Rivett Lathe ?

Hey guys. I'm a complete newbie when it comes to lathes in general. I do a lot of motorcycle builds and I really wanted to make some of my own parts.
I just picked up this Rivett metal lathe a few days ago. It came with eight collets. I have been doing research and what I can tell it is likely a 505? I'm not sure as it has no numbers stamped anywhere. I have found a lot of use full information on this site so far but was wondering if any one has any more info or any upgrades that can be done to this lathe. Thanks!

I will take a guess that it uses Hardinge 5NS collets. Give some dimensions on one of your collets and we can confirm it, or maybe you have a marked collet. If not 5NS, then it will be 5OS, with smaller threads. A proper Rivett slide rest will be very hard to find. Your lever cross slide is even more rare, but not as useful. Rivett made beautiful lathes, using form mills to finish every surface. But tooling is rather scarce.

Larry

Cool... Nice lathe. I am currently away from any of my Rivett paperwork so I can't look this up myself...... what is the deal with that Tee slot looking slot just under the surface of the bed? I have a Rivett #4 that looks very similar to this less slot.

Also check out the Rivett608 Yahoo group...... a lot of great info there too.

Very nice lathe! Just my $0.02, but you may well find this machine a bit on the small side for motorcycle work. You might want to either sell it or trade for something in the 12-16" range.

Wow, that's a nice lathe.

Random newbie questions: did they come bare-metal like that, or was it originally painted? If one were restoring a machine, would it be reasonable to strip the paint, polish the metal, and protect it with paste wax, rather than repainting?

Thanks, Patrick

Some info here: (I can't seem to find your lathe - i.e. none on Tony's site have the side T slot or the ornate legs)

http://www.lathes.co.uk/rivett/index.html

[edit] Aha - lathe No5 has the legs and overall shape - but still no side T-slot though.
http://www.lathes.co.uk/rivett34/page7.html

That lathe should NOT be painted..... it never was...... that pretty metal finish was the way they were made.

That tee slot

I think that the tee slot is because this lathe originally came with the chase screw cutting attachment-there should be one on the other side of the lathe.

You would have a metal stop plate bolted to the front of the bed for the drop arm with the thread chaser to drop onto...

The rear slot would take the blocks for the shaft mounting the chase arm and follower hob.

There might be some extra holes at the back of the headstock where the hob bracket was bolted on..if it was fitted...

It might be on the lathes.co.uk website under 606...

I have a 505 rollerbearing headstock 1942 505 with the full chase screwcutting attachments...
not near my base computer at the moment-will post some pics in the next few days..
My guess is that it might be 5NS or 4NS collets look on the shank of the collet...with those curly legs could be earlier say 4OS...

Nice early survivor..needs looking after..

Regards

John

Hi Silverkrown,

I have a 505 not sure of the date or anything on it. Mine uses 5NS collets. it is not near as pretty, but came with a lot of lovely tooling and a boatload of collets so it was too hard to pass up. I am currently fussing about with the rear spindle bearing (mine is a plain bearing model), it appears to have been replaced at some point, and not done entirely correctly. These are nice little lathes, and the one you got is especially so, given that it has the proper Rivett finish (pretty, no paint).

If you need any info to compare to, I might be able to help, perhaps you have some info or pictures that could help me fix mine.

best,
jon

p.s. - check out this website http://shopswarf.orconhosting.net.nz/collet.html

for info regarding collet sizes. I have only ever heard of these with 5NS and 5C collets. I think yours is probably a 5NS machine also like mine, but you can verify from the charts. they also have a page of which machines used which collets, and they list the 505 as using 5NS or 5C. collets are going to be expensive, but you should have threads on your spindle nose to mount a chuck (mine does). they may be hidden by a protective cover that screws off.

I just noticed that yours has a lever collet closer, I would love some detail pics and some measurements at some point if you get the chance. mine used to, but it is partially missing.