torch]

You do have to be careful of thier "marketing ploys" though....For instance they will advertise a 3 axis DRO for say 99 dollars, but when you click on it, it "magically" turns into just the scale for that amount......Or some similar "bait and switch" tactic.

That seems to be pandemic on AliExpress and similar Asian sites. The vendor offers a variety of "colours" to get around the pathetic limitations on "bait and switch" tactics. The text describes the item you want but the price is for the cheapest "colour" -- in reality a different and lesser product. I rarely even look at those sites any more.

 

[Paul Allwood]

Big day today - me, my wife, one of our daughters and her fiance started loading the lathe and mill at 10.15 this morning. Not everything went exactly to plan but the lathe, mill drill and tons of bits that came with them are safely in my shed. We got them in at 7.30 this evening and collected them from only 20 minutes away.

The 10 x 6 trailer was pretty full.





What could possibly go wrong ? We used the 25,000 lb winch on the Unimog to lower the lathe down the raised trailer bed with the lathe sitting on timber and heavy castor wheels. It was slow going with strategically placed straps to assist with steering and one to stop it tipping over.



All worked ok, and it's now in its new home.



The mill drill was easy enough. Luckily I have a tractor with a loader with forks....and hydraulic steering.



Dodgy Brothers Machinery Removalists at your service.

 

[torch]

Dodgy Brothers Machinery Removalists at your service.

Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do with what you have. I've seen people disassemble machinery and lay planks and ropes down staircases to get it in or out of a basement workshop. Your operation looks pretty straightforward.

When I got my lathe/mill/drill we uncrated and split it on the trailer before lifting it off with a tractor. Still didn't have the clearance to drive the tractor into the garage, so I set it down on snowmobile dollies at the door and rolled it to the final home. Rigged some chainfalls to the rafters, lifted it up and assembled the stand under it.

 

[Yooper]

Love that new machine smell even if it’s not new!

 

[imarobot]

Once again, you have some cool toys!
Great job getting it settled in its new home.