New to woodturning, bought a lathe from ebay

[garnetlass]

Hi all,

I'm dealing with my mid-life crisis by taking up woodturning, or trying to at least! I make lampshades, and my plan is to turn some wooden bases to go with them.

I bought a Sealey SM24 37" Woodturning Lathe (manufactured in 1995) from Ebay. So this evening, I'm going through the manual that came with it (thank goodness it did!).

Problems I've encountered so far are:

1. I can't remove the spur center from the headstock. The manual says to 'hold the spindle pulley with one hand. Using a wrench or pair of pliers, turn the hex nut counterclockwise until center is ejected'. But there is no hexnut! We tried tapping it out from behind (after scouring internet for thoughts) - this has made it protrude a bit from the headstock but it still won't come out - and will no longer spin either. We've sprayed WD40 into the gap between the spur and headstock and crossed fingers. Any thoughts?


2. The tailstock is totally stuck, I suspect just because it hasn't been used for a while. The adjustment nut is missing so it's not that it's too tight. Should I spray with WD40?

3. Should I just get the whole thing serviced? I live in Stirling in Scotland. Does anyone know how I could find someone to service it for me.

Many thanks for reading this, and sorry for such newbie questions.
Suzie

 

[nev]

Hi Suzie
Not familiar with sealey lathes so had a quick google for some pics but can find no reference for a sealey sm24 anywhere?
are there any other possible model numbers on the lathe?
or if you can take a pic or two and show us?

 

[woodiedonald]

A few pictures would help, if the drive spur is a screw on type then to will need to screw it off. If its a morse taper it'll knock out from behind with a long bar. Old cabinetmaker told me once buy an old english cast iron lathe graduate, viceroy etc and thats what i did, hasnt gone wrong since.

Try get a few pics up

Cheers

 

[Steve Blackdog]

A few pictures would help, if the drive spur is a screw on type then to will need to screw it off. If its a morse taper it'll knock out from behind with a long bar. Old cabinetmaker told me once buy an old english cast iron lathe graduate, viceroy etc and thats what i did, hasnt gone wrong since.

Try get a few pics up

Cheers

Yeah but..
You can probably get 15 secondhand Sealey lathes on eBay for the price of a decent Union Graduate

 

[Tazmaniandevil]

I'm in Stirling too Suzie & on holiday this week and next. I'll be happy to pop over and have a look if you like. I can bring a gas torch and try a bit of heat.

 

[garnetlass]

Hi all,

Sorry have only just noticed that I had all these kind replies. I will get back onto this site once I'm home and compose a proper response to all your suggestions

Thanks
Suzie

 

[garnetlass]

Hello again!

Nev - I had another look at the lathe and you're right, it's not a Sealey SM24, it's an SM42! So sorry. After I send this I'll have a go at posting some pics

Woodydonald - the spur is a morse taper (No. 1 according to the manual). We have tried knocking it out from behind, but the whole spindle was knocked further out of the headstock so we stopped - I read somewhere that the spindles can sometimes be solid at the end. It is threaded and there is no nut to try to screw the spur off. I've ordered some of the appropriate size from Ebay.

TazmanianDevil - that sounds good!

Off to try to post some pics now

Many thanks all
Suzie

 

[garnetlass]

Here's some photos:

1. The faceplate on the lathe

2. The whole late

3. Shows the tailstock which is missing a nut and which I can't shift. I've bought a replacement nut but it won't go on so I reckon I need to clean up the thread somehow

4. Shows the stuck spur. When hammered from behind, the whole spindle moves out of the headstock about 0.5 inches (so we stopped doing that in a hurry)! According to the manual, there is a hex nut missing from behind the spur

Thanks
Suzie

 

[nev]

with the lathe unplugged!
to remove the stuck in spur you will need to grip it with some major grips and twist it to break the seal. so first you need to stop the spindle from turning. I see from the pic that there may be an indexing facility on the lathe. the little knob next to the spindle - does it pull out or push in or turn and in doing so lock the spindle in place?
If not is there a flat section on the spindle maybe inside the casing that a spanner can be slotted over and then held in place by the casework or a strong arm?
Some heat from a blow lamp may help.

 

[nev]

with the tailstock is it the lever that is seized or the tailstock on the bar that is seized?

 

[garnetlass]

Hi Nev,

I had a go at shifting the spur using a vice grip but couldn't get it to grip well (even when I wrapped an old sock around it). My husband had a go for me but this just resulted in lots of blood and swearing (he slipped and opened up his finger on the toolrest!). Another member (TasmanianDevil) may be able to help me out re blow lamp. Re the tailstock it is the tailstock on the bar that is seized, not the lever.

Cheers,
Suzie

 

[nev]

Sounds like you need bigger grips :shock:
or some heat.
If a decent pair of grips still wont budge it even with some heat, then you could possibly sacrifice the spur by either grinding a couple of flats on opposing sides so you can get a big spanner on it. or possibly drill a hole through it so you can put a small prybar/ lever through it? and turn it off.

 

[garnetlass]

Thanks Nev - I'll see if I can find bigger grips somewhere. I'll let you know how I get on

 

[Steve Blackdog]

Suzie

Everything that Nev said, but also..

I think you should absolutely soak where the drive spur goes into the spindle and leave it a day or so. I don't know what you were using to push it out, but I use a knock-out bar. This is a steel bar which slides down the hollow spindle and knocks against the morse taper drive spur.

If you have a bar like this, I would give it a sharp crack with a hammer, which should break the bond between the metal of the spindle and the metal of the spur. I'd be very surprised if it would damage your spindle before the spur pops out. It might come out at a bit of a speed, so take care.

I agree that heat on the spindle should help, but don't use flames on WD-40 as it may be dangerous.

Stick with it though, because it looks a nice little lathe that should get you started on this addictive hobby.

 

[garnetlass]

Hi Steve,

When you say 'soak where the drive spur goes into the spindle' do you mean with WD40? Sorry if that's a stupid question.

You asked what I tried to push it out - I used a 5mm steel bar and hammered it. Then my husband hammered it. Then we hammered it a bit harder. Here's a pic of where we put the bar before hammering it:

The spur stayed put, but the spindle was pushed out:

Thanks
Suzie

 

[procell]

Looking at the pictures you can see from the yellow label by the spindle that you have a spindle indexing system. As stated previously this will lock the spindle and stop it turning so that will help you. If it still wont budge then grinding a couple of flats on the drive spur so you can use a spanner and some heat should do the trick. You may need a new drive spur after though.

 

[garnetlass]

Hi all,

A knight in shining armour rode up to my garage today and managed to free the spur from the headstock and shift the tailstock - he also told me which nuts/bolts etc I need to get the thing running. Thank you so much Tazmaniandevil for your time and skill - you are a gentleman!

Many thanks to all of you that replied to my original post. I'm sure I'll be posting again soon, and am encouraged by other posts I've read to send pics of my efforts.

Cheers for now,
Suzie

 

[bellringer]

so how did he free the spur drive

 

[Tazmaniandevil]

so how did he free the spur drive

Brute force & ignorance mainly....
I think the majority had been done with a long-term soak in WD40. I gave it a skoot with the B&M fake WD40, then locked the headstock and twisted the centre with a pair of vise-grips.

Once it has had a rub down with wire wool or fine wet & dry the lathe will be good as gold.

 

[andersonec]

Just one tip from me, WD40 (WD = Water Dispersant) is not a releasing agent and is next to useless for stuck items, you need a dedicated releasing agent and then you need to leave it soaking for some time, preferably overnight.

Andy