I bought a 10ee project for $250

unixgeek · Mar 10, 2018

Long time lurker, first time poster. I've been looking for a 10ee for several years now. The other day, one came up on CL claiming to be a sundstrand drive. It was local so figured it was worth a look. When I arrived with a buddy, we found that it was not a sundstrand unit. Instead, we found a 1943 machine with the MG drive removed and adapted to use a 5hp 3ph 220v motor (with no speed control). Although the conversion was done by the previous, previous owner, the seller had gathered all of the parts to convert it back. The offer also included a decent amount of spares, such as a tailstock, apron, leadscrews, and other minor bits.

The price? $250.

After getting it home and giving it a more-through check, it looks fairly complete, the ways look good, the MG drive looks complete, and the spindle seems to be in great condition. I re-oiled it, hooked up a VFD, ran the spindle at about 250rpm, and everything seems to be in order. It seems this one was originally sold to the Federal Telecommunications Laboratory in Nutley, NJ.

I'm very excited to restore it to working condition and to start churning out parts!

Cal Haines · Mar 12, 2018

Wow, great deal! I'll be happy to help you sort out the MG drive.

Keep us posted.

Cal

Chip Chester · Mar 12, 2018

You done good. I should caution you, though, that it may only last another 75 years.

Glug · Mar 12, 2018

Pics or it didn't happen!

You know you could have just bought a mini-lathe at the HF store in Ypsi. Though it would have cost a lot more.

How long was the listing up before you found it? Do you already have a lathe?

unixgeek · Mar 12, 2018

I posted a pic!

The listing was up for 18 hours before I emailed about it. I left my phone number and got a txt back a few hours later and offered to come take a look as soon as the seller was available. Didn't take long to decide I wanted it.

I have a Logan 820 that I'll keep around until I get the 10ee sorted.

A little update: A buddy of mine and fellow 10ee owner set me up with the proper spindle & way oil so I drained everything and re-filled. I've run the spindle up to about 600rpm with no weird noises or warming parts. I'm not sure the way oilers are functioning, but I understand there's a procedure to prime that system. Unfortunately, the feed belt is broken and all 3 idlers need new bearings. I'm still in the process of what's good/bad before I start any major work.

unixgeek · Mar 12, 2018

Thanks, Cal. I will definitely take you up on that when the time comes.

NateA2 · Mar 13, 2018

I went along to help pick this 10EE up.

Seller was great. Price was stupifyingly good.

So happy for you Joe!

PeteM · Mar 13, 2018

It's not even Christmas, yet. Was it your birthday?

unixgeek · Mar 17, 2018

Well, the way oilers are definitely not working. With the saddle removed, I used a screw driver to actuate way oiler pump arm and the pump itself is functioning correctly. That means the oiler tubing/metering assembly is clogged. Rats. At least all of the tubing looks to be in good shape.

Compressed air isn't moving anything. I guess I need to order a cheap grease gun and fill it with way oil. How have people adapted the grease gun to the mini flange fittings used for the oil lines? Is there a particular zerk fitting that just works? I'll poke around, but I figured I'd ask.

rke[pler · Mar 17, 2018

Loosen the lines from the meter units on the manifold and pump into the manifold to see if it's the meter units. It often is, and once the meter stops dispensing oil the line seems to get clogged. The line can often be cleared using some solvent and wire to poke the crud out.

I use a smaller Lincoln grease gun for the zerks on my Lagun and it was easily adapted to run oil through the system.

thermite · Mar 17, 2018

unixgeek said:
Well, the way oilers are definitely not working. With the saddle removed, I used a screw driver to actuate way oiler pump arm and the pump itself is functioning correctly. That means the oiler tubing/metering assembly is clogged. Rats. At least all of the tubing looks to be in good shape.

Compressed air isn't moving anything. I guess I need to order a cheap grease gun and fill it with way oil. How have people adapted the grease gun to the mini flange fittings used for the oil lines? Is there a particular zerk fitting that just works? I'll poke around, but I figured I'd ask.

I may be one of the few that actually succeeded in clearing them with solvents, patience, and elbow exercise.

Filled the apron with a mix of ATF, Marvel Mystery oil, PBlaster penetrant, and WD40, then externally lubed it up-top and cranked the carriage back and forth, full traverse, about ten or so goes most every night for many weeks whilst dealing with other priorities.

In due course- month or so in - tell-tale red ATF signature began to appear, black smut began to vanish.

Have to class it all as a fool's errand, even so!!!

I shall STILL have to replace the metering units and see to pump rocker-tip wear as a minimum, ANYWAY - if not also replace the lines.

IOW - not worth wasting f**k-with time over half-measures.

Just grit yer teeth, source new metering units, and do it over, proper-like.

Even if you ain't yet old enough to shave, (!!!), you'll not likely live long enough to ever need to do it a second time, after all.

rke[pler · Mar 18, 2018

I figured out that I could remove the cross feed dial assembly and run the lathe with the cross feed engaged and the pump running as long as I wanted to. Naturally, I figured that out after cranking the carriage back and forth a *lot*.

Karl_T · Mar 18, 2018

I'm calling the Washtenaw County Sheriff in the morning to file a theft report ...

You stole that, man. GREAT score.

unixgeek · Mar 21, 2018

OK, so the way oilers: I removed the saddle, removed the oiler manifold and used a guitar string, brake clean, and compressed air to clean out the lines that I could. I have 5 "00" oil meters, but one uses a larger tube. I figured out where the center three oil lines go, but the outer two are plugged and I cant find any outlets. I'm assuming they're for the cross feed ways, but I don't see where they would deposit oil. In the picture, the mystery lines are the top and bottom.

View attachment 223850

thermite · Mar 22, 2018

unixgeek said:
OK, so the way oilers: I removed the saddle, removed the oiler manifold and used a guitar string, brake clean, and compressed air to clean out the lines that I could. I have 5 "00" oil meters, but one uses a larger tube. I figured out where the center three oil lines go, but the outer two are plugged and I cant find any outlets. I'm assuming they're for the cross feed ways, but I don't see where they would deposit oil. In the picture, the mystery lines are the top and bottom.

View attachment 223850

Prolly my laptop, but I can't view that foto.

Be aware that cross slide oiler delivery comes UP from underneath. Very easily plugged as fretting corrosion smut settles as sediment over long periods of sitting idle.

With the cross OFF, you can probably find their outlets. There's an on-PM rescrape project that dealt with that, and fairly recently.

Glug · Mar 22, 2018

Don't know if you've seen it, but Cal posted a tremendously useful series of captioned photos on tearing apart the carriage. Unfortunately the photo*ucket folks screwed us out of much of that content. The thumbnails are visible but I could not get the individual photos or captions. It would be great to get those re-hosted or put into a PDF.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...apron-removal-250365-post1853958/#post1853958

Square-dial by Cal Haines | Photobucket

rke[pler · Mar 22, 2018

Cal listed the line order for a 1943 here:

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...-saddle-oil-metering-units-159569/#post909219

That being said I would suspect that the order might differ from earlier rebuilds or just a different hand doing the work.

The cross slide ways are oiled with lines that (on my saddle) didn't quite make it to the output slots hand ground into the saddle cross slide ways. A good light might make it possible for you to see the end of the tube well enough that you can get a start in cleaning .

unixgeek · Mar 22, 2018

thermite said:
Prolly my laptop, but I can't view that foto.

Be aware that cross slide oiler delivery comes UP from underneath. Very easily plugged as fretting corrosion smut settles as sediment over long periods of sitting idle.

With the cross OFF, you can probably find their outlets. There's an on-PM rescrape project that dealt with that, and fairly recently.

I have the cross slide off, actually. I see a couple of grooves in the ways where I _assumed_ the oilers would outlet. After attacking the grooves with a pick, I couldn't find the holes. I'll have another (3rd or 4th) look now that I know they SHOULD be there.

rke[pler · Mar 22, 2018

unixgeek said:
I have the cross slide off, actually. I see a couple of grooves in the ways where I _assumed_ the oilers would outlet. After attacking the grooves with a pick, I couldn't find the holes. I'll have another (3rd or 4th) look now that I know they SHOULD be there.

They're right in the back of the V

unixgeek · Mar 25, 2018

rke[pler said:
They're right in the back of the V

Got the lines cleared out today. Thanks!!

I bought a 10ee project for $250

Plastic

Diamond

Diamond

Hot Rolled

Plastic

Plastic

Cast Iron

Diamond

Plastic

Diamond

Diamond

Diamond

Cast Iron

Plastic

Diamond

Hot Rolled

Diamond

Plastic

Diamond

Plastic

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