Mitchell of Keighley lathe

[Peter S]

Sometimes your long lathe bed is still not quite long enough.

Shown here on a Mitchell lathe, the "Extenda-bed" is another great idea from.....New Zealand?

Take your gap piece and fit it to the tail end.

How do you attach it? You will have to figure that out yourself, e.g. do you ever want to remove it?




While we are thinking about lathe beds - do you ever find your bed is too long?

Stop worrying, just get out there and do it:

This old Binns & Berry in NZ was over-length and the off-cut was probably useful too:



Make it a bit shorter and you've got a lathe for the home workshop:

 

[Asquith]

That Binns & Berry bed must have been quite long, assuming that the tumbler bearings were at mid length. Even longer if they were at 1/3 or 1/4 of the length! Cutting the keyway in the layshaft would have been an interesting job.

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I once worked at a place that had a long bed “ Craven “ lathe. It must have been about 25 ft long. The MD of the place was a nut case and he took against the lathe. He told the welding shop foreman to cut the bed back to the next pedestal. “ Either that piece of the bed goes through the door before 4-30 tonight or you do ! “

I removed the lead screw and feed shaft and the welders set about the lathe bed with gouging rods. By 4-30 the bed was 6 ft shorter and the lead screw and feed shaft were being shortened. Oh and the welding shop foreman was still in a job. Once it was all back together again and the bed end had been ground smooth you couldn’t tell it had been shortened.

Of course about 4 weeks later we had to send out a job because the lathe was now too short !

Regards Tyrone.

 

[Asquith]

Peter,

Disappointingly, I think there's a practical reason for bolting the gap piece on the end of the bed, namely to store it in a way which might keep the locating faces safe. The top still makes a good shelf, though.

My photo shows a venerable Greenwood & Batley lathe.

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

View attachment 339698

Peter,

Disappointingly, I think there's a practical reason for bolting the gap piece on the end of the bed, namely to store it in a way which might keep the locating faces safe. The top still makes a good shelf, though.

My photo shows a venerable Greenwood & Batley lathe.

Less chance of the gap piece getting lost that way as well.

Regards Tyrone.

 

[Buldog]

Thank you That a good photo I can see how it is now I have got a stay that came with it but it not the right one I can now make a new base

 

[Buldog]

I got a bit more done to day it now wearing its new coat of paint

 

[rklopp]

View attachment 339586

I want one of these three-jaw chucks, pretty please. They must have been "interesting" to make, especially the scroll.

 

[Asquith]

Charles Taylor & Co chuck. They also made lathes to attach to their chucks.

Taylor conical scroll lathe chucks

 

[Peter S]

Buldog,

My apologies for cluttering up your thread with other stuff, I should have started another. I might start another thread trying to figure out who Mitchell of Keighley were.

Here are some photos of steadies etc. from another similar lathe to yours.

BTW, if you can experiment a bit, you might be able to post larger photos of your lathe. It is pretty hard to see much detail in the photos, but good to hear you are making progress. (The photos below are taken from an auction listing, so I can't improve the resolution).

ps. there are 3 x Mitchell lathes for sale this week on Trade Me (NZ on-line auction site).

 

[Peter S]

Charles Taylor & Co chuck. They also made lathes to attach to their chucks.

Taylor conical scroll lathe chucks

Asquith,

I wonder if they are the same company who made the Taylor clutches?

This photo is from a Mitchell lathe:

 

[Buldog]

no please do I am Learning a lot for the photos your posting some one cut off the drive for my water pump so I have to Machine anyone so any references will be appreciated also I’m not sure but it is possibly a greaser missing the top of my life as well but can’t find any references

 

[Buldog]

 

[Buldog]

 

[Peter S]

no please do I am Learning a lot for the photos your posting some one cut off the drive for my water pump so I have to Machine anyone so any references will be appreciated also I’m not sure but it is possibly a greaser missing the top of my life as well but can’t find any referencesView attachment 339735

Buldog,

Have they cut the spindle off the pump itself, or cut the shaft/pulley sticking out of the headstock?

It would not surprise me if a previous owner fitted a separate electric pump.

The first two photos below show the same model as yours (no guarantees they are original though), the other two photos show different models. I don't have any photos showing the actual pump drive belt, but some of the later models have a belt cover.

I wonder if other lathe makers ran their coolant pumps via a flat belt (or v-belt) from the headstock? Maybe Mitchell held on to this design longer than most...

BTW, click on the thumbnail, then click again on the image for further enlargement, then click on the image again and you usually get a further enlarged view.

 

[PDW]

I want one of these three-jaw chucks, pretty please. They must have been "interesting" to make, especially the scroll.

Got a 5" one of those in the cupboard. It's going on the Chipmaster as soon as I get a round tuit. Currently in short supply seeing as the weather is decent enough to go sailing...

PDW

 

[Buldog]

Mine would of had a flat belt I have the pump it the shaft that been cut off so I going to make a new pulley that will go over the locking nut and fit with 3 locking screws I also need the water pipe from the pump up

 

[Buldog]

Here is what I got left

 

[Asquith]

Peter - Clutches - different company - Taylor Bros.
.....................
I've found some pictures of Mitchell (Keighley) lathes in a Herbert Widdowson & Co catalogue (probably 1960s). Widdowsons were dealers in USED machine tools.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

 

[Asquith]

6.

Last photo.