Need help ID small old lathe/threading lathe

Overall length 21 3/4". Came with 29 threading gears. This is hand cranked. The three position lever at the left of the head stock disengages spindle from lead screw, engages spindle to turn lead screw same direction as crank, or turns lead screw opposite the direction of the crank.
Has backgears, but so far unable to split spindle shaft.

Three Vs on ways - outer two for the slide and inner one for tail stock and steady rest.
All iron and steel.

Steve

Don't know what that strange machine in the foreground is, but that is a Levin WW or D 12" bed instrument lathe with Swiss 3-jaw chuck behind it. I have Levin attachments to make one like that cut screw threads.

Larry

Items came together on same board.Second one is indeed a Levin 8mm WW. Two 3 jaw chucks. One is maker unknown, although there are some markings. The other is marked Levin and also marked BANI
Switzerland. Has about 30 collets and centers, about 1/2 Levin. Strangely also has 16 D collets, still in the tubes, some unopened. Also has a two motion cross slide - Levin. I do have a Levin Instrument Makers Lathe. Threading attachment would be nice - but!

NEPA Green said:

Items came together on same board.Second one is indeed a Levin 8mm WW. Two 3 jaw chucks. One is maker unknown, although there are some markings. The other is marked Levin and also marked BANI
Switzerland. Has about 30 collets and centers, about 1/2 Levin. Strangely also has 16 D collets, still in the tubes, some unopened. Also has a two motion cross slide - Levin. I do have a Levin Instrument Makers Lathe. Threading attachment would be nice - but!

Click to expand...

Could it be it isn't really a lathe? How does dividing or ruling engine fit?

I think it started its life as a lathe, but got heavily modified. I doubt that back gears do anything useful if crank is coupled to the spindle (back gears would work only if power were applied to the cone pulley, allowing it to spin much faster than the spindle).

Is the shaft of the divider permanently engaged to the bull gear, or can it be disengaged?

If it can be disengaged and the crank removed (and there is an underdrive-I kind of guess the presence of a belt on the middle pulley), I would say that it's a small lathe (two good details for its identification is the leadscrew reversing tumbler in the headstock and the carriage permanently engaged to the leadscrew) with dividing capabilities likely added by one of the previous owners. If not, it was a lathe and now it's a fancy dividing head, perhaps to engrave the faces of clocks and gauges.

Paolo

Definately a purpose built instrument makers thing. Can the hand crank drive the carriage while the spindle position is set by the dividing plate? If so, i could see how it might be some sort of circular straight line engraver. It think the fact that it mounted to a board with another lathe that has a motor would indicate that this machine was entirely hand powered.

Thanks for the reply and insightful questions.
Currently when the back gear is engaged, everything locks up. The small lever at the right end of the headstock, I believe, is to lock and unlock that gear closest to the chuck. Moving that lever does nothing and I think the lock is frozen which would require complete disassembly of the headstock to repair.

The shaft of the divider can be engaged or disengaged. There is a lock screw on the backside
which allows the middle lever on the front side to rotate the worm in or out and be locked in either position.

There is a lever, between the headstock and that large gear that engages or disengages the whole gear train. Hard to see in pics. With the four gears currently installed 12 revolutions of the headstock crank results in one revolution of the lead screw.
The carriage is permanently connected to the leadscrew.

There is an undershaft, it is adjustable up and down. It is connected to nothing else inside the headstock. The shaft extends out of the left side and is missing its pulley. I will need to get some pictures to explain the mystery.

The is no evidence of modification to anything anywhere on this machine.

I'll provide more pictures later.

MrStretch said:

Definately a purpose built instrument makers thing. Can the hand crank drive the carriage while the spindle position is set by the dividing plate? If so, i could see how it might be some sort of circular straight line engraver. It think the fact that it mounted to a board with another lathe that has a motor would indicate that this machine was entirely hand powered.

Click to expand...

Yes, the hand crank will move the carriage with the divider engaged.

Miniature hand cranked gear shaper?

Wanna donate it to a clockmaker?

MrStretch said:

Wanna donate it to a clockmaker?

Click to expand...

Donate? What's that word, have to look it up.

I am wondering if the extended cross slide may have held a drilling or milling attachment of some kind at the back?
If so with the dividing attachment in the headstock it may have been used for drilling rows of holes or slots of some kind.
These are the types of parts I was thinking of
Coldharbour13.jpg Photo by Asquith1 | Photobucket
GiggMill01.jpg Photo by Asquith1 | Photobucket
I'm not sure the links will work for every one but I can still view the pictures this way
They are shown in posts # 30 and 36 this older thread by Asquith
https://www.practicalmachinist.com/...ry-229276/index2.html?highlight=Textile+Mills
Clicking on the thumbnails still takes me to Asquith's Album
Some other textile related parts and fixtures shown in the link at post 62 .
American Machinist : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
For much larger parts like paper mill rolls there are much larger multi spindle drilling machines like the ones shown here that can drill various hole patterns .
Drill Matic
Regards,
Jim

Additional photos showing undershaft and location of it's missing pulley, engagement attachment for gear train, and the mystery shaft that drives a small square drive on what looks like a automobile speedometer cable connection. Note that this is all part of the original casting
Would love to find maker and a gear chart.
Removing the gears found that the threads are metric, coupled with the original owners name I conclude that this is German made?

Jim Christie said:

I am wondering if the extended cross slide may have held a drilling or milling attachment of some kind at the back?
If so with the dividing attachment in the headstock it may have been used for drilling rows of holes or slots of some kind.
These are the types of parts I was thinking of
Coldharbour13.jpg Photo by Asquith1 | Photobucket
GiggMill01.jpg Photo by Asquith1 | Photobucket
I'm not sure the links will work for every one but I can still view the pictures this way
They are shown in posts # 30 and 36 this older thread by Asquith
https://www.practicalmachinist.com/...ry-229276/index2.html?highlight=Textile+Mills
Clicking on the thumbnails still takes me to Asquith's Album
Some other textile related parts and fixtures shown in the link at post 62 .
American Machinist : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
For much larger parts like paper mill rolls there are much larger multi spindle drilling machines like the ones shown here that can drill various hole patterns .
Drill Matic
Regards,
Jim

Click to expand...

Jim, the size of the machine and the unusual shape of the carriage (not apparent in previous photos) would be very limiting. No signs of anything bolted to or clamped to that extension.
Those circular parts with three rows of pins in Asquith's pics could certainly be possible.
Steve

I don't know but it is cool looking. Seems familiar to me, I'll have to look through my photos of machines in Deutsches Museum in Munich, They had a lot of machines!