Union Graduate lathe

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Krysstel

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Have just secured this Union Graduate lathe (picking up next weekend) and am planing on at least a cosmetic restoration, if not a complete strip down and rebuild.
It sounds like most people repaint them with Hammerite. Would that be the hammer finish type or the flat/gloss Hammerite ? And is it the silver-grey that's the norm ?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Mark
 
I would say most people paint in hammerite dark silver ( silver with black 50/50 mix)
Having said that your lathe looks better than both of mine as it is

Ian
 
Hi Mark, its up to you entirely but that lathe looks to be in good original condition. I think you'll surprised what you can do with a bit of cleaning. A scraper will probably remove most of the glue and paint spashes without touching the original paint (as long as you're careful).
On bare metal surfaces my recipe is to scrape all the rust off with a stanley knife blade, then use WD40 or similar and a scotchbrite pad to polish it up a bit. Leaves a nice smooth finish.
 
Looks good, proper piece of kit. I've painted a few things with hammerite over the years and at least half the time I wish I hadn't. Nothing wrong with hammerite but to me it's not as attractive as original lived-in finish unless its completely shot. If you come to sell it in future it might be worth more in 'original condition'.

You have to clean it anyway - so why not do that and live with it a few months before deciding? You can always add hammerite but subtracting it is another thing altogether :)
 
If you do decide to go down the paint route, I use good quality machine enamel. The stuff from paragon paints is pricey but I've had excellent results with it, just using a brush. If you have a local agricultural supplier, the stuff they sell for painting tractors is good as well - I use a lot of massey ferguson stoneleigh grey - its a good match for a lot of machines.
 
Thanks for all the replies :D

I sense the consensus is that the machine deserves to keep its natural patina and painting, certainly with Hammerite, should only be a last resort ? :lol:

We'll see when I get it home and clean it up a bit but I'm not convinced I can remove all the splashed white paint and other crud without making a mess of the existing paint underneath. In the meantime I'll investigate the machine enamel route. I've used enamel before on other machines with good results.

I see Paragon Paints do gloss, semi gloss, satin and matt. What would you recommend ?
Is this perhaps the actual colour used on the Union Graduate ? https://www.paragonpaints.co.uk/Harrison-Lathe-M250-Goosewing-Grey.html

Mark
 
thats a lot lighter shade than the factory tended to use
I dont really think you destroy the value of a machine tool by painting it in a non original shade
hammerite was used as your machine shows and that shade looks correct
mix silver and black 50/50 to get that
Ian
 
To be honest, I'd simply clean it with an old rag and metal polish. Then finish the bed rails with WD40 PTFE spray.

It's going to get dusty in the workshop and even more knocked, so I'd live with the "character" it's carried with it for years.

Enjoy the new lathe.
 
Hi all :)
Time to resurrect this thread as I have a couple of new questions.

1 year on and I'm still using the Union Graduate without anything more than a general clean up. I'm totally new to turning so wanted to just use it a bit before deciding on any restoration plans. I initially set the lathe up in my new shop in the garden but as it stands unused for a lot of the time I've recently moved it to my old basement workshop which will from now on be a dedicated turning shop. To get it down there I had to dismantle it (because of the weight) and before I put it back together again it now seems like a sensible opportunity to do some restoration.

I'm planning to at least replace the headstock bearings with sealed units, and the drive belt.

Some research lead me to the following bearing specifications :-
Headstock Front = 40x80x18mm = SKF6208 2RS
Headstock Rear = 50x80x16mm = SKF6010 2RS
But I am unsure whether these should be "bearing clearance C3" or "normal CN" ?

I know I can get a drive belt here but the shipping costs etc more than double the cost to my location in Norway (if they will even export out of the UK anymore after Brexit ! ). I would prefer to try to source the v-belt locally but despite a lot of googling I can't find any specification for the standard v-belt. Can anyone help ?

Thanks :)

Mark
 
You could buy a length of the T slot style belt, and then add/remove links until its the right length. My Union Graduate also takes a 66" long A66 belt. 1/2" wide at the top. You may have more luck finding a close fitting metric belt, maybe 1675mm? The belt adjustment will compensate for a slightly longer/shorter belt.
 
Great :) Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'll do some research locally and see if I can find a supplier.

Mark
 
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