John,

It looks like you have your work cut out for you, at least for a few months.

I expected the machine to be in far worse condition having sat out in the weeds and rain for what appears to be at least a few years. I'm becoming a little less apprehensive about old and rusty machine tools after reading a few of your rescues. I might have to locate an old 24" or 30" gear head for myself now. I can see why you like the teens and twenties machines. Most of my machines were built in 1970-1974. However, I think I'm becoming partial to WWII era offerings with the rebuilding of the bandsaw.

Recently, I saw a very old 24" Pacemaker that really got the juices flowing. Ohhhhh my!

I'll be patiently waiting for updates as you work on this machine. I'm interested to see how you approach all that rust.

That doesn't look too bad John....it just needs lot's of work....

She should clean up fine. What are you thinking to do with the leg?

Dave

Thanks men.

Dave, that leg is pretty busted up. It holds up the heavy end but the crack seen in thumbnail below (right above the 26" mark on the tape) is 1/2" open at the bottom.

Maybe I'll fab up a "looks okay" steel one.

Or I could send the other one to Craig D. and have one cast from it, which sounds more expensive than buying the lathe plus getting it in the shop.

The rear leg has me baffled so far. Only the rear most end sits on the floor, the front most end being fully 1" off the floor. Neither the floor or the lathe is anywhere near that much out of level.

John Oder

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Hi John,

Welding one up sounds sensible....at least it won't crack again.

What do you plan on doing to clean stuff like the leadscrew?....bead blast with minimal air pressure?


Hope there is no other major damage up under neath.....that other leg has me baffled too.


Dave

This is my first somewhat rusty 10 1/2 foot long screw. I'll see what I like and do it little by little. The 15/16 clutch rod and 1" feed rod are going to be fairly pitty. I need to clean out the keyways before I move the carriage and after I get the ferrous oxide off their outsides.

John Oder

During the restoration of a "Doctor Engine" at Mystic, we experimented with bead blasting.

We were concerned that we would be removing material beyond the oxide, so we measured the amount of material removed as a function of bead size and air pressure. We found with medium bead size and about 100 psig, we could get the iron clean but not cut into it in any measurable way.......


..Got a 10 1/2 foot bead blast cabinet? 8-)


Dave

I am glad to see that you got the lathe home John. I think it will be a very nice lathe after you get it cleaned up. Shaper haven

I would think twice about bead blasting the lead screw, it could come out looking like a "cork screw".

I would use one of the many phosphating solutions out there for removing rust. Then put it up in one of the lathes John has and polish the thread flanks a couple feet at a time. You won't get rid all of the pitting but should work good for another 100 years!

Ken

Its a fairly stout screw for just a 20" lathe, being 1 7/8 - 2.

John Oder

quote" Its a fairly stout screw for just a 20" lathe, being 1 7/8 - 2.

John Oder "jquote



Oh a light weight huh John! 8-)

The bead blast media we used was approximately 0.25mm silica beads, and beads not abrasive.....no where near as agressive as the sand.

And we went very gingerly .....

How ever I feel a disturbance in the force and somehow I think Mr. Oder will stun and amaze us once again with his ingenuity....

Waiting patiently,

Dave

Carefully - tenderly even - the 1.875 - 2 Acme screw became a 1.870 - 2 Acme screw (I like Lodge & Shipley's factory set up with way beyond adequate tooling built for an engine lathe). Notice the custom steadies bolted to the saddle wings. The central support is their standard three jaw FR. Think he has enough cutting oil on the tool?



John Oder

Think he has enough cutting oil on the tool?




Yup....I know what he smelled like when he went home that day....cutting oil...in his hair, skin...everywhere........


Dave

PS Got a lathe long enough? 8-)

Did a little more. Here are photos:











John Oder

John,

What are your plans for the spindle bearings?

BTW: You might find walnut shells up to standard for cleaning the screw. I've found they work well for light to moderate corrosion on aluminum. On a steel screw, I doubt they would alter the surface finish.

Of course, there's the peening issue. I'd probably rotate the screw with a motor drive as I blasted, to ensure no one side got more blast than any other.

I like the special tool!

They are responding fine to fine India oil stone and solvent. With spindle out this can be continued with roundness and taper checks. It apparently hasn't been run enough to wear or score anything, and expect that it will not require much to get them round and smooth and generally free of taper.

As to the staining, it will cause no problem.

GK used shrunk on "glass hard" (their words) sleeves on both front and rear journals 20" up. These were ground and lapped when new.

Under the dirt and crud the top halves of the bronze boxes look untouched.

No rotation of the spindle has taken place yet, so I don't expect damage from that.

John Oder

Good to hear!

Yes

Very good to hear!

Dave

A little more progress...



Above is the input or primary shaft. Turns out input pulley bearing, the part right rear, is broken. Maybe the input pulley got bumped by a forklift.

At any rate, with the belt nice and tight, the pulley end of the input shaft no longer had a bearing, and rubbed against the smallest ID of the bearing casting until it wore the not very wide groove you can see. This groove is 1.539 OD on a 1.563 bearing journal.

Below is a shot of the bearing casting with the part that broke off.



The other or chuck end is shown below in two shots. An interesting double bearing - the large part for one end of the reverse clutch gear, and inside that, not touching the hollow journal above, a smaller bearing for that end of the input shaft.





Greaves Klusman had some odd ideas here. The smaller clutch drum (on the left) is the reverse, and is likely less used than the other, but enjoys TWO bronze bearings, one on either side of the reverse clutch gear. The hard working forward clutch gear has one bearing, and that is for its hard journal to run right on the cast iron of the broken bearing casting.

John Oder

The bad one....

Below is the secondary shaft. This is the one that sat in the rain water that came in, though the gear on the right end that sat the deepest is unaffected. The two just to left of central journal each have about a half dozen teeth with varying amounts of pitting.









John Oder

John, I hope this isn't hijacking the topic, but having stripped out the Greaves Klusman, how, in your opinion, does the design and execution stack up against your beloved L&S?