Wadkin lathe restoration

[sawtooth-9]

Hi Wallace
I looked at placing VFD in the control box, but there was no room, especially as I wanted to retain the original DOL contactor.
Most decent VFD's available here were also too deep to fit within the control box.
Located where it is, it is very handy for speed adjustments.

 

[Vann]

Located where it is, it is very handy for speed adjustments.

But not quite so handy if you were to do some outboard turning* (hammer).

Your pictures of the tool rests are very timely - I acquired a piece of steel for a shorter rest for my Wadkin RT this week. It might be a weekend project (if other things don't take priority :roll: ). Thank-you.

* outboard turning isn't even an option on the RT.

Cheers, Vann.

 

[sawtooth-9]

Soon to post a few pics of some figured Tasmanian Tiger Myrtle coupled with some brass turning.
Not an exercise with the RS6 but using both saws and the Harrison lathe to machine housings for the ball and needle bearings.

 

[sawtooth-9]

An interesting little project, just to get back into the "swing"

 

[Harbo]

Looks very nice and lovely work but what is it?

Rod

 

[sawtooth-9]

Working with combining wood and metal has led me to realize that I need a metal lathe with a greater speed range than the Harrison provides. Today I bought a Colchester Student 1800 which has been in storage since 2002.
Needs complete re build, which is probably not a topic for this site, but will result in the culmination of a rather good workshop.
Expect to get this machine home this week and make a start on restoration before some major surgery. A few weeks recovery and then back into the projects.

 

[wallace]

We do have a metal work section so get it posted

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

dam right

 

[Brian18741]

Love this thread, thanks for all the effort in posting! Great rebuild, imthe lathe turned out great!

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[Tortion-Stephen]

Read this entire thread with total enthusiasm. Thank you so much for posting, between you, Wallace and a couple of other members inspire and simultaneously make me feel very ordinary! :-D

I would also love to see the Colchester rebuild, an MCL (albeit much less grand) is on my want list.

Thanks

Stephen

 

[sawtooth-9]

Hi Brian & Stephen. Your comments are too kind. I really like the Harrison lathe, but it's just too slow for some of the smaller work. I expect to have the Colchester here on Thursday ( bit of a challenge getting it up the STEEP driveway and unloaded ). The lathe needs to be stripped, cleaned, painted and any worn "bits" repaired or replaced. I do know I have to pop the middle shaft in the headstock and replace the end bearings. Some goose put shielded bearings in, so it really didn't get any oil. You can hear the bearing balls have "flats". Other than that the gearbox is remarkably quiet.
The lathe hasnt had a hard life and has been in storage since 2002

 

[sawtooth-9]

The "Beast" arrived today. Took 2 hours to assemble a 2 ton gantry and lift off the truck.
Whilst the Harrison has been great, the Colchester Student is a big step up in capacity and flexibility.
It's also a big step up from the Colchester Bantam I had 25 years ago.
Lathe came with 3 & 4 jaw chucks, traveling steady, faceplate, drive plate and tooling.
Will post some pics once I remove the worst of the crud.
Based on the machine number ( 4- 0002 00863 ) looks like it was late 1973 or early 1974
You don't have to be mad, but it helps !

 

[dickm]

Is there an emoticon for "lathe envy"????

 

[Brian18741]

Love a good WIP. Can't wait to see more pictures!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

One more post to go, Brian ...

 

[sawtooth-9]

Well, I did replace the bearings on the middle shaft ( shaft D ) and re assembled.
The result was elimination of the bearing noise, but the "tapping" noise was still there - just much clearer !
Spent a few happy hours with a torch and mirror looking for the culprit, but was elusive ! Damn !!!
So decided to pull all the shafts and have a good look.
The only possible cause I could see was that a gear on the bottom shaft ( shaft E ) was able to move axially about 0.5 mm and made a tapping noise. This gear should have no axial movement as it is held firm against the middle bearing which is located by an external circlip.
So .... Decided to surface grind the bearing side of the gear about 2 mm and make a ground spacer to take up the slack.
The gear was ground because it extended past the end of the spline and thought it best to have the ground spacer a reasonable thickness.
A complete set of FAG bearings will go back into the headstock this weekend and will take some pics to post next week.
Hope this works, or I will post a few expletives !!

 

[sawtooth-9]

Replaced all shafts with new bearings, and the gear on shaft E now has no axial movement.
Darn... Blast ... Etc !
Still have the same clear tapping noise !
The noise "goes away" at the high speed range, but is quite distinct at the lower speeds.
It's so clear that you would expect to be able to locate it easily, but it does not transfer to any bearing mount, shaft or the headstock casting ??
Does anyone have experience at this problem or any pointers to help diagnose the problem ?
Not much point in posting pics of an unsuccessful "repair" !

 

[sawtooth-9]

Decided to fully strip the headstock gearbox ( including spindle and gamet bearings ) to do a full diagnostic.
One would think that a very definite and clear tapping noise would show wear or bent shafts, but nothing has shown so far.
Cannot find any info on the net where someone has had / solved this problem on a square head student.
Have the drive and intermediate shafts out again and will remove the spindle tomorrow. This will enable me to remove one gear from shaft D which will not come out between the casting web and spindle. This is the gear that spins on shaft D and provides the drive to the front spindle gear. It spins on a bronze bush which I suspect may be quite worn ( bronze particles in bottom of gearbox ). It is too difficult to gauge the wear until I can remove the gear and test on the shaft.
Patience is only a symptom of insanity !

 

[MickCheese]

This is a great thread. I am very aware how much additional work goes into producing and writing all these posts. I've really enjoyed reading it even though I have no intention of trying to emulate your efforts.

Well done and thank you.

Good luck with the last bit.

Mick

 

[sawtooth-9]

Thanks MickCheese, this one has really challenged me. But I don't give up easily !
Will post some pics when I " discover" the cause .