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Monarch 16-C Assessment and Setup

Rex

Aluminum
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Location
Kankakee IL
I have a 16-C that appears to be in excellent condition externally, but I would like to know what common problems to look for on these machines to determine if it's worth extending power to it's location and buying tooling sufficient to perform test cuts.

I see a good thread here about the lube system problems and it got me wondering what else to look for.

I'll also need direction on the leveling sequence for 8 points of contact. I've done several with 4 points but never 8.
 
That will be a really solid built and rugged lathe. Most things I'd be looking at are not really Monarch specific, but just how I'd approach any machine.

First and foremost way condition. Next I'd love to look inside headstock if that option were available, but may not be. If you can look in headstock, just be careful with the weight of top cover. It could be easy to drop as they are heavy and awkward.

Pretty good idea to shift all the speeds on head stock. Listen to each gear running after engaged. Notice your engagement how it pops or locks in. Shift all the speeds on qcgb. Run the controls on apron etc.

Look up inside qcgb at the gears. How does clutch engagement feel ? Does tail stock move in and out nice, and how's its taper ? Maybe lift up and down on handwheels and dials. How's the electrical system look.

Even with a nice machine, I'm going to find something. It just a fact of life, if its 50 to 80 years old there will be something. Just need to decide to live with it, or address and fix it. The higher the cost on machine the more picky I'd get. If its cheap, just buy it and quit messing around :D.

If you're in Illinois, then you have more options for shopping around and getting decent prices.

And don't let the lube system thread bother you, for the most part that's not Monarch specific either. Any old machine that uses bijur metering units will have some or even most not working. One way or another you have to deal with them. or use a paint brush to lube your machine if need be :D.

On leveling, the bases and bed are structurally pretty rigid. Dont let 8 adjusting points drive you crazy. Even with using a .0005" level it can go pretty quick, but because the bed and bases are pretty rigid you'd have to wait a few weeks after initial leveling for it to settle a bit. You'll find any two of 4 bolts on a base will very easy jack the other two bolts in the air. So basically get level with 2 bolts on each base, then bring the other two bolts down to get a little tension on them, without jacking the other two up.
 
Bought it 11 years ago after doing the checks you suggested, but haven't run it under power. Turning the spindle by hand and doing all the shifting sounds and feels good. I suppose it's worth the trouble to find and clean out the bijur devices but may need some direction on locating them in the machine. I don't know if there are 5 or 30.

For leveling: lift the outboard pairs, level with the inboard pairs, drop outboards to bear weight evenly? Then final adjustments based on test cuts.
 
Well I mis-read that. I didn't know you already owned it. 11 years, dear God you are a patient man ! :D

If that's the case, I'd dump the oil in headstock and apron and use new oil before powering up. Who knows, maybe you get lucky and you get lube everywhere.

There are bijur fittings in the headstock also, with a few little oil lines to the spindle bearings and such. They worry me a little less as like any gear box or manual transmission the gears throw oil all over the place, except maybe if you are running the lowest speed on headstock under hard load. But really I'd want to do an oil change and test run before doing anything.

Leveling as you suggest is fine.

Final adjustments, I don't know, guess I'd have to see. But I prefer not twisting the bed to try to improve my test results. Some guys do, its just not my preferred way. I'd personally like to see test bars in headstock and tail stock for alignment purposes before I'd think about twisting the bed. I'd rather get those properly aligned if my cuts were bad enough to warrant it.

But I'd think about what type of work you'd intend. I feel I can get even a wore out lathe to cut inside .0005" on a 2" length cut, and probably inside .002" over 6". So how far do you want to go ? I think I'd want to do a test run and think it over.
 
Oil change for sure & probably look at the 1/2 nut and those keyed parts (feedrod bushing #55?)that run in the slotted feedrod. Those keyed bushings in the Bradford lathe I went through looked like razor blades.

I'll follow your sequence, seems logical.
 
Probably implicit from the lube thread, but in addition to changing the oil, I'd pull the cover on the apron and the headstock and replace the felt filters in the oil pump. Also make sure the felt way wipers are replaced. The 16-C probably uses oil cups on the QCGB with copper lines to the bearings, no bijur units in there. At least that is how my 1944 12CK is set up.
 
Thanks for the detail rabler, mine's actually called a 14-C but the data plate indicates a 16" swing over bed. Built in 1946.
 
One other thing that is useful to note, on the QCGB, the tumbler only gets oiled if it is in the leftmost position. The bushings around that tumbler arm are commonly quite worn on older Monarchs. The tumbler is the handle that slides left/right with pin holes to select the finer steps on feed/threading. I make it a point to leave my tumbler parked on the left side when I'm not using the lathe, so that when I put oil in the QCGB cups before starting the lathe for the day, it gets a bit of oil on that tumbler.

The QCGB is also a lost oil system, so any oil added eventually drips out into the pan. I shove a piece of pig mat under my QCGB to soak up that oil.
 








 
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