Rivett

[tailstock4]

Thanks. I haven’t done a write-up of this machine. I have shown a few pictures of it but not a whole lot more. On a couple of occasions, I’ve mentioned that I’ve changed the spindle bearings on this machine. I’m sharing a few more details impart as I am curious if anyone else has found some of the issues I came across.

I found that Rivett uses a little smaller class 7 spindle bearings with an additional ball or two as compared to the Monarch, but they have the same contact angle. My Rivett’s spindle was original, meaning it had never been taken apart. I found that Rivett had used a set of non-matched bearings. When I had the spacers on a surface plate, I found over a .001 difference between the inner and outer spacers – the inner being smaller. My front flange bearing actually had a negative preload – meaning the internal race extended inward. This in part explains the some of the large difference in spacer heights. It also means Rivett used a custom preload which caused me a great deal more work and research.

I eventually talked to a bearing engineer, and he was able to determine the various preloads for these bearings in terms of light, medium and heavy. He converted each of these from Newtons to microns to .0001’s. This coupled with some special ground spacers I made for the surface plate and these bearings allowed me to stack the bearings and their spacers in their preloaded state and take measurements. In the end I found that the Rivett has a slightly higher preloaded spindle than the Monarch. I also found that after checking the spindle’s concentricity there was an almost unmeasurable runout, but it did cause me to slightly disagree with Rivett’s original placement of the bearing highpoint markings. This made me wonder how much attention they really gave this when they assembled it.

In the end it turned out well for me. I ended up with less than .00005 runout at the spindle nose. There are some other differences and of course a lot more to it. I just wanted to convey what I had found with the custom preload that Rivett had used on my lathe.

I found my picture of the old Monarch and Rivett spindle bearings for anyone that may be curious. I went back with NOS New Departure class 7 bearings on the Rivett (which I was lucky to find a good deal on.) On the Monarch I went back with Fafnir class 7 bearings with an additional .0002 preload which I achieved by undergrinding the inner spacer.

Incidentally the Monarch is a 1968 modular machine.

 

[beckerkumm]

Tailstock, I'd like a thread on your findings with your toolroom lathes. Build differences, control ease and use, etc. Rivett, 10EE, P and W are all top of the chain machines but I've found that seldom does one machine have the best of everything. My CVA and Smart Brown are both great lathes but quite different in their approaches with good and less good on both.
Dave

 

[old_dave]

Also interesting that the chart only goes to 1961 and my machine is dated 1962....
What gives away the fact the headstock is early?

That serial number chart must have been taken from _Serial Number Reference Book_ which for whatever reason stops at 1961 for the Rivett 1020 series. All the serial numbers on that chart for the various Rivett models replicate what is in my 8th edition of _Serial Number Reference Book for Metalworking Machinery_ (1988).

I have notes on 10 examples of post-1961/post-s/n 414 1020 lathes, all were the 1020F. Highest serial number was 527, dated January 1968. Latest date was 4-29-68, serial number 519. Most of these examples were on ebay or this forum.

I want to add that four of these were the longer bed 1030F.

David

 

[jreiland]

I didn’t think reassembly of a head stock would be so detailed. I’ll be asking some questions when I get to that point on my other 1020 assembly.

 

[wood2steel]

Does he have another? At that price, I'll take two!

Milland, I put my eyes on that Rivett lathe 2 months ago before any of the equipment was posted here in Fayetteville, Ga. It is a very nice looking machine; unfortunately I have no exposure to the Rivett machinery so I was bit in the dark. The guy had an impressive collection of machinery & tooling although some of the numbers $$$ were off a bit. He had a machine shop in both his basement and a collection of machinery in his shop building as well. Let's just say they will have their hands full dealing with that amount of machinery in such a tight environment.
Johnny

 

[wood2steel]

Now you can get 4 as it's half off! walk don't run!!! lol.

All pricing jokes aside, this lathe is pretty rare in general, I suppose a D spindle vs the standard L0 spindle is extra rare.

Wish I had been more familiar with that machine when I saw it a few months . Will probably be a tough sell here in middle Ga. Was a very well kept machine; unfortunately it appears the family turned the place upside down when his health became an issue