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Some questions about my Hendey Lathe No. 11819

Tommcmi

Plastic
Joined
Nov 27, 2018
Hello, new to the forum. I bought my Hendey lathe on a bit of an impulse at a farm auction. Used it a couple times, but now its's time to get serious about getting it in better operating condition. After reading some of the posts on here I understand it is about 1910- 1911 vintage and well worth fixing. The half nuts are worn bad. I assume they are babbit, is it possible to rebuild similar to a babbit bearing pour? Also, the chuck jaws are badly worn. Could they be built up with weld and ground or just grind them true as they are.

thanks
Tom
 
Tom,

Welcome to the forum, lots of good information here and more in heads of the the forum members. I believe the half nuts are babbit but both my lathes have half nuts if good shape so it is one thing I have not had to worry about yet. As for chuck jaws, I would try grinding them first. There are good suggestions on how to go about that here in this forum as well as several videos I've seen on YouTube.

I am in the process of restoring a 12x6 tiebar Hendey built in 1910 so if you need photos of disassembled components let me know.

Craig
 
Tommcmi:

Hendey Lathe No. 11819 a 20 x 8 Cone Head model, was completed during the last week of August 1910. It was shipped with a Taper attachment and an Oil Pan. The original owner was Factory Products Ltd., no country, state or city was listed. There are no longer any Patterns, Castings or Repair Parts left in inventory for this lathe, but all of the original drawings are still in the files, so parts can be made if required.

Regarding the Half-Nuts, as originally manuafactured they were one casting. After cleaning, boring and drilling the anchor holes for the
Babbitt metal. the casting was fluxed and tinned to receive the metal. The casting was then mounted on a fixture with an arbor, whose
diameter was smaller than minor diameter of the Leadscrew. After pouring the metal and allowing it to cool, the casting was placed in a fixture that would allow reaming and tapping of the hole. It was then sent to the milling machine to have the casting sawn in half. As a final operation, the halves were set on a flat plate and the metal that came through the drilled and countersunk holes was peened and filed to secure the Babbitt. After a light chamfer of the edges, the Half-Nuts were ready for fitting.

When repouring Half-Nuts, I usually follow the method I just outlined. Since the Half-Nuts are now two pieces, it is necessary to put
a 1/8 inch shim between the two halves prior to pouring. The arbor, reaming and tapping method works just fine if you have them.If you
have a second lathe available, then you still use the arbor during the pour, but the reaming and tapping are replaced by using a face-
plate and an angle plate in the lathe for boring and thread cutting.

If you don't have access to another lathe, then there is always the time honored (but awkward) Leadscrew Method. This normally entails
using a short piece of Leadscrew in place of the arbor. The screw is given a good and even coating of lampblack from an acetylene torch.
When done right, this will produce a beautiful image in the Babbitt. I keep short lengths of the various Hendey Leadscrews around for
just such occasions. Before I had these handy items, I had a field repair miles from the shop and time was a problem. To get the job
done, I removed the Leadscrew from the lathe and used it to repour the Half-Nuts. The Half-Nuts came out just fine, but I have never
repeated that method. From the standpoint of convenience, it compares to leveling a lineshaft by jacking up the end of your shop instead
of shimming the hangers.

Hendeyman
 
Thanks For the replies. Ph, the manual will be helpful, thanks. Looking forward to trying the reverse for the leadscrew. The restoration you linked is spectacular!
Craig thanks for the offer I'll see how it goes. Hendeyman, thanks for the babbit tips. Since my other lathe might be too small I may end up pulling the leadscrew!
here's a picture in it's new home414076757.jpg

A question about the chuck. When I grind the jaws they are going to get pretty wide and have a concave shape. Should I grind the beveled sides to narrow up the center or not?

Also, what would be the best way to repair the cross slide? Or get a piece of cast and make a new one?
 

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The "cross slide" you show in the picture is actually the "compound" or "top slide". The damage in your photo is not unknown on older lathes. It is repairable without making a whole new compound body. The common repair is to machine off the damaged/broken portion of the casting. A new top piece for the tee slot is then made of steel and fastened to the compound's body casting using socket head screws. Chances are the repair piece will be too thin to allow using socket head screws in counterbored holes. The usual repair is to use flathead screws in countersunk holes as these do not need as much depth. If the screw heads stand a little above the surface of the repair piece, the screw heads can be machined or filed off flush.

I've seen a few old lathes with broken-out tee slots repaired in this manner. I've also seen one old lathe where the compound body must have taken a hell of a shot (probably a crash into the chuck while the spindle was turning, likely in back gear). That particular compound had been repaired by brazing, and it had a HEAVY braze repair on it. It had been repaired ages ago and the lathe had seen many years of use judging by the appearance of the repair. The downside to brazing on a part like the compound is it puts heat into a part which has dovetail sliding surfaces which were scraped in when the lathe was built (or rebuilt over the years). Brazing or welding put heat into the cast body of the compound and likely cause it to distort. Either the compound's dovetails are so worn that a little warpage is not an issue, or the person doing the repair winds up doing some bluing and scraping on the compound after the welding or brazing is done.

The use of a steel "repair plate" will not cause any problems with distortion of the compound's dovetail sliding surfaces. It is a tried-and-true method. If you have access to a milling machine or shaper, the compound in the area of the broken-out tee slot is machined so a good fit for the repair piece is made. Surfaces are square and flat. I'd use a piece of A-36 hot rolled steel flat bar (structural grade steel, nothing fancy but a bit stronger and less likely to distort from machining than cold rolled steel) for the repair piece. You may wind up milling out an "L" shaped repair piece and effectively replacing the outer end of the tee slot in the casting.

Getting a chunk of cast iron and making a new compound body is more of a major undertaking. It would require reverse-engineering to determine the geometry of the dovetail on the lower (stationary) part of the compound, and then milling (requiring a form cutter to mill the dovetail) or cutting the dovetail on a shaper. After that, some scraping to get the fit made and likely some re-scraping of the compound base's dovetail since it is worn from years of use. There is more work there than meets the eye. I'd go with the steel repair piece screwed into the existing casting and not lose a moment of sleep over it.
 
Duh, yes compound! I guess I shouldn't post late at night! Thanks Joe and Craig for the advice. the compound repair should be relatively easy now. I even have a large enough piece of A36 (44W here in Canada) to use
 
I got the spindle out. Wasn't treated real well last time it was apart.
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At some point someone hammered a zerk into the sight hole for the oil reservoir and --greased it!
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As you can see the bearing has been replaced with a brass replacement. Any advice on getting it out so I can properly clean the reservoir? The instructions (light hammer and a block of wood) from the Hendey manual aren't working. I carefully tried a bigger hammer.
 

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Heaven forbid it is "brass", which was never a serious machine tool bearing material

If the replacement Bronze is actually missing (can't see it in photo) the oiling ring and its slot, the repair was really a low blow to Hendey's marvelous oiling system

The block of wood biz was for Hendey's idea of fit up when new. The original bearing material became far too brittle for such 95 plus years down the road, and no one has any idea at all how much or how little FORCE was needed to install the replacement.

I'd suggest some hydraulic help. If the oiling ring IS present, you have to have it centered or it will hang up and everything will come to a screeching halt
 
You asked about regrinding the chuck jaws. You would need to preload the chuck jaws by putting a steel ring around that is of a large enough dia. that the jaws can be open enough to all a grinding stone in a die grinder mounted on the tool post to grind the jaws. A much better idea is to take off the three jaw chuck and use it for a boat anchor, paper weight, welding fixture or scrap it. Then replace it with a four jaw chuck.
 
Heaven forbid it is "brass", which was never a serious machine tool bearing material

If the replacement Bronze is actually missing (can't see it in photo) the oiling ring and its slot, the repair was really a low blow to Hendey's marvelous oiling system

The block of wood biz was for Hendey's idea of fit up when new. The original bearing material became far too brittle for such 95 plus years down the road, and no one has any idea at all how much or how little FORCE was needed to install the replacement.

I'd suggest some hydraulic help. If the oiling ring IS present, you have to have it centered or it will hang up and everything will come to a screeching halt

I had better brush up on my terminology:o. Yes the slot and the oiling ring is present. Is the ring a continuous loop? when I look into the oil fill hole I can see a gap in the ring similar to a piston ring
 
Tommcmi,

Could you post a photo looking into the spindle bearing so we can see what, if anything, was done about the ring oiling system John mentioned? I posted a pretty crappy video with poor audio about the work I've done on my Hendey headstock. Hendey Lathe, Headstock Part 2 - YouTube

I'd recommend not removing your spindle bearings unless absolutely necessary, odds of damage during the process are high.

Craig
 
Craig, I have watched several of your videos. Very informative, that particular video was still pretty good, it helped me along.
Here is a photo of the bearing. as you can see it has a slot and the ring is there just cant see it due to the grease in the oil reservoir. I got more grease cleaned out yesterday and can move the ring. still needs a lot more cleaning.
414111721.jpg

I just read another post about cleaning the oil reservoir, I think I will try that.
 

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Tommcmi,

I used one of these air powered engine cleaners (Engine Cleaning Gun) with odorless mineral spirits to blast out the reservoirs. I would let it sit between sessions and kept at it until the mineral spirits came out relatively clean. I had talked to Hendeyman about removing the bearings and he had advised against it, like John mentioned above, the potential to destroy them is high.

Good luck.

Craig
 








 
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