Mystery milling attachment for Stark (?) Lathe

[justin.mercier]

Also of interest, it appears that the cut off tool holder you have is also rivett not stark. That's pretty definitely a rivett forming slide tool holder. The stark orignals were blocky, those nice swept curves are from the Rivett castings they used on the early precision 8 =)

 

[L Vanice]

Here is a picture of a Rivett 608 carriage with the compound slide rest removed. It is easy to see how the milling attachment in post #1 and 19 will fit on the carriage. Picture is from Tony.
Rivett 608 Lathe



And here is one type of slide rest mounted to the carriage. You can see there are parts that are also used on the milling attachment.



Larry

 

[L Vanice]

Yes! They are identical..it has to be a Rivett. easy enough to make the shoe. The only question then is the height. Is the Rivett 608 a 10" swing? The Stark is 9".

An original Stark 9" slide rest will be difficult to find. But a Hardinge 9" slide rest will fit perfectly on your 9" Stark bed if the front bed angle is 60 degrees from horizontal. Hardinge made thousands of those slide rests, in several models over a period of around 80 years, so there are plenty of them around. Finding one in new condition is a challenge, but they can be rebuilt. I have several of them, in several models. Hardinge was good about supplying the latest model slide rests in versions to fit old and out of production lathes. That means the last model, introduced in 1960, was made in a version that would fit the lathes with a slot down the middle of the bed made from 1903 to around 1955. The first two pictures show a 1960 slide rest for a split bed. The third picture shows a catalog cut of a 1918 or so slide rest. There were some other models.

Larry

 

[rivett608]

I too am interested in the back tool cut off holder, here is a picture. I also have a Hjorth one to trade, almost the same thing but for a slide the grove goes parallel to the bed. 90 degrees to the Rivett should that be better for you. The one you have can be seen on the back side of the 2nd photo.

As for the milling attachment, here is a picture. No doubt it is Rivett.

 

[JackHB]

Do you have a spare adapter ? It does not look too hard to make. If you do would you swap for the cutoff?

 

[justin.mercier]

I sent you a DM, depending on where you are in NH I can swing up and bring a cross slide and saddle plate, which I think will match your machine so we can see if it works or not. If the rivett mill fits on top of your bed snugly then it should be exactly the saddle plate you need. I'm more than interested in setting up some sort of buy / trade of parts for the mill attachment, as I've been looking for a mill attachment of any style for my own rivett 608, and have an abundance of cross slides (i have 2 rivett lathes, and ... 5 cross slides! )

 

[JackHB]

Went back to the storage, figured there must be more from the 2nd Stark.

A compound slide w/ very poor dials ! (and stuff)

 

[rivett608]

Hey Jack, let’s let Justin see if he can get you set up first. He asked first about the cutoff and he is local so you can make sure stuff fits.

Btw, on the Rivett milling attachment, it should not be modified.

 

[JST]

The underside does look like it would fit the "carriage angle" on a 608, shape-wise, if not size. Fair bet it would, and that the carriage angle was made that size so as to take accessories from other models.

.............. Is the Rivett 608 a 10" swing? The Stark is 9".

The 608 is 8", dunno about the others.

 

[MrStretch]

That looks like a Stark slide without the dials. The dials on Stark slides are very distinct. I have a nice #4 if you want pics. The shoe piece fits into the t slot on the underside of the slide and has an angled end that fits up against the bed bevel. On my lathe, the cross slide is very clearly marked 'Stark' so there is no confusion.

 

[JackHB]

That looks like a Stark slide without the dials. The dials on Stark slides are very distinct. I have a nice #4 if you want pics. The shoe piece fits into the t slot on the underside of the slide and has an angled end that fits up against the bed bevel. On my lathe, the cross slide is very clearly marked 'Stark' so there is no confusion.

I would like to see pics. This is from Stark Lathe #183, #2289 is the one I'm setting up and came w/ the Rivet Milling Attachment.

 

[JackHB]

Found the STARK engraving on the slide .. definitely Stark but probably early

 

[JackHB]

That looks like a Stark slide without the dials. The dials on Stark slides are very distinct. I have a nice #4 if you want pics. The shoe piece fits into the t slot on the underside of the slide and has an angled end that fits up against the bed bevel. On my lathe, the cross slide is very clearly marked 'Stark' so there is no confusion.

Do you have an idea of what the spindle gear is on your #4? Mine is missing, but the change gears are 22DP. I don't have the thread chaser, just some change(?) gears

 

[MrStretch]

Spindle gear?
What's that? Just a 3 step pulley on mine.

 

[L Vanice]

Spindle gear?
What's that? Just a 3 step pulley on mine.

Old bench lathes and watchmaker lathes used a gear on the left end of the headstock spindle to drive either a thread chasing attachment or a screwcutting attachment. I have both attachments for my Hardinge Cataract lathes, which use 30 DP gears.

Larry

 

[JackHB]

Great shot (right photo) showing spindle gear and stack of change gears. Mine are 22DP.

 

[MrStretch]

Neat.
There is no evidence on my lathe that it ever had anything like that, nor has it ever occured to me that i need it for threading. In all my years of clock restoration, I've always gotten along fine with taps & dies.