marka12161
Stainless
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2016
- Location
- Oswego, NY USA
I brought this home last week. Purchase price was $800. The machine came with the original face plate and dog plate but no chuck, no steady rest and no taper attachment. John Oder was good enough to send me scans of the original sales brochure and a photo of the taper attachment. The brochure indicates that the standard offering was with a face plate & dog plate but no chuck (interesting sign of the times).
This particular machine was donated by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute's class of 1885 to WPI in June of 1935 which is both an interesting bit of history and helps explain the good condition of the machine. The ways are not dinged or scoured. I have not yet assessed them for wear. The lead screw is in excellent condition, there is very little play in the half nut and the cross slide and compound have very little backlash all of which i hope to be an indication of a very lightly used machine. I opened the headstock and rolled all the gears and unlike my father (who is of similar age) this machine has all it's teeth. The prior owner powered it up before i bought it and all sounded fine when running. After a week of poking and prodding i only see a few issues:
1. The front and back pedestal panels are missing. These are easily fabricated and from the pics i've seen don't look to be cast parts.
2. The carriage apron leaks oil like a sieve. I suspect this can be fixed with a new gasket for the lower apron casting
3. There is about 10 or 15 thou of wiggle (technical term) in the carriage hand wheel with an associated oil leak. I'm not sure if the wear is the boss on the apron, the hand wheel shaft or some yet to identified bushing. The rack gear looks to be in great shape so this wiggle is a bit puzzling. Maybe RP just built it loose. I hope so because if the wheel was turned a lot, it may mean the ways are worn.
4. Threaded spindle, no readily available chuck adapter
And now for my questions:
1. I bought a Bison 10 inch 4 jaw chuck for this machine but no chuck adapter. My plan is to mount the faceplate on the machine, confirm it is running true (not warped deformed etc) and then bolt the chuck to the faceplate. This will then allow me to use the 4 jaw to machine a chuck adapter and a male go/no-go thread guage to test for the spindle thread in the chuck adapter. If this is a terrible idea please tell me so and why.
2. The headstock oil stinks and needs to be changed. There are some yellow metal parts in there so i'll have to stay away from oils that attack these parts but i'm unsure what viscosity i should use. I assume i should use the same oil in the apron reservoir. The gear box in the Kempsmith Mill calls for SAE 90 (roughly equivalent to ISO 220). Both the RP lathe and the Kempsmith Mill are splash lubricated so i'm feeling like ISO 220 oil might be good. Please offer alternative opinions if you have any.
3. If anyone has or knows of an available taper attachment out there that might fit this beast, please let me know. I've got a WTB post on the Tools, Parts & Accessories forum already.
That's all for now
This particular machine was donated by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute's class of 1885 to WPI in June of 1935 which is both an interesting bit of history and helps explain the good condition of the machine. The ways are not dinged or scoured. I have not yet assessed them for wear. The lead screw is in excellent condition, there is very little play in the half nut and the cross slide and compound have very little backlash all of which i hope to be an indication of a very lightly used machine. I opened the headstock and rolled all the gears and unlike my father (who is of similar age) this machine has all it's teeth. The prior owner powered it up before i bought it and all sounded fine when running. After a week of poking and prodding i only see a few issues:
1. The front and back pedestal panels are missing. These are easily fabricated and from the pics i've seen don't look to be cast parts.
2. The carriage apron leaks oil like a sieve. I suspect this can be fixed with a new gasket for the lower apron casting
3. There is about 10 or 15 thou of wiggle (technical term) in the carriage hand wheel with an associated oil leak. I'm not sure if the wear is the boss on the apron, the hand wheel shaft or some yet to identified bushing. The rack gear looks to be in great shape so this wiggle is a bit puzzling. Maybe RP just built it loose. I hope so because if the wheel was turned a lot, it may mean the ways are worn.
4. Threaded spindle, no readily available chuck adapter
And now for my questions:
1. I bought a Bison 10 inch 4 jaw chuck for this machine but no chuck adapter. My plan is to mount the faceplate on the machine, confirm it is running true (not warped deformed etc) and then bolt the chuck to the faceplate. This will then allow me to use the 4 jaw to machine a chuck adapter and a male go/no-go thread guage to test for the spindle thread in the chuck adapter. If this is a terrible idea please tell me so and why.
2. The headstock oil stinks and needs to be changed. There are some yellow metal parts in there so i'll have to stay away from oils that attack these parts but i'm unsure what viscosity i should use. I assume i should use the same oil in the apron reservoir. The gear box in the Kempsmith Mill calls for SAE 90 (roughly equivalent to ISO 220). Both the RP lathe and the Kempsmith Mill are splash lubricated so i'm feeling like ISO 220 oil might be good. Please offer alternative opinions if you have any.
3. If anyone has or knows of an available taper attachment out there that might fit this beast, please let me know. I've got a WTB post on the Tools, Parts & Accessories forum already.
That's all for now
