GrantGunderson
Hot Rolled
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2021
- Location
- Bellingham, WA
The following is the process of me purchasing my first lathe, a 1944 Monarch 10ee round dial, and then subsequent tear down and rebuilding of it. The posts may seem overly detailed, but I am hoping they will help me with the rebuild as a reference, and also for anyone else attempting the same. There is lots of information on these lathes here on PM, but I have not found a locations that documents the entire process form start to finish, step by step. so maybe this will be a good reference for it. Thanks in advance to Cal, Thermite and a whole bunch of others that have helped me so far.
I always welcome input from others, especially if there is a better way or alternative method to do things. I am not a machinist by any means, other than a guy that likes to make stuff in his home shop. I am actually a photographer by trade, focusing mostly on actions sports specifically skiing and mountian biking. You can check out my website via this link: www.grantgunderson.com
A bit more on my background, growing up, My father was a brilliant engineer. When he retired, he was one of the head engineers at the Hanford site in WA. He mostly worked at the B-plant, originally during production, but mostly on the clean up side. He always instilled upon me that there is nothing you cant solve or fix, if you take the time to understand the problem and the techniques required to fix it. He also taught me early on that its worth investing in the best tools you can afford, and learn to fix it your self. Next time that problem arrives (and there will always be a next time) all it will costs is your time. Thats a much better investment then constantly paying others to fix your problems. Fast forward to college, I spent 7 years earning a degree in plastics engineering that I have never used. I took a few tool and die making classes during that time, but that was the extent of my education with machine tools.
During college, I was way more focused on teaching myself to shoot ski photos. That ended up paying off really well, as it allowed me to pay my way through school, and landed me a position as a photographer with Powder Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, and a whole slew of other magazines and outdoor brands. That has allowed me the good fortune to spend my summers tinkering on different projects in the garage. During that course of tinkering in the garage I have learned way more about mechanics, engineering, design, etc than I ever did in school. I find I learn best with a hands on approach, and asking lots of questions and spending hours going down the rabbit hole of random topics related to whatever I am working on.
Fast forward 20 years, I ended up being caught in a rather sizeable avalanche 3 years ago. Unable to work the majority of that winter and the following summer, I was stuck at home rehabbing a badly broken body. I just so happened across a craiglist add for a Bridgeport mill for 1200 bucks with a ton a tooling. I went and took a look at it, and it was in pretty bad shape, but had good bones. So I said what the hell and bought it thinking that, if I'm stuck at home in a walking boot, I just as well do something with my hands. I then spent the next 3 months tearing it down to literally the last screw and completely rebuilding it.



I quite enjoyed the process and have used it quite a bit making custom camera mounts for work, and a whole lot of other things. It was one of those situations after rebuilding it, I dont know how I got along so long with out one. After that experience, I decided, I would really like to get a lathe. Especially after having the mill, I kept thinking of projects I would like to do, but a lot required lathe work. So I did a bunch of research and decided I'd rathe have a 10EE or a Hardinge over any of the newer import stuff. I ended up finding a used 10EE with a ton of tooling for $1500 and figured it was too good of a deal to pass up. On the 4 hour dive to pick it up, I called my dad to tell him what I was up to, and all he said, is I think they where pretty good machines, and I am pretty sure we buried a bunch of them at work. If they where good enough for Hanford's use, than its more than good enough for me.
Ok, enough with the background. I started to chronicle this process over at Garage Journal, and asking questions here, and doing a bunch of research on this forum, You Tube and other forums and asking the occasional specific question on here. The following is me copying my posts from Garage Journal to here. Going forward, I will keep this thread active with where I am at to both minimize the number of random threads that I start on this site, but also to hopefully serve as a step by step set of instructions for anyone that chooses to do a rebuild on one of these machines. At the least it will be a good journal for me to reference when I get to the reassembly stage.
This lathe is a 1944 Round Dial 10EE
This thread is in the order I tore my machine down. I have tried to include links to other's directions where I used them. If I forgot a link, or there is one, it would be great if Cal or one of the moderators could add them.
Here are a few quick links to my various sections:
Armstrong Tool Post disassembly
Making Custom Skates with Leveling feet
DC Control Panel component ID
Speed Pot removal and inspection
Wiring Connections
Gear Box
Speed Control Shaft Removal
DC Panel rewire
Resistor Testing
Compound
Tail Stock
Lead Screw removal
Feed Shaft Removal
Feed Selector Removal
Gear Train Removal
Gear Disassembly
Feed Shaft Bearing Assembly Removal
Tumbler Clutch Assembly removal
Tumblr Shaft Dissasymbly
Gear Box Removal - Start with lead screw removal and do in order.
Head stock removal Starting with Control Switch Removal - Must pull gear box first.
Chasing Dial Assembly Removal
Apron Removal
Thread Chasing dial and take up Bearing bracket disassembly
Carriage Removal
Main Contactor Removal
Rack Removal from bed.
Bed Removal
Lifting the Bed
DC Exciter removal
Generator and motor Removal
Painting
Sump Drain Installation
Exciter Tear Down
Back Gear Box removal and tear down.
DC Motor tear down
Generator disassembly
Main Contactor and wiring Installation.
I always welcome input from others, especially if there is a better way or alternative method to do things. I am not a machinist by any means, other than a guy that likes to make stuff in his home shop. I am actually a photographer by trade, focusing mostly on actions sports specifically skiing and mountian biking. You can check out my website via this link: www.grantgunderson.com
A bit more on my background, growing up, My father was a brilliant engineer. When he retired, he was one of the head engineers at the Hanford site in WA. He mostly worked at the B-plant, originally during production, but mostly on the clean up side. He always instilled upon me that there is nothing you cant solve or fix, if you take the time to understand the problem and the techniques required to fix it. He also taught me early on that its worth investing in the best tools you can afford, and learn to fix it your self. Next time that problem arrives (and there will always be a next time) all it will costs is your time. Thats a much better investment then constantly paying others to fix your problems. Fast forward to college, I spent 7 years earning a degree in plastics engineering that I have never used. I took a few tool and die making classes during that time, but that was the extent of my education with machine tools.
During college, I was way more focused on teaching myself to shoot ski photos. That ended up paying off really well, as it allowed me to pay my way through school, and landed me a position as a photographer with Powder Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, and a whole slew of other magazines and outdoor brands. That has allowed me the good fortune to spend my summers tinkering on different projects in the garage. During that course of tinkering in the garage I have learned way more about mechanics, engineering, design, etc than I ever did in school. I find I learn best with a hands on approach, and asking lots of questions and spending hours going down the rabbit hole of random topics related to whatever I am working on.
Fast forward 20 years, I ended up being caught in a rather sizeable avalanche 3 years ago. Unable to work the majority of that winter and the following summer, I was stuck at home rehabbing a badly broken body. I just so happened across a craiglist add for a Bridgeport mill for 1200 bucks with a ton a tooling. I went and took a look at it, and it was in pretty bad shape, but had good bones. So I said what the hell and bought it thinking that, if I'm stuck at home in a walking boot, I just as well do something with my hands. I then spent the next 3 months tearing it down to literally the last screw and completely rebuilding it.



I quite enjoyed the process and have used it quite a bit making custom camera mounts for work, and a whole lot of other things. It was one of those situations after rebuilding it, I dont know how I got along so long with out one. After that experience, I decided, I would really like to get a lathe. Especially after having the mill, I kept thinking of projects I would like to do, but a lot required lathe work. So I did a bunch of research and decided I'd rathe have a 10EE or a Hardinge over any of the newer import stuff. I ended up finding a used 10EE with a ton of tooling for $1500 and figured it was too good of a deal to pass up. On the 4 hour dive to pick it up, I called my dad to tell him what I was up to, and all he said, is I think they where pretty good machines, and I am pretty sure we buried a bunch of them at work. If they where good enough for Hanford's use, than its more than good enough for me.
Ok, enough with the background. I started to chronicle this process over at Garage Journal, and asking questions here, and doing a bunch of research on this forum, You Tube and other forums and asking the occasional specific question on here. The following is me copying my posts from Garage Journal to here. Going forward, I will keep this thread active with where I am at to both minimize the number of random threads that I start on this site, but also to hopefully serve as a step by step set of instructions for anyone that chooses to do a rebuild on one of these machines. At the least it will be a good journal for me to reference when I get to the reassembly stage.
This lathe is a 1944 Round Dial 10EE
This thread is in the order I tore my machine down. I have tried to include links to other's directions where I used them. If I forgot a link, or there is one, it would be great if Cal or one of the moderators could add them.
Here are a few quick links to my various sections:
Armstrong Tool Post disassembly
Making Custom Skates with Leveling feet
DC Control Panel component ID
Speed Pot removal and inspection
Wiring Connections
Gear Box
Speed Control Shaft Removal
DC Panel rewire
Resistor Testing
Compound
Tail Stock
Lead Screw removal
Feed Shaft Removal
Feed Selector Removal
Gear Train Removal
Gear Disassembly
Feed Shaft Bearing Assembly Removal
Tumbler Clutch Assembly removal
Tumblr Shaft Dissasymbly
Gear Box Removal - Start with lead screw removal and do in order.
Head stock removal Starting with Control Switch Removal - Must pull gear box first.
Chasing Dial Assembly Removal
Apron Removal
Thread Chasing dial and take up Bearing bracket disassembly
Carriage Removal
Main Contactor Removal
Rack Removal from bed.
Bed Removal
Lifting the Bed
DC Exciter removal
Generator and motor Removal
Painting
Sump Drain Installation
Exciter Tear Down
Back Gear Box removal and tear down.
DC Motor tear down
Generator disassembly
Main Contactor and wiring Installation.
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