Erichimedes
Plastic
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2019
Hello all. I've been a lurker on these forums for years, and can't tell you how much I've learned from the wealth of knowledge available here. I figured I'd start posting since I've got something worth posting about.
I'm a custom bicycle frame builder and I use my machines to do tube mitering, slotting, and drilling, but also quite a bit of custom toolmaking. Machine tools are scarce around here, and I had a South Bend Junior 9" for quite a while that got plenty of jobs done well enough. But having learned on a Harrison 13", I knew what a real lathe could do. I'd been keeping an eye out for a long time and finally this Cinicinnati Hydrashift 13 showed up only 4 hours away at a great deal. I went to look at it and was surprised at how good of shape it was in. If the stories are true, I'm only the third owner, and the previous two didn't do too much harm to it.
It's finally in place in the shop, so I took some pictures.
I had to pick up a L0 spanner from Walter A since the PO's were apparently using a drift and hammer to get the lockring on and off . These spanners are fantastic! Walter was easy to order from and I'm impressed with what I got for the price. Since I do my own powder coating, I decided to coat it when I did the next run of powder. Turquoise was in the gun, so that's what color the spanner is!
When it arrived here, I took it off the trailer with a chain hoist and an eye hook going through a beam that spanned 4 of the garage trusses. The ceiling didn't even flex with all the weight, I was surprised and also relieved.
Anyway, I'm just posting to try and find the other Hydrashift owners out there. Especially any who have done work on the head. Mine runs fine, when I got it I flushed the oil and adjusted the hydraulic pressure at both regulators. It shifts great and runs reasonably quiet. I was hesitant to buy this machine because of the hydrashift system, but every other aspect about it was exactly what I wanted; swing, spindle bore, old American iron, gear head, and built nice and heavy. Now that I've played around with the system and understand it a bit more, I actually really like it. I think it'll take a little getting used to, but overall it seems to work well.
So, I do have a couple questions for the folks out there who might have an answer.
-When I stop the spindle with the brake, it seems to sort of "stick" and it's hard to move the chuck. If I move the clutch lever towards a jogging action, the spindle will start to spin, slowly, like the clutch is just barely engaged. Basically, it seems like there's no real 'neutral' in there, it just goes from clutch straight to brake. Is something adjusted wrong, or is this just how these machines are? Once I've stopped the spindle, I usually need to put the wrench in the chuck to be able to turn it a bit, for whatever angle I need. If I need a really free moving chuck, I put the giant dial(that thing is fun) in neutral and then the chuck turns freely.
-Does anyone have a lead on some P-55 lubricant like Mobil DTE Medium that I can buy in 1 gallon increments? I bought 5 gallons of DTE light for the headstock, but I can't find anything smaller than a 5 gallon bucket of the Medium, and I don't need that much for just the QCGB and carriage. I'm considering just putting way lube in the carriage reservoir since that just goes on the ways and lead screws. But I'd like to find the correct lube for the QCGB.
-Does anyone have one of these with a taper attachment? Mine has the attachment, but there is supposed to be a block that clamps to the bedway and holds on to the taper attachment so it stays still when you take a cut. Mine is missing, and I'm sure I can make one, but I'd love to see detailed pictures of a real one in the flesh so I have something to work off of. I wouldn't mind making the replacement at least close to an original. The part I'm talking about would go here:
Ok, that's it for now, thanks in advance for any help offered.
I'm a custom bicycle frame builder and I use my machines to do tube mitering, slotting, and drilling, but also quite a bit of custom toolmaking. Machine tools are scarce around here, and I had a South Bend Junior 9" for quite a while that got plenty of jobs done well enough. But having learned on a Harrison 13", I knew what a real lathe could do. I'd been keeping an eye out for a long time and finally this Cinicinnati Hydrashift 13 showed up only 4 hours away at a great deal. I went to look at it and was surprised at how good of shape it was in. If the stories are true, I'm only the third owner, and the previous two didn't do too much harm to it.
It's finally in place in the shop, so I took some pictures.
I had to pick up a L0 spanner from Walter A since the PO's were apparently using a drift and hammer to get the lockring on and off . These spanners are fantastic! Walter was easy to order from and I'm impressed with what I got for the price. Since I do my own powder coating, I decided to coat it when I did the next run of powder. Turquoise was in the gun, so that's what color the spanner is!
When it arrived here, I took it off the trailer with a chain hoist and an eye hook going through a beam that spanned 4 of the garage trusses. The ceiling didn't even flex with all the weight, I was surprised and also relieved.
Anyway, I'm just posting to try and find the other Hydrashift owners out there. Especially any who have done work on the head. Mine runs fine, when I got it I flushed the oil and adjusted the hydraulic pressure at both regulators. It shifts great and runs reasonably quiet. I was hesitant to buy this machine because of the hydrashift system, but every other aspect about it was exactly what I wanted; swing, spindle bore, old American iron, gear head, and built nice and heavy. Now that I've played around with the system and understand it a bit more, I actually really like it. I think it'll take a little getting used to, but overall it seems to work well.
So, I do have a couple questions for the folks out there who might have an answer.
-When I stop the spindle with the brake, it seems to sort of "stick" and it's hard to move the chuck. If I move the clutch lever towards a jogging action, the spindle will start to spin, slowly, like the clutch is just barely engaged. Basically, it seems like there's no real 'neutral' in there, it just goes from clutch straight to brake. Is something adjusted wrong, or is this just how these machines are? Once I've stopped the spindle, I usually need to put the wrench in the chuck to be able to turn it a bit, for whatever angle I need. If I need a really free moving chuck, I put the giant dial(that thing is fun) in neutral and then the chuck turns freely.
-Does anyone have a lead on some P-55 lubricant like Mobil DTE Medium that I can buy in 1 gallon increments? I bought 5 gallons of DTE light for the headstock, but I can't find anything smaller than a 5 gallon bucket of the Medium, and I don't need that much for just the QCGB and carriage. I'm considering just putting way lube in the carriage reservoir since that just goes on the ways and lead screws. But I'd like to find the correct lube for the QCGB.
-Does anyone have one of these with a taper attachment? Mine has the attachment, but there is supposed to be a block that clamps to the bedway and holds on to the taper attachment so it stays still when you take a cut. Mine is missing, and I'm sure I can make one, but I'd love to see detailed pictures of a real one in the flesh so I have something to work off of. I wouldn't mind making the replacement at least close to an original. The part I'm talking about would go here:
Ok, that's it for now, thanks in advance for any help offered.