Hey William,
Well, first off, get it in out of the cold. There is a good chance
that the casting has shrunk slightly and is therefore tight. When
cold, everything is tougher to work on, and has greater risk of
breaking if you force anything.
When you do move it into a warmer place, blow some dry heat over it,
and keep it under constant air circulation for at least a day until it
warms up to room temperature so it won't rust from the condensation
formed when coming in from the cold. Be ready for that before
bringing it in.
As to "#3", I think would remove the barrel lock/clamp from the
tail-stock body and fill it with very light oil to soak for a while
and get as much in as you can. Then after it is all warmed up and
oil filled, I'd be tempted to put a clamp from the nose of the
tail-stock barrel to the center of the handwheel and try to bring the
barrel back into the thread. Make EVERY effort NOT to push/pull on
that live center though, even if you have to make some sort of clamp
arrangement to push only on the quill. And do what-ever it takes to
be sure you are pulling "straight back" and no chance of pulling
off-center on the quill to prevent it galling and possibly cracking
the bore/casting.
Take care.
Good Luck. It's not a bad looking machine at all!!
Brian Lawson,
Bothwell, Ontario.
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On Thu, 22 Dec 2005 22:34:52 GMT, "William Wixon"
wrote:
Hi,
i have a few questions if anyone out there would mind taking the time to
answer. (question number 3. below is most important) i finally acquired a
lathe (been wishing i had one since metal shop in high school, '74/'77)
1. wondering if there might possibly be somewhere on the web where i
could download a owner/operator manual.
2. if any of you guys know what kind of lathe it is (wondering if it was
specifically designed/manufactured for cutting screw threads, based on the
cryptic numbers on the bronze tag in picture "lathe7") all i can find on it
as to an indication to who manufactured it and/or a "brand" name are the
bronze tag on the headstock, says "The Seneca Falls Mfg. Co. Makers Seneca
Falls, N.Y." (same words cast into the legs) and in the casting on the bed
"Star" (and there's some patent numbers and dates). you can just barely see
the word "Star" in pic "lathe2".
it was kinda rusted tight, i sprayed it all over with WD-40 and worked
the various levers and handles. the tailstock ram handle was so tight i
could hardly turn it. i kept spraying it and working it. i figured if i
turned it far enough the ram would come off the screw and out of the
tailstock. it finally came off the end of the screw but then i couldn't get
it out and couldn't get it threaded back on either! i'm afraid to damage it
by forcing it, so...
3. my main, most important question, wondering if anyone knows how to
either get it out/off completely or get it screwed back on to the turn screw
handle (photo "lathe4") there's a blind hole on the underside of the
decorative turning on the end of the tailstock (photo "lathe5"), i'm
wondering if maybe that's a hole for a spanner wrench to turn off that end
(like a threaded nut). i can't tell if that decorative turning is a
removable threaded "nut" or if it's an integral part of the casting.
(i tried to get the ram back on the thread by first, tapping gently the
tip of the live dead center (with a chunk of lead) while turning the handle,
that didn't work, then i put a long pipe clamp on it (forcing the live dead
center (and ram) back in towards the crank turn handle) and tightened it
while turning the handle and that didn't work either.)
4. it has three flat belt step pulleys. i'd like to see if i can
improve upon the system the previous owner put together to transmit power to
the lathe. the motor unit hangs off the back of the lathe and is so heavy
it almost wants to tip the lathe over backwards. i'm hoping i could maybe
put together a simpler, much lighter motor mount/step pulley arrangement,
*and* hang a newer more powerful motor on it, and maybe have the whole
shebang directly over the headstock instead of hanging off the back. i'm
wondering, what are the most common "speeds" (at the chuck) for those three
step pulleys. i'm hoping from there i could calculate the size the "v" belt
pulleys i'll need from the motor to the step pulleys (large aluminum pulley
in picture "lathe6") to end up with the correct speeds at the chuck.
5. too many questions all at once? if you're still with me, how about
one more? the chart of numbers on the bronze tag, is that for cutting screw
threads? the lathe came with several gears, i'm wondering if that chart
tells which gear to use to get how ever many threads per inch, but, the
gears don't have any corresponding numbers from the chart, they have a code
number cast in them and a number saying how many teeth are on the gear but
as far as i can tell no number that matches up to any numbers on the chart.
the guys i got the lathe from said, kind of under their breath, that this
lathe is next-to-worthless, wondering if anyone here could confirm that
assessment.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~wwixon/lathe1.jpg
http://www.frontiernet.net/~wwixon/lathe2.jpg
http://www.frontiernet.net/~wwixon/lathe3.jpg
http://www.frontiernet.net/~wwixon/lathe4.jpg
http://www.frontiernet.net/~wwixon/lathe5.jpg
http://www.frontiernet.net/~wwixon/lathe6.jpg
http://www.frontiernet.net/~wwixon/lathe7.jpg