Hello all,

I'm new to this group, but recognise a lot of names from other forums.

Recently, I aquired a *old* Foster turret lathe- my best estimate
based on the textbook that came with it is that was manufactured
sometime between 1900 and 1920.

Considering it's age, it's in superb condition- it was coated in a
rust-inhibitor, probably cosmoline, and doesn't appear to have been
used in several decades, at least. Even with such an apparently long
time without use, I have yet to find any seized bolts or scale rust,
and the ways are still mirror-bright under the grime (though the six
inches or so under the chuck have seen better days).

Before I go any further, this is the description I've found that best
suits it- What I've got is a turret lathe with a hex head that is
power-fed with a central lead screw. It also has a cross-slide, but
the slide is not compound. Both the turret and the cross slide are
reach-over types, and the lathe as a whole is described as a "ram
style" (which, in the book I've got, means that the stops for the
turret protrude from the back.) It orginally came with a bar feeder
(and many of the parts for that are still there, but I haven't tried
to re-assemble that yet)

It is driven by a three-step cone, with back gearing. From what I've
determined so far, it doesn't appear to be variable speed, but has six
potential speeds, with a high and a low for each step on the cone.

I've been able to get everything to move freely- with two major
exceptions. I can neither rotate the turret, nor feed it forward or
backwards with the hand crank. When I got the lathe, the guy I
aquired it from thought that the turret had been locked in place for
transport, and that still sounds plausible to me, but I'm having
trouble seeing how this would have been done. His guess was that
shims had been inserted next to the gibs, and there were shims there-
but removing them did not free up the turret. And, they were copper
shims, which leads me to think they were working shims, not something
inserted to lock it. The gibs are tapered, and in fine condition, and
there is nothing obviously holding things up. Unfortunately, none of
the levers are labeled.

On the gear box for the turret, there is one handle, and one knob, in
addition to the hand crank. On the cross-slide gear box, a similar
knob can be slid in and out easily, but it does not move much on the
turret one. The lever has a spring pin on it that locks into a raised
circle when rotated counterclockwise, and when released, it moves
about 30 degrees counter-clockwise.

I'm trying to avoid doing any major disassembly of this, since there
are few reference materials availible for machines this old, but I'll
open that gear box if I have to. Before I do, is anyone on this list
familiar with old lathes like this that could give me a few pointers
about freeing up the turret before I go monkeying around with it? I
guess the major win here would be if someone knows how these were
prepared for transport and storage, and has something relatively
simple to check, like a locking pin or tightened bolt I may have
missed.

Thanks!

Prometheus wrote in
:

Check underneath the slide for a locking clamp (up from the bottom).


--
Anthony

You can't 'idiot proof' anything....every time you try, they just make
better idiots.

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