In article ,
Ignoramus5615 wrote:

On 2008-06-30, Joseph Gwinn wrote:
In article ,
Ignoramus5355 wrote:

On 2008-06-28, Clark Magnuson wrote:
Ignoramus5355 wrote:


That Clausing Colchester lathe that I was asking about, I think looks
worse on photos:

The price was $425.


I enjoy working on well designed and well built machinery.

I do, as well.

If all you have to do is take it apart, clean off the dirt and rust,
lube it up, and put it back together, then it looks like fun to me.

I hope so, as well, but in addition to it I would like to rewire it
with a VFD.

At that price, the transportation is a bigger deal than the cost.

Clausing has instructions on how to move their lathes in the manual,
which can help avoid a blunder. They specifically warn against using a
forklift to lift a 5914 by the chip pan, instead suggesting how to use
slings, and show how to block things to avoid bending any of the long
rods.

This lathe, has a different style cabinet. I think that I could either
bolt casters underneath (that would be special heavy duty casters
rated at 2,400 lbs each) or make a cart.

As it happened, the rigger I hired did know how to do it, so no problem,
but in retrospect, it would have been better to have taken the model and
serial number, and bought a manual from Clausing before the lathe
arrived.


I think that with a little bit of effort, I can make a sturdy cart on
casters, and put it on that cart.

Gunner is right about not running a lathe on a cart. The lathe bed will
twist, causing all sorts of problems.

In the manual is the lathe bed levelling procedure, which requires a
single machinist's precision level with sensitivity of at least 0.003"
in 6" (the minimum length that will span the bed ways).

The lathe levelling is repeated every time the lathe is moved, and
verified periodically between moves.

Milling machines are not nearly as sensitive to levelling, so that fact
that the Bridgeport doesn't care isn't good evidence that a lathe won't
care.

Joe, I need to move it around for two reasons, one is to get it home,
and second for ease of restoration. If that negatively impacts its
accuracy, so be it, I do not care at this point, I just want easy
access to it.

Well, there is an approach that *may* work:

Make a steel deck (plate with deep welded-on stringers) designed for
stiffness more than strength. Put three (not four) casters on it, two
fore and aft under the headstock, and the third centered under the
tailstock. Bolt lathe to deck. Set deck on blocks. Level lathe as
directed in the manual. Take deck off the blocks. If the deck is stiff
enough, it won't twist the lathe bed too badly as you move it around.
Level is used as a proxy for straight, which is the real requirement, so
if the lathe bed remains straight courtesy of the deck, it should work
out OK.

Joe Gwinn