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  1. #1
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    Default Standard parts for a 9" Model A

    Hi all. I have my eye on a 1967 Hercus 9" Model A lathe.
    I am pretty green to the wonderful world of lathes and am wondering what standard parts should be included with it.
    I am thinking there could be a separate set of gears with it but may be wrong. Or anything else???
    This is a deceased estate so the original owner won't be able to rummage around for any thing that may not be on the stand.
    I am taking a friend to check it out in general but he is probably not too familiar with Hercus lathes in particular.
    So what should I be looking out for? Not thinking of any extra tooling but just want to make sure I get what should be with it as standard.
    TIA.
    Mark F.


  2. #2
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    Default

    You could look for a 4 jaw chuck, face plate, drive plate ( this should have an elongated slot in it about 2" long and 3/4" wide, a fixed and travelling steady, a set of Lock tooling that take a piece of HSS,a live centre and dead centre.

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    Apart from consumables like cutting bits, centre drills and lubricants, equipment should include:
    3 jaw and 4 jaw chucks
    Spindle adaptor, 3MT to 2MT
    Change gears - 20, 40, 56 & 80 teeth
    Drill chuck, 2MT *
    Spanner for square head bolts on carriage etc

    Secondary accessories:
    Face plate
    Driving plate
    Centres, 2MT - one with soft point, one with hard (or bearing type)
    Thread chasing dial *
    Carriage stop
    Steadies - fixed and travelling (but travelling hardly ever used)
    Transposing gear, for cutting metric threads

    A quick change tool post (QCTP) will avoid need to use shims to adjust cutting bit height.
    A factory booklet exists, "Text Book of Turning". (Download freely)

    * I see you have these.

    Jordan

  4. #4
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    This is the same lathe my younger bro has been looking at so I have seen some other pictures of it.
    The ways look pretty clean and unworn so if the price is right it looks like a decent machine.

    I think you might mean "standard accessories" as opposed to "standard parts"?

    What accessories a specific machine comes with depends on
    - what the original purchaser specified and purchased,
    - what additional accessories were purchased later and by any subsequent owners
    - what accessories have been broken or lost during a machines lifetime.

    I'm no expert on this but my observation of most machines of that vintage would have been purchased with the following accessories
    - 2 headstock Chucks (3 and 4 Jaw) and chuck keys
    - a Square turret type tool holder (such as is 0n your lathe) as opposed to the lantern type holder
    - a Jacobs type drill chuck - I see that yours has a keyless chuck included.
    - a face plate and maybe an angle bracket.
    - a carrier or two
    - possibly an additional standard tool post
    - possibly a live and dead centre.
    - tool holders to hold parting tools and maybe a knurler?

    Its less common for lathes to come with extra gears, steadies and rests, other centres, spare backing plates, collets and collet chucks.
    Rarer still would be taper turning attachment, milling attachment, extended T-Slot cross slide,

    Other accessories can bee seen at Australian Metalworking Hobbyist

    What you need to look out for are bits and pieces that may have been standard on machines that have been removed by various owners and lost.

    These include
    - micrometer saddle stop - this looks like its missing off you machine - its really worth looking for it
    - Thread chasing dial - yours is present.

    Two non-standard accessories mine came with was a smaller more precise 3 jaw chuck and an extra compound slide. Mine was missing the thread chasing dial.

    I paid nothing for my machine so I felt justified in spending up on accessories
    A quick change tool post and 8 tool holders was probably the best accessory I purchased.
    The next most useful accessory has been a set of ER32 collets and chuck from CTC tools
    I bought an extended T-Slot cross slide from AMH and a set of metric thread cutting gears from eBay.
    Quite a few extra centres, Eccentric Engineering tool holders, etc.
    I've made quite a few things for my Hercus including a milling attachment using the spare compound slide, A chuck holder so I can safely run the chucks backwards, various tool holders, lube/coolant delivery system and splash shield.
    I also replaced the original motor with a 1HP motor controlled by a vector drive VFD.

  5. #5
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    already covered by others
    Last edited by steamingbill; 7th Mar 2018 at 10:36 PM. Reason: already stated in previous posts

  6. #6
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    Default

    Thanks for the comments so far. Yes I should have said standard accessories.
    It doesn't have much in the way of extra tooling but I do want to make sure I get the bits and pieces that should be with it if possible.
    Chuck key and tool post spanner spring to mind.
    I guess I'll just keep an eye out for anything green.

  7. #7
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark F View Post
    Thanks for the comments so far. Yes I should have said standard accessories.
    It doesn't have much in the way of extra tooling but I do want to make sure I get the bits and pieces that should be with it if possible.
    Chuck key and tool post spanner spring to mind.
    I guess I'll just keep an eye out for anything green.

    One more thing - I don't think that has been mentioned. On the 3 jaw chucks the internal and external holding jaws are different - make sure you get both sets.

  8. #8
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    Thanks Bob. I'll keep an eye out for the jaws. Hopefully they are there.
    Do you have a pic of the micrometer saddle stop please so I know what I am looking for.

  9. #9
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Here it is - it attaches to the front carriage slide.

    Screen Shot 2018-03-08 at 7.23.10 am.png

    I also see you are local to me - if you would like face to face help, advice, etc, shoot me a PM.

  10. #10
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    Thanks for that Bob.
    Do you think 3 of us will be able to lift it into a van?

    Thanks for the offer Bob. I will send you a pm after I get it home.

  11. #11
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    No worries.

    Two of us were able to move it after it was reduced to the following level of break down.
    - disconnect and unbolt the motor,
    - slide the tail stock off
    - remove the chuck
    - removed the tool post
    - remove carriage from lathe bed - you might not need to do this with 3 people.
    - separate the lathe from the stand

    We got it home and off loaded the parts into the carport
    I had to take mine 40m down a narrow footpath to my shed which I did with a sack trolley .
    The only part I could not reassemble by myself was to lift the lathe bed etc back up onto the stand which the neighbour helped me with.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
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    I have both a micrometer carriage stop, and a plain one with no micrometer adjustment.
    I only use the plain one, never found a use for the mic one yet.
    The plain one is good to move the carriage to a consistent point, so I end up with a nicely faced shoulder as required.
    I'm even more dubious about the usefulness of a multi-stop carriage stop. OK if going into mass production...

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by BobL View Post
    This is the same lathe my younger bro has been looking at so I have seen some other pictures of it.
    The ways look pretty clean and unworn so if the price is right it looks like a decent machine.

    I think you might mean "standard accessories" as opposed to "standard parts"?

    What accessories a specific machine comes with depends on
    - what the original purchaser specified and purchased,
    - what additional accessories were purchased later and by any subsequent owners
    - what accessories have been broken or lost during a machines lifetime.

    I'm no expert on this but my observation of most machines of that vintage would have been purchased with the following accessories
    - 2 headstock Chucks (3 and 4 Jaw) and chuck keys
    - a Square turret type tool holder (such as is 0n your lathe) as opposed to the lantern type holder
    - a Jacobs type drill chuck - I see that yours has a keyless chuck included.
    - a face plate and maybe an angle bracket.
    - a carrier or two
    - possibly an additional standard tool post
    - possibly a live and dead centre.
    - tool holders to hold parting tools and maybe a knurler?

    Its less common for lathes to come with extra gears, steadies and rests, other centres, spare backing plates, collets and collet chucks.
    Rarer still would be taper turning attachment, milling attachment, extended T-Slot cross slide,

    Other accessories can bee seen at Australian Metalworking Hobbyist

    What you need to look out for are bits and pieces that may have been standard on machines that have been removed by various owners and lost.

    These include
    - micrometer saddle stop - this looks like its missing off you machine - its really worth looking for it
    - Thread chasing dial - yours is present.

    Two non-standard accessories mine came with was a smaller more precise 3 jaw chuck and an extra compound slide. Mine was missing the thread chasing dial.

    I paid nothing for my machine so I felt justified in spending up on accessories
    A quick change tool post and 8 tool holders was probably the best accessory I purchased.
    The next most useful accessory has been a set of ER32 collets and chuck from CTC tools
    I bought an extended T-Slot cross slide from AMH and a set of metric thread cutting gears from eBay.
    Quite a few extra centres, Eccentric Engineering tool holders, etc.
    I've made quite a few things for my Hercus including a milling attachment using the spare compound slide, A chuck holder so I can safely run the chucks backwards, various tool holders, lube/coolant delivery system and splash shield.
    I also replaced the original motor with a 1HP motor controlled by a vector drive VFD.
    BobL, sorry to ask/ hijack the thread but how did you make the chuckholder so you can run the chuck in reverse and also what coolant are you using in the lathe.

    Thank you Simon

  14. #14
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    No worries Simon

    Quote Originally Posted by Somedayplumbing View Post
    . . . how did you make the chuckholder so you can run the chuck in reverse .......
    //metalworkforums.com/f189/t197...hlight=reverse

    . . . . .and also what coolant are you using in the lathe.
    I was previously used the cutting fluid concentrate sold by H&F but a couple of years ago I managed to "acquire" 5L of Rocol Ultracut.
    The Rocol appears to be superior to the H&F although the latter is ~2-3 X cheaper.
    OTOH you need about half the amount of Rocol mixed with water compared to the H&F stuff.
    When I buy again I will probably stick with the recoil.

  15. #15
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    Hi Mark,

    My one previous owner '69 ARL was purchased new from McPhersons in Victoria Park. The purchaser, a Queen's Counsel ( so I was told ) had the machine equipped with high speed motor and countershaft pulleys. The accessories I acquired when I purchased the lathe about fifteen years ago were a 5" Burnerd 3 jaw chuck, a light pattern Burnerd 6" 4 jaw chuck, a square turret toolpost, the large face plate and smaller catch plate, the fixed and travelling steadies, a complete set of metric transposing gears along with probably my most frequently used Hercus accessory, the micrometer saddle stop.

    I don't know if Hercus supplied the lathes with a "standard" selection of accessories or whether the selection was based on the purchaser's requirements and depth of pockets. I imagine the latter.

    Attached is a scanned 1970 9" sales brochure ( courtesy of Steve Brennan ). Might assist you in your search....

    Bob.

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