Robinson lathe

[Harrison85]

Hi, I've recently acquired a Robinson lathe and I was hoping someone might tell me a little more about it; as I can find any info on it what so ever!

Now it appears to be identical to the RS, it's 9ft long with a gap bed as well as a rack and pinion. The spindle has a 1 3/8 6tpi thread same as the RS.

The tailstock seems to be of heavier construction with the quill extending over 9in!! I've looked for hours to find abit more about this lathe, when it was made etc, but have nothing.

It has a 2 step pulley linked to an 8 speed gearbox, planning on converting it to a 3hp 1ph with variable speed.

On the plate at the back I think the Ref no is D7 but cant quite make it out and there is no plate on the motor! There is also a Test No. on the end of the bed. 40/432

Here are some pics:

 

[woodyturner]

It looks very much like the Wadkin lathe is this the company you are looking for http://search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A0oG7iUa ... %3fid=2685

 

[Tony Spear]

The plate shown in your last photograph clearly shows the motor data.

It also says "Manufactured specially for Thomas Robinson & Son,
by Brook Motors Ltd".

It's highly unlikely that Brooks made the entire machine as a sub-contractor, so regardless of wherever the plate is mounted, it's actually the motor plate!

 

[Harrison85]

Yes I have a little knowledge of the company, but can't find the lathe in any past catalogues.

(I now see that it is the motor plate thanks Tony!)

 

[boysie39]

WOW , thats some piece of machinery you have there, you wont have any trouble with it dancing round the workshop when your turning pens . =P~ =P~
Any idea of the weight :?: Good luck with it and a great buy =D>

PS welcome by the way.

 

[Harrison85]

Hi boysie and thanks, I can only use the RS as a comparison so I would say 700kgs. Was a nervous day moving her in!

 

[wallace]

The tailstock is a similar design but doesn't have the height capacity of an RS heres mine

It looks to be of similar age to a wadkin, Brooks made motors for lots of wood working machinery. My RS has a 1.5hp brooks.

 

[Harrison85]

Is the headstock spindle on your RS solid Wallace? If so how do you remove the drive?

 

[boysie39]

The pictures shown of the two lathes have had to taken in the two cleanest workshops I have ever seen , :lol: :lol:
How do you do it . =D>

They both look to be super lathes by the way ,

 

[wallace]

The headstock spindle is solid on the outboard side and hollow on the inboard side for the insertion of 2 morse tapered centres. To remove the an insert I just put the pin in to stop the spindle turning and use stilsons to twist and it soon pops out. Boysie the only reason its nice and tidy is because I had just finished restoring the lathe and it hadn't been used. It is alot differant now, filled with wood another lathe a planer and lots of dust. I dont use any extraction in this shed because I think its a waste of time with a lathe. This place gets used for all of the really dusty work. I have a pumped in air supply.
Mark

 

[wallace]

Boysie heres a pic of my messy shed, I have my little jubilee on the left. and lots of lumps of wood.

Harrison, apoligies for the hijack. I really like your lathe. You said it has eight speeds, how does it work. The RS has only four speeds by flat belt.

 

[Harrison85]

No worries wallace, it's great to see others' workspace!

Finished decorating and put a chipboard floor down before the machines came just after new year. Still got loads to do...need some decent power coming in for a start.

Plan on running some 3ph plant through a convertor, hope to get one from transwave, probably a rotary and link them to a distribution board. Anyone got any advise?

 

[wallace]

Hi, You have a nice space their. My lathe shed is an old cedar greenhouse covered in ply. If you need advice with regard to power supply bob9fingers is your man, he has a sticky which makes good reading. I have a few 3 phase bits of old iron which I run from a 7.5kw static converter, it runs my 5hp sagar bench ok. The only thing that gets on my nerves is haveing to unplug stuff. I was really lucky when I built my workshop because a local houseing company needed a temporary supply to feed their show home and they took a supply directly from my incomeing supply with its own fuse box, all buried in my garden. When they got a dedicated supply I was building my main workshop so I could use that to feed my workshop.

 

[Harrison85]

How are you running your RS wallace? I still have the old motor from my Robinson but feel 1.5hp might be a bit small for turning large diameters.
Does running through 3PH give more torque? Why did such big lathes have motors of that size?
Dan.

 

[Richard Findley]

Hi Harrison

A lovely looking lathe you've got there!

Mine is a Wadkin RS8:

Most seem to only have 4 speeds but I am lucky to have an 8 speed version. This works with a 4 step pulley and a 2 speed motor. I'd be interested to hear how yours works through a gearbox?

There was recently a Sagar lathe which Blister spotted on ebay which also looked similar but I've never seen either the Sagar or your lathe before. There is still a few RS's about though. Fantastic lathes if you have space for them.

Like Wallace, I just use grips to remove centres. They are starting to look a little scruffy now, one day I might take them to a local engineer and have some spanner flats machined onto them.

Cheers

Richard

 

[Richard Findley]

Found it!! Here's the link to the Sagar that I mentioned:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320825014379?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

The sale has ended now so you have to scroll down.

Cheers

Richard

 

[CHJ]

.....Like Wallace, I just use grips to remove centres. They are starting to look a little scruffy now, one day I might take them to a local engineer and have some spanner flats machined onto them.
...

Pity you can't get a so called 'thread protector' to fit your spindle nose, it could then be used to jack out the morse taper centres.

 

[Harrison85]

Hi Richard, the lathe has a two step pulley mounted to the motor (removed) with a belt linked to a another pulley mounted to the back of a gearbox. The ratio can be changed by lifting a leaver and engaging into a notch on the yellow plate. There is also a pulley to the front of the gear box which is linked to another pulley on the shaft by means of a leather belt attached with rivets (that's a total of 4 pulleys!) Now I am still trying to understand the exact mechanism inside the box, but it must either speed up or slow the motor down as all the pulleys are linked to the shaft. Help on this matter please! Here are some pics:

 

[Tony Spear]

.....Like Wallace, I just use grips to remove centres. They are starting to look a little scruffy now, one day I might take them to a local engineer and have some spanner flats machined onto them.
...

Pity you can't get a so called 'thread protector' to fit your spindle nose, it could then be used to jack out the morse taper centres.

Don't it seem strange that somebody should go to all that time and trouble to design and make a piece of kit like that and then leave the user to fart around with Stillsons to get the centres out?

I suppose to do it the conventional way with a slot through the spindle to allow a wedge to be driven through behind the end of the taper would need too much spindle overhang?

 

[wallace]

Mine has the original motor through a static converter which I think reduces the power compared to a proper 3 phase supply. Rotary converters are better. I have turned some quite big trunks and haven't noticed any lack in power. These old motors are really big compared to modern versions which I think helps. I have yet to do any really big diameter work, my lathe came with a 4 foot face plate for outboard use :shock:
Mark