Father in laws Lathe

[Keith 66]

Long ago at the begining of WW2 a lathe built by Broadbent in the UK was sent to the USA, there it was stripped & copied, somewhow or other it came back again & ended up at may & bakers chemical works at Dagenham. Father in law who worked there bought it for £25 when he retired . It is a two & a bit ton monster & has done sterling work over the last 26 years.
And then two weeks ago it broke down, There is a cog on the end of the gearbox & this drives its mate that slides on the leadscrew. Years of heavy wear & its stripped half its teeth. John is 88 & in the middle of a job on his steam launch engine
No way are we ever going to get bits for this so its try & fix it, there were enough teeth left at one end to see the profile so i spent an hour last night tigging the teeth up with weld, lots of filing & grinding to do now!
Probably too soft for the job but if it gets him out of trouble & lasts a while longer!

 

[frank horton]

sounds good.......be a shame to loose it perhaps u could get a gear made......
there are plenty of films that will copy whats left to make a good-un......
be nice to have a photo......
glad ur dad is still going at it.....

 

[zzr1200]

Keith, "Pete" might be able to make a new gear for you and he's only just over the ditch in Kent.

 

[Pete.]

Keith put up a pic of the busted gear, count the teeth and see if he can measure the OD. I'll let you know if I can make one.

 

[Hopefuldave]

Not too expensive, http://www.hpcgears.com/n/products/12.spur_gears/spur_gears.php
You'd probably have to bore / bush the standard gear - if your TIGged repair turns out too much like hard work?

Dave H. (the other one)

 

[Keith 66]

Here you go, this is the sliding cog that goes on the output shaft of the gearbox, the teeth on over half one side were basically mashed off its mate on the end of the leadscrew is worn but still usable.
Its a stop gap job to just try & keep it running for a while,

Please excuse my mr blobby tig welding! I will post a pic of the finished bodge. Maybe we should have a sweepstake to see how long it lasts before the teeth fall off!

 

[cardiffrob]

Maybe we should have a sweepstake to see how long it lasts before the teeth fall off!

Guy at work has just bought a Clarke lathe. Maybe you could have a race???

 

[Pete.]

I 'think' I can make one of those but you'll have to give me the exact tooth count and diameter in inches for me to know.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Rebuild it.
Spend time to do it.
Then he can use it and in time you will.
The memory will out strip any cost.

 

[Bill Edwards]

Rebuild it.
Spend time to do it.
Then he can use it and in time you will.
The memory will out strip any cost.

Agreed. Well worth a proper repair.

 

[Keith 66]

Well i have had a go at it, Some grinding & a lot of filing & it looks rather better than it did, Bit more welding on some teeth but im getting there. John has also been looking at HPC gears catalogue & it is likely an off the shelf solution for two new gears is not out of the question. As John said, "Amount of work its done i feel i owe it a couple of new gears".
Thanks for the offers of help.
One thing is likely, in the fullness of time i expect that that lathe will end up on here looking for a home!