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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Adelaide South Australia
    Posts
    2

    Default New member new (old) lathe..

    Hello, I'am a new to this forum.
    Just bought a lathe, a Hercus I believe around 1941.
    Serial stamp B253
    Was a deceased sale.
    The seller told me its been in the family for a very
    long time.
    He also told me it was very dirty and oily so he steam cleaned it (i wish he didn't).
    So the story starts...
    I had to dismantle,clean,oil etc .
    Thanks to this forum for info regarding dismantling,assembly and reading Neevo's post and contributors,
    I now have a working machine.
    The main spindle is run through two split bronze bushes.Is there supposed to be shimming between the 'gap', or is it tightened just enough with the two bearing retainer screws to rotate freely?
    IMG_3808.jpgIMG_3809.jpgIMG_3810.jpgIMG_3811.jpg
    Mine has no shims.
    The half nut lever doesn't look like a Hercus.
    Also the flat belt pulley that drives the main spindle pulleys appears to be made from wood?
    Any advise appreciated
    Cheers
    John

  2. #2
    Tiptoeturtle Guest

    Default

    That looks like no Hercus I have ever seen before. (Not that I am an expert looker.)

    Maybe some wag added an Hercus transfer (adhesive label) to it later on. I see no trace of the Hercus name in the casting (which is suspicious).

    I would not expect an Hercus to have a gap bed, nor so many other non-standard parts.

    The pulley wheels could be wood or bakelite ?

    There's a strange and cute little brass oil cap on the headstock.

    Anyway, an interesting machine to see and thanks for the photographs, I would like to see more photographs and read more about it.

    Donald

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Heidelberg, Victoria
    Age
    79
    Posts
    2,074

    Default Very interesting?

    I've never seen Hercus hand wheels like that before, but the almost missing Hercus sticker and the McPherson's name plate suggest it is.

    Pipeclay, what do you think?

    Maybe it's a very, very old model, I don't know.

    Ken

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    Sydney, NSW
    Posts
    1,249

    Default

    Hi,

    What a great old lathe you have. I believe its a Hercus copy of a Portass lathe. See this sight:

    http://www.lathes.co.uk/hercus/index.html

    doesn't have much about your lathe but:

    Whilst their initial effort was a simple bar-bed lathe (followed, in the late 1930s by a clone of the English Portass) their best known and most successful lathe was a copy of the late 1930s American 9-inch South Bend "Workshop" lathe.

    I reckon that would be yours. I think the wood pulleys are creative engineering.

    Ben.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Adelaide South Australia
    Posts
    2

    Default

    Thanks to all for the feedback.
    I agree with bwal74 , the lathe does have a similar resemblance to a portass.
    The Mark 5 has the same half nut lever (cam lever) and bed casting similar.
    I wonder what the serial number represents..B253
    The lathe came complete with a faceplate,4 jaw chuck and a set of gears and various toolbits.
    I am very curios to its heritage .
    Cheers
    John

    Would more photo's help identify?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    adelaide
    Posts
    597

    Default

    more photos are encouraged

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    1

    Default

    I also just picked up a lathe of the exact same type. Mine had no sticker or plate to identify it, and the only stamp was "B145" on the tailstock end of the bed. It differed so much from the traditional hercus I was happy to find this post and someone else with the same lathe - even lathes.co.uk had nothing exactly the same.

    Mine came with 4 jaw chuck, change gears for threading and a (very old, cardboard) threading chart for imperial and metric, plus some other gear like steadies. It seems like the spindle has a 1" x 10tpi thread, and MT1 in the bore.

    Interestingly, the threading chart was marked "Hercus 4 in. Bench Lathe", and various google searches result in nothing of use (an Adelaide Advertiser ad for one for sale in 1947 is the only match).

    Here she is:
    DSC00946.jpg

    and the threading chart:
    DSC00953.jpg

    In all, she is in good condition. Bed seems in very good nick, and there is no play in the spindle, or anything else for that matter. I'm going to enjoy using it.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Holbrook, NSW
    Age
    73
    Posts
    490

    Default early hercus

    I had this picture in an early MacPhersons brochure, along with other Hercus machines, someone may have already posted this but I couldn't find anything in a search. There is someone I can talk to who worked for MacPhersons, I'll see if he knows anything about the early models and post the results, if any.
    Attached Images Attached Images

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