Show us your lathe

[Pete.]

Sounds like you actually enjoy scraping Pete. Do those carbide tipped ones work well?

I have only just started this year so very much on a learning curve. At the moment all efforts stopped whilst I look out for some straight-edge tools for spotting/alignment. Seem to be very hard to come by.

I have both carbide tipped and HSS scrapers, the carbide ones are much better.

 

[mylesdw]

My mainstay and most useful tool in the workshop is my Colchester 2500 manual lathe. I bought it as a bit of a wreck in that the main ways were quite worn near the headstock. Complete rebuild was called for - had all the ways re-ground and the carriage brought back up to height with Turcite. Also replaced all the bearings and seals in the saddle assembly. It's now a very nice lathe to use. Photo shows it in my last workshop as that was the only picture I had to hand

I have a Master 2500 that I bought a year or two ago but I cannot seem to get a decent cut from it! Being a lathe novice I'm a bit stuck. This is mild steel turned with a TCT. The finish is awful and the shape 'lumpy' to the touch ie, not all the same diameter. It seems almost impossible to diagnose these things over the web but any ideas would be most welcome.

 

[gavuk]

I find with tct if the final cut is not making the tool work ,I get that finish...

How deep was the final cut? what dia material?,what feed?,did you set the centre height of the tool ?....these are the questions people would need answered to guide you ...

There are tables for this type of info,I tend to go with what feels right and on the finish and swarf.....ie swarf should be hotter than i want to touch to a blue colour,final cut, I never cut less than 0.5mm normally 1.0mm...

Also try different materials ,and make sure it is free cutting mild steel and not something more exotic,

 

[Wedg1e]

I find with tct if the final cut is not making the tool work ,I get that finish...

How deep was the final cut? what dia material?,what feed?,did you set the centre height of the tool ?....these are the questions people would need answered to guide you ...

There are tables for this type of info,I tend to go with what feels right and on the finish and swarf.....ie swarf should be hotter than i want to touch to a blue colour,final cut, I never cut less than 0.5mm normally 1.0mm...

Also try different materials ,and make sure it is free cutting mild steel and not something more exotic,

you take off a mil on a finishing cut!? I'd be looking at a quarter of a thou".

I have read (and noticed by trying it) that carbide is not the best thing for a finish cut unless at high speed on a CNC; try an HSS tool and see if that's any better.
What I find is that you'll get down to the last midgie's d!ck and the TCT rubs rather than cutting, then suddenly cuts deeper than you wanted it
Could be your cross-slide or top-slide has a tiny bit of slop as well.

Edit: a Master, you lucky man. I have to make do with a Student. And a Boxford...

 

[mylesdw]

Thanks Gav.

The final cut was shallow (probably well under 0.5mm), the material diameter 25mm, I did set the tool height. I bought the steel from the steel stockholder as 'free machining mild steel"

 

[mylesdw]

What I find is that you'll get down to the last midgie's d!ck and the TCT rubs rather than cutting, then suddenly cuts deeper than you wanted it

Could be your cross-slide or top-slide has a tiny bit of slop as well.

Aha! there you may be on to something: that's exactly what it's like, the tool rubs and then digs in, you can even see the shiny rubbed bits!

I have tried locking the slides while making the cut without much improvement.

 

[mylesdw]

I'll do some trial cuts, get some pictures and record feed rates etc as soon as I get the chance. I'll start a new thread rather than hijack this one.

Thanks all

 

[gavuk]

I would take much less of a cut with a home sharpened hss,but if i'm finishing with tct I will dial in the dimension a few mm oversize (to tolerance)then check dimensional accuracy and finish with 0.5mm cuts,certainly on our work lathe this works,at home I use hss

 

[bigbadbugga]

I have a Master 2500 that I bought a year or two ago but I cannot seem to get a decent cut from it! Being a lathe novice I'm a bit stuck. This is mild steel turned with a TCT. The finish is awful and the shape 'lumpy' to the touch ie, not all the same diameter. It seems almost impossible to diagnose these things over the web but any ideas would be most welcome.

Have you got a centre running on that bar? Over that length I'd put one on.

Also make sure you take up the backlash in the cross feed screw before cutting.

I found playing about with feed rates and speeds you can get better finishes, take notes though so you can reproduce the results when it matters. On my box ford it get a good finish on MS bar by taking a light finish cut and faster feed than you would normally make on a rough cut.

 

[mylesdw]

BIG SUCCESS!

I played around with deeper cuts and higher feed rates and immediately an improvement. Rough surface but at least constant diameter. Then changed TCT from a sharp triangle type to one (whose name I don't know) like a triangle but with curved sides and achieved a better finish.

Later with an HSS bit that I found I turned down some 12mm bar between centres and adjusted the tail stock alignment. Finished with emery for very pleasing result.

At least I know it's not the machine but the operator now.

Many thanks guys. I'm sure I'll be back with more stupid questions!

 

[gavuk]

Great news.

Try experimenting with hss,small radius on the tip,high speed, low feed,small cuts,also try a small flat instead of a point on the tool, set so the trailing edge rubs to help polish the shaft,again high speed,slow feed small cuts...

 

[MattF]

I have read (and noticed by trying it) that carbide is not the best thing for a finish cut unless at high speed on a CNC; try an HSS tool and see if that's any better.

That's something which I've seen mentioned quite a few times, yet never actually noted from personal experience. Maybe it's just the fashion in which I work, but pretty much whichever tool type I use, I tend to have consistency across types of tip/tool.

 

[hareng]

Myles theres a few reasons why that possibly happened.
Could be harder spots in the material but should still cut.

More likely as have the same is the cross slide wear. Try tensioning or locking gib strip solid and take a few thou off, report back.

 

[MattF]

Could be harder spots in the material but should still cut.

I had that catch me out when I was first getting used to machining some lengths of old iron rod I have here. There's some slop in the machine too, which doesn't help, but the rod has occasional hard patches which cause the tip to skim along for some distance and then suddenly dig in.

 

[mylesdw]

More likely as have the same is the cross slide wear. Try tensioning or locking gib strip solid and take a few thou off, report back.

Would locking the cross slide have the same effect?

Hoping not to have to buy any more parts. I replaced the top slide gib and nut and they are eye wateringly expensive.

 

[sardine]

drummond

i fancy a Drummond M, does anyone know about these, how do they rate ?

how does the B compare to the M ?

Would it be able to match everthing a nasty Chinese mini lathe can do ?

 

[MattF]

i fancy a Drummond M, does anyone know about these, how do they rate ?

how does the B compare to the M ?

Would it be able to match everthing a nasty Chinese mini lathe can do ?

It would put any Far Eastern lathe to shame, especially where build quality is concerned. The difference is like night and day. Drummond really were almost perfectionists in their construction, assembly and finishing. More so than even most other English/British manufacturers of around the same era, which I've seen. The only machine I have of theirs which shows anything less than absolute obsession on that front, (and I have no idea whether it came from the factory as such or whether it's user induced), is one which was made during war time conditions, (WWI, so they may have had some limitations imposed and/else deadlines to work to). Even then though, the less than perfectly finished bits have only been very minor. Things like a bolt head which has been cut down in length and hand filed, not perfectly square, rather than having a turned finish, for example.

The B is very similar to the M. The M was merely a slightly beefed up and updated refinement version. Both are MT1. You can also, occasionally, find the B type as the BS type, which had powered crossfeed too. Supposedly the M type had that variant too, but I've never actually seen one as yet. You can tell them by the fact they have two leadscrews instead of just the one.

Unless you happen to drop on one which has been abused, you should be more than happy with it for home and probably even business use. It's only if you start getting into working with larger pieces that you'd want/need something bigger, so it depends mainly what you'll be using a lathe for.

Tony's lathes site is a good general reference for the Drummond's:

http://www.lathes.co.uk/drummond/

 

[hareng]

Would locking the cross slide have the same effect?

It would rule out most if any movement or play above that if top slide is nipped up as well.
When its on power feed have a look to see if the bar is pushing out or rubbing then suddenly digs in. Don't change anything send it back down in reverse and make sure cross slide hand wheel don't revolve, if cuts its play in the slides and or the lead screw.

 

[mylesdw]

It would rule out most if any movement or play above that if top slide is nipped up as well.
When its on power feed have a look to see if the bar is pushing out or rubbing then suddenly digs in. Don't change anything send it back down in reverse and make sure cross slide hand wheel don't revolve, if cuts its play in the slides and or the lead screw.

Transferred to a new thread

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=490110#post490110

because it was getting a bit off-topic.

 

[zzr1200]

My Harrison L5

Pictures of before, cleaned n painted, used and a nice new tool post.