Mystery Hendey Lathe

Brand new to me it seems to be in decent condition compared to some I have seen. Mostly old oil has turned into a hard varnish.
It is a 38685H1570. At least I think that is the serial number. The front says No1x30 on it.
It came with a few broken parts in a bag. Looked like a spring and a broken? detent. I think I found the location. After spending a day cleaning scrubbing and oiling and pulling levers to see what does what, there is a rod that if slid back and forth has neutral for the feed screw in the middle and either up or down position turns the apron feed screw one way or the other. Now from viewing pictures and a small amount of common sense I should think there would be a lever to control that rod. The three position bottom rod and lever appear to not do anything. I suspect it is a clutch engagement lever? I'm guessing up is go and middle position is neutral and not sure about the down position unless it is some sort of brake. It hits the pan if you push on it.
So my question is if anyone has any specs on this lathe, history, Source of parts? i.e. for the detents and a lever assembly perhaps for the direction changing rod?
Thanks
I am completely new to machining. I had a cheap little micro lathe made in china for about a month. I sent it back because it was haunted. lol Everything was bent or out of alignment and occasionally it would just start running on its own.

Use the search function and you will find many threads about the lathe. did you meant to 16 X 30? The serial number is for middle 40's.

Serial book says 38685 is 1953.

I think the #1 was one of the vari speed belt driven jobs (not a geared head like the 12 or 18 speed). Member hendeyman can no doubt elaborate

Sounds like a No1 General Purpose lathe. They were an evolution of the cone heads and a very nice lathe. Had a No2 x 42 that was an excellent and very accurate machine.

Interesting. Would love to see some pics of it when you can!

Photos will help!!! I have the #1 X 42 Hendey. The handle to move the rod for the Reverse-Neutral-Forward lead screw direction should be on the right hand side of the apron, that is where it is on my #1 and 12",14" and 24" gear drive Hendeys. That other rod is the Forword/Off/Reverse switch to reverse the motor electrically. No clutch on the #1. That switch is a drum switch that is inside the front cabinet leg along with the motor, pulleys and belt changing mechanism. (#1 Hendey is belt driven as John mentioned but has a Back Gear for low speed) In the lower portion of the tail stock side cabinet leg I have reversing contacters so that the drum switch operates the contacters that supply power to the motors. Those contacters are aranged so that if power is lost while lathe is running either Forward or Reverse and later power supplied the motor will not start if the drum switch is in either Forward or Reverse. To Restart the drum switch must be returned to the OFF position then to the direction desired. I also have the owners manual for the #1 Hendey.

johnoder said:

Serial book says 38685 is 1953.

I think the #1 was one of the vari speed belt driven jobs (not a geared head like the 12 or 18 speed). Member hendeyman can no doubt elaborate

Click to expand...

Yes I could see that. I find it very interesting. Of course I have been pulling covers off when I get a chance. The long lever at the lower left seems to move a leather belt that jumps around on these cones with flats on them. The idler shaft has the opposite of the Motor of course. Then some regular vbelts (4 if I remember correctly) go from the idler shaft to the spindle chuck head assembly. Than on the front you have a ton of gears to choose from. I actually got it running today (sorta) after spending a fortune on wires and 250 volt twist lock connectors. Unfortunatly all I have is a really cheap capacitro based 1 phase to 3 phase converter. It barely worked for my tire balancer and I had to hook two capacitors together in order to get it to go but it still didn't like it. I ordered a big VFD that should be able to run a 5 HP motor so I hope it works with the 3HP that is in there.

I was having a hard time convincing the kids to sit back there and spin the motor for me so I could test what all the levers did. All the other hamsters seemed too small for the job.
Yeah I have no handle for the reverse-neutral-Forward Apron/lead screw. It looks like it is held on by one bolt. Any idea how to fix that? Obviously sourcing an original would be nice. Building one from scratch I would need some sort of model to get the shape at least close.
I was glad to see the power light come on and learn how that control works with that Forward-Off-Reverse motor switch. Moving the lever to the off position pops the push button switch off. except once it didn't and actually stayed on. I let the motor spin down before going the other direction. I actually liked that better because it gets old having to bend down and push that switch. I can see why some other models had that switch mounted mid-height to the left of the apron area.
I didn't run it much because the smell of old grease warming up is not the greatest and the motor actually got warm to the touch pretty quick. I'll wait for the real phase converter to get here before further testing.

I'll get some photos soon and try and get them uploaded. Doing that from my phone is a real pain so will try to find the old camera.

Push Buttons? The box with the pilot light? My #1 don't have any push buttons to turn motor on/off. I have a typical drum switch that's linked to Forward/OFF/Reverse handle on the left side and below the middle of the apron. Linkage rotates the drum switch. I forgot to mention that lower rod also functions as the trip to stop the feed/lead screw. It should have split bushings with square headed bolt that when tighten will contact the carriage which will move that rod shutting off the feed/lead screw. NOTE, do not use it when running spindle in reverse!!!!!!! You will have major repair work if you do.
Simply put all the rods work the same as in gear drive Hendeys, only difference is there is NO clutch so linkage is to a switch to start and stop spindle.

4x4Scout:

Welcome to the Forum.

Hendey lathe No. 38685, a 12 x 30 (1 x 30) No.1 General Purpose Lathe, was ordered on March 11, 1953 and was schedules for
completion during the last week of August 1953. The original owner was the United States Time Corporation, no city or
state was listed. Spindle Speeds were list as 30rpm to 1142rpm. The motor specifications are: Frame 225, 3HP, 1800RPM,
440Volts, 3PH, 60Cycles. There are very few repair parts left in inventory for the No.1 GP, but all of the original
drawings and Bills of Material are still in the files, so parts can be made if required. As an historic note, the last No.1GP was ordered on May 10, 1954. The No.1GP was introduced in 1949 and the No.2GP was introduced in 1947. Both lathes are of the RS type (Raised Swing), the No.1GP will swing 14-1/2 inches over the bed and the No. 2GP will swing 16-1/2 inches over the bed. I keep the endless flat belts in stock for both sizes of lathe. Another historic note: On February 2, 1955, a meeting was held at Barber Colman in Rockford to determine which Hendey machines would remain in production. The
No. 1GP and several other lathes were eliminated along with half of the shaper line. The H1570 in the Serial Number indicates that your lathe is equipped with the 1570 Induction Hardened and Ground lathe Bed produced by hendey.

Hendeyman

Froneck said:

Push Buttons? The box with the pilot light? My #1 don't have any push buttons to turn motor on/off. I have a typical drum switch that's linked to Forward/OFF/Reverse handle on the left side and below the middle of the apron. Linkage rotates the drum switch. I forgot to mention that lower rod also functions as the trip to stop the feed/lead screw. It should have split bushings with square headed bolt that when tighten will contact the carriage which will move that rod shutting off the feed/lead screw. NOTE, do not use it when running spindle in reverse!!!!!!! You will have major repair work if you do.
Simply put all the rods work the same as in gear drive Hendeys, only difference is there is NO clutch so linkage is to a switch to start and stop spindle.

Click to expand...

Yep it has some push button switches. Ill upload the electrics here.

Pictures

Here are some pictures.

I presume the above is where my Apron reverse lever is supposed to be?

This might have been taken apart because the lever is missing? Just a guess because I bet that would be a hard shift with no lever. As it is I have to apply some force to get it to shift.

How concerned should I be about that belt?

Wrong size T-nut and what is that rod sticking out there? It has some threads on one end but it just slides in and out.

Also not sure what the above is. It is seized up solid. No rust just old varnished grease I think. If I can get it off and soak it in paint thinner? Maybe I can get it apart.

More Pictures

Inch and a half I think. Can anyone explain the ring with the numbers on it?

Full picture of the end.

A little brass.

Is this for a Follow Rest? I can't think of anything else you would need a bracket off the cross slide for.

More Misc Pictures

Just some more random pictures I took of it this afternoon.






I will say this. That tailstock is the smoothest thing I have ever seen. It slides on the ways smooth. It spins all the way in and all the way out super smooth and there is no play in it at all.
Everything else is kinda stiff. Except the motor. The motor takes a while to spin down and is totally smooth. Can't wait to power it properly.

Thanks Hendeyman. I really appreciate the info.

The sellers listed this lathe as a "Tool Room" lathe. Can you tell me the difference?
I took some measurements and if I didn't screw those up it was 7.5 inches from the tip of the pencil I stuck in the three way to the closest part of the bed. Could probably technically swing a couple of milimeters under 15 inches.

Ok so this 1570 number. Is that just a part number than for the type of bed? Or maybe some reference to the type of casting?

Thanks.

4X4Scout:

In 1947, Hendey started Induction Hardening their lathe beds and grinding them. All beds treated this way were numbered
sequentially regardless of the size or type of lathe. In your case, the 1570 represents the 1570th bed manufactured under
this process. In the early days, the beds usually were assigned the number 1, representing the largest casting or part on
the machine. After 1900, the practice was to assign the drawing number to the part, this practice continued until the end
of production in 1954.

Hendeyman

Thanks Hendeyman. You really know these lathes like the back of your hand. So hopefully my last question would be what would you do or suggest I do about this missing Apron reverse lever?

4x4Scout:

I must admit that I usually visit the PM only a few times a week and confine most of my information to the history of a
particular machine. For some reason, I thought that you had a copy of the Operator's Manual, which would have answered many
of your questions. I stock copies of this manual, if you need one, contact me. Since there are so many knowledgeable people on this site that can answer most of your questions, I don't always read an entire post. I will try to comment on the
pictures you posted, taking them in order.

Picture #1 is the location of the Apron Reverse Lever
Picture #2 is the location of the Detent and Spring in the bag of parts
Picture #3 shows the wrong type of belt for the Cone Pulleys. It should be an endless belt to allow for smooth shifting.
Picture #4 is the Threading Stop Rod, it is used to control depth in thread cutting, Adjust Feed clutch for proper drag
Picture #5 is the Micrometer Stop, very handy for various operations
Picture #6 is the Index Ring used when cutting multistart threads, can be used for basic division work from 1 to 36
Picture #7 is a nice picture of the left hand side of your lathe
Picture #8 is the Cross Feed dial, I am not sure what your question is about this part
Picture #9 is the Connecting Link for the Taper attachment

Regarding the Apron Reverse Handle, I still have one raw casting in stock. If you want to do your own machine work, I can sell you the casting and a copy of the drawing. For the Operator's Manual, the Endless Flat Belt or any other items for
your lathe, contact me directly at: [email protected]

Hendeyman

4x4Scout:

I forgot to mention that the Operator's manual contains a copy of the electrical schematic for your lathe. If you would
like a separate copy for your files, request Drawing No. B45-1537, entitled #1 General Purpose Lathe Wiring Diagram.

Hendeyman