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Rivett-608 Repair

TotallyClueless

Plastic
Joined
May 26, 2020
I stumbled upon an inexpensive Rivett 608 lathe over the weekend and I am in the midst of researching how to get it running again. As the username suggests, I am entirely clueless about this process but I am excited to learn and would welcome any advice.

A little about the lathe:
Rivett 608-PC-5C
Made 1942
Everything moves, but some parts more freely than others
Some superficial rust on drums and casing, no visible pitting
Thick coat of congealed oil on the ways and gears
Sits on a cast iron drip pan with speed box motor drive, like below
Rivett608.jpg
Came with a motor, but the wiring was disconnected and there is no name plate. It has four wires, so I think it may be a 3 phase motor? One white, two black, and one red wire.

My main question is what the proper type and length of belt would be to connect the speed drive to the headstock, but any tips would be appreciated. I am also interested in recommendations for oil to keep everything running smoothly once I have finished.
 
Hopefully yours is better than the one I bought a while back. It's almost all there, but many parts were found in the drawers, mixed with dog kibble and irrelevant lathe parts from other machines. I have refurbished and re-scraped some of it, but the next big part is the bed, which I now have the reference tools to do. I have a mill to finish first, and then I will have time to start on it.

As first seen in the advertisement.... Apparently he had a flip phone.... the seller built drag racing rails, he was a welder, not a machinist. Odd thing is I called about it the first time it was for sale, but I guess he knew the seller then (another drag racing fabricator) and bought it. He turned it on by plugging it in, and had taken off most of the parts, but at least he oiled it.

OuR9NKm.jpg


parts and kibble....

8gxlKWg.jpg


QC as received

93aSM1b.jpg


The bull gear had a few issues

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Luckily mine seems to have no teeth missing on the gears. It seems to generally be in good shape, just a lot of very old grease. I'm having an interesting issue with the gearbox. I have taken it off and have a bit of an issue with the pins that connect it to the powerfeed leadscrew. I posted about it over here - link. If anyone has any insight, I would greatly appreciate it.
 








 
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