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Another Pratt&whitney saved

Outasite

Plastic
Joined
Nov 8, 2015
Well it's been a long winter.Decided it was now or never,in other words take it to scrap:bawling: The high/low range diden't work,feed box diden't work,oil pump in apron diden't work,and a half dozen other small things.This machine came from GM and still wears the Oldsmobile badge.Well equipped with full collet set,taper attachment,three chucks,steady and follow rest.The only thing I'm missing is the motor door,If anyone knows where one could be found please let me know.Anyway,just thought some may like to see another piece of old iron brought back to life.This won't be a garage queen,it's going to work for a living:Dimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg
 
The motor will run cooler without the door. If you need to cover the holes,get expanded metal or perforated metal, it can be hand fitted to the irregular shape. Machine looks great.
 
Hope it runs as good as it looks! Nice job. I have a 20"x54" P&W B but my chip pan was seperate and manuals show a light guage tub on wheels. Your P&W does look like a "hogger" but can't tell what size? 20"or 16" swing? I assume that is a B model? Been dragging my heals on mine too. Mine has 7.5 hp, 3 wire 440v GE motor. Would probably be easiest just to remotor the lathe, but I would like to keep the original motor in it. Have not decided the cheapest route to go and keep the motor. I have other motors that I could retrofit but don't wanna. Thanks for sharing yours. Might inspire me to do something with mine.

Also how do you check your lube level? Seems to me I was told by a "window" but mine does not have one. I do not see a "over fill hole" just a top plug and drain plug. Just wondering if they didn't at first have a dip stick? I have a Drive-all gear box same thing. Finally found out the older models did not have a hole for leveling lubrication. They originally had a dip stick in the old ones. Of course mine is gone. Real nice looking lathe. These are supposed to be a real Cadalac of a lathe from what I recall hearing.

Also do you have or could you get a couple close ups of your taper attachment? My "B" is missing the taper attachment slide pc that bolts up. The "track or channel" is the same dimentions as on my older P&W conehead which came with the slide pc and adjustable gibs. It appears it would be useable on the "B" but would have to make a larger tapered post to apply on the "B". I looked all over the shop this came out of hoping to find the original with no luck. It paid off as I did find a few other things like the 20" face plate and a chuck adapter plate. Would just like to compare notes if possible. I do not want to start on this lathe until I deem my radial drill project done.

Regards, John.
 
I was wondering if that was the case. It looks very much like a B model but there are some differences especially on the levers with round balls on them vs the forged or cast handles on mine. But so much looked similar I was mistaken. I really think these things are an art form in a "industrial" artsy kind of way.
Thanks John. Boy at first glance they sure do look like a B. I would have to have pictures side by side to really catch the other differences. Regards, John.
 
Here is the "B" catalog if needed - thanks to Greg Menke for hosting this for me

http://pounceatron.dreamhosters.com...ttwhitney-circular402-model-b-lathes-1936.pdf

I was wondering if that was the case. It looks very much like a B model but there are some differences especially on the levers with round balls on them vs the forged or cast handles on mine. But so much looked similar I was mistaken. I really think these things are an art form in a "industrial" artsy kind of way.
Thanks John. Boy at first glance they sure do look like a B. I would have to have pictures side by side to really catch the other differences. Regards, John.
 
Thanks John ! The catalog was an interesting read, PW was quite proud of this machine. I have a 13" B, also waiting patiently for a new life.
 
I'd be interested in seeing some close-ups of the taper attachment shoe as well. I've pieced together the general concept of it from various drawings but none of them show it completely. From what I can tell it's a three piece assembly, a swivel part that bolts to the back of the cross slide and a shoe with a gib. I started drawing one up earlier this week but found myself guessing at a lot of the dimensions.
 
BLOCK......

Here is an end view snippet of the early version with the tapered gib and its adjusting screw. Both early and later are retained on the respective pivots so they don't fall off when you run them out of the T/A by moving the carriage. 56 the block and 57 the gib. This assembly is about 4 1/2" long as a guess. This assembly runs in the cast iron taper bar, so carburized, hardened and ground 8620 could be a choice

Member FEETS has my 1950 12 X 30 since 2005 - maybe he would be willing to show this part
 

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These are the images I have been working off of. The left one is the same as John posted, it shows the adjusting screws and I can assume the opposite side looks the same. The bottom image is from a patent of the cross slide and shows a cross section of sorts for the shoe, it shows the pivot is actually off-center slightly, presumably to make room for the gib. The right image is a rear cross section and shows how the shoe is retained, looks like a shoulder screw (1/2"?) and the piece that bolts to the cross slide has a post that goes inside the shoe. The track it runs in is just under 20" and the manual specifies a 15" taper capacity, assuming the shoe isn't supposed to leave the track that puts it just under 5" max length but I'm slightly confused by the rear view where the piece the bolts to the cross slide appears to be longer than that and biased to one side, curious if that's actually how it looks.
taper shoe images.jpg
 
Here are pictures from 10 years ago already. This "block" came with my older P&W conehead but fits the newer and larger 20" Model B perfectly. The tapered post that is bolted on is a smaller diameter but is removible and easily swapped out. I tried to take pictures that showed how it was built and between this and the drawings maybe it will help someone?
 

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The shoe for my 12" x 30" B is easily to hand as I habitually remove them from taper attachments and fit proper covers to the channel or bar. Scrubbing and de-chipping sticky taper attachments is just one form of torture I'm far too old to enjoy!

Mine is 5 1/4" long and evidently of identical design concept to the pictures in posts #12 and #13 above. If it would help anyone I can easily fire up the CAD program next week and do a set of drawings. Albeit with the adjusting screws and internal tongue & groove dimensions "guesstimated". Mine is perfectly set with the screws gorilla tight so I'm not playing with it.

Let me know if you want drawings.

Clive
 
Sorry guys for not responding sooner I've been out of town.I will get pictures tomorrow.Somehow during the refinish the threaded rod that attaches the slider bar to the cross slide is misplaced,but I will get some good pictures of the shoe.
 
Btw now that I know this machine is working well,it has one issue left the main spindle bearing is growling,and needs to be addressed! That looks to be a BIG job.Ive spent my intire working life building transmissions so I'm not afraid of it,but don't want to remove unnecessary shafts and gears.It looks as if the spindle may be able to be removed without complete disassembly of the gearbox.If someone out there could steer me as to what needs to be removed to get the spindle out,it would save me hours of work.Ive checked the search and found some help but am hopeing for a little more information.Thanks in advance for any help!
 
Have you found a replacement? From what I understand the flanged spindle bearings in these are very difficult to come by. There are a couple threads in the search discussing this. That's probably the bigger problem. You might have already done this but make sure the oil distribution pipes in the headstock are sending oil to the little port for the main spindle bearing and the port isn't clogged or anything.
 
Have you found a replacement? From what I understand the flanged spindle bearings in these are very difficult to come by. There are a couple threads in the search discussing this. That's probably the bigger problem. You might have already done this but make sure the oil distribution pipes in the headstock are sending oil to the little port for the main spindle bearing and the port isn't clogged or anything.
Thanks for the input,I've done a world wide search from three different sources and there is ONE bearing out there,it is the same part number,but does not have the last suffix letter that the P&W book calls for.I did speak with an old timer in the UK he told me that the last letter suffix was some sort of small change made during the production run,and it should fit and work fine.BUT at 1200.00 I would want to be sure!I have found a bearing co that will rebuild my bearing if the races are not pitted to deeply,They said they can match the precision grade of the original.That will run in the 600/900$ range.worst case I will convert to a taper roller of some sort I found one that is the right ID & OD but the original has a flange OD so that would mean a trip to the bearing co to get a wide groove ground for a large ring.won't know the best rout till I get it apart.I just know if I keep running it as is it will be junk!
 
Please keep up with your progress and findings. The threads on some of this stuff is far and few between and every little bit helps or may help some of us down the road. I pray that I don't need to go so far into mine as this work would probably be over my head. Good luck, John.
 
Please keep up with your progress and findings. The threads on some of this stuff is far and few between and every little bit helps or may help some of us down the road. I pray that I don't need to go so far into mine as this work would probably be over my head. Good luck, John.

I'm headed to the other shop,I'll get ya some pics of the taper attachment.Not sure if it's all correct I've never used it.
 








 
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