I got a free Central Machinery 9x20 lathe. What resurrection therapy will it need?

I got a Central Machinery 9x20 lathe model model 45861 for free (sorta). A relative wasn't using it much, he had coated it in some black cosmolene like gunk and stored it under a bench in a very damp and dusty barn. It stayed there for 8 years. Then something happened involving an AK-47, booze, a hostage, the SWAT team, a sniper, etc... The judge was impressed by his performance and offered him a place to stay for 7 to 15 years.

So for the next decade or more I have exclusive use of that lathe. First order of business is to get it up and running. I moved it from the concrete floor of the barn unto a sturdy wooden workbench I specifically built for it (36" high table top, for example). The cosmolene had collected barn dust and grit, and it resembles the tarry bits that one picks off the bottom of a tractor used in dusty clay soil. The cosmolene needs to be removed, and the correct lubricants installed. Surprisingly to me, the 1/8" thick layer of black ooobleck managed to keep the metal in good condition - very little rust.

Any suggestions? Should I replace certain bearings, hand scrape the ways, pay attention to some aspect of the motor (I am not a motor gu-roo).

How do I bring it back to life, considering it's not nearly as bad as it could have been.

Better read the machinery discussion guidelines - that machine is on the list of 'prohibited to discuss' as it's not a toolroom or industrial standard machine.

Better try a home shop machinist forum for help with it.

PDW

dan, if you are a chemist, imagine mixing hydrogen and sulfur, add coliform bacteria, lots of organic matter, and then pretend it's a machine tool. just don't spend more than 2 hrs and 20 bucks on it and you are fine!

Seriously, it ain't worth two dead flies.

Put it back under the bench.

Ray Behner said:

Seriously, it ain't worth two dead flies.

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2 dead flies in a paper bag with a hole in it

I got a free Central Machinery 9x20 lathe. What resurrection therapy will it need?

The scrap heap.

Dan_the_Chemist said:

Any suggestions? Should I replace certain bearings, hand scrape the ways, pay attention to some aspect of the motor (I am not a motor gu-roo).

How do I bring it back to life, considering it's not nearly as bad as it could have been.

Click to expand...

The resounding suggestion here will be to trash it etc... That being said, I do believe it has use. Not as a turning lathe, but you can use it to chuck parts up to polish, use it as a power-source for something that needs rotating etc... IE, I've often thought if I can get a cheap Chinese lathe sometime I can mount a drum on it, make a roller support for the tail-stock end, and use it as a big drum tumbler/polisher... Could polish brass for reloading, polish/deburr finished parts, etc

Dan_the_Chemist said:

How do I bring it back to life, considering it's not nearly as bad as it could have been.

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After wot happened to the LAST guy who had congress with it?

And you expect him to be in a 'good mood' about his former treasures when he gets out of stir?

Surely you jest?

Buy spare belts.. They are tiny and break constantly.. Dump some oil on it and dump some in it and use it
for 10 minutes until it breaks... The gears are made of basically lightly compressed dust and break often..

Not bad for the occasional small thing, or just popping a chamfer on the back of a part.. If pushed at all, it
breaks..

I've also used one like Country Boy said... Coffee can and turned it into a tumbler.

Makes a great paper weight also.

Dan_the_Chemist said:

... Then something happened involving an AK-47, booze, a hostage, the SWAT team, a sniper, etc... The judge was impressed by his performance and offered him a place to stay for 7 to 15 years.

Click to expand...

Man, you have interesting relatives.

It might be interesting as a learning project, but I think the consensus is that even if you had Richard King and Forrest Addy and John Oder spend a year on refurbing it, the view would not be worth the climb.

You could scrape the ways flat,and scrap the saddle and cross slide, but then find out that the spindle is not parallel to the ways. Nor the headstock. As an aside, an old (1905) book on watchmaker's lathes stated that one test for a company's tailstock was to put 4 of them on a lathe bed, and then to push a tailstock spindle all the way through all four. Then reverse one and repeat, and so forth. This was before the nickel plating. Afterwards, the book states that you generally could only get 3 tailstocks to align this well! That ain't happening in a Central Machinery lathe.

But if you wanted to try your hand at scraping, spindle alignment, replacing plastic gears of unknown/non-standard pressure angle and form, etc, etc. you'd probably learn some stuff.

For turning nice acrylic pen blanks, or doing the low precision polishing (or even grinding - this might be a use, as you won't be too worried about grit on the ways), the thing may be useful.

Who cares about the lathe.

Let's hear more about this "here, hold my beer" moment

Seriously...the lathe is junk, but this is sounding like a good story. You've got all my relatives beat, and that's pretty damn impressive in and of itself!