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  1. #16
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Feb 2006
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    Perth
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    Ratters (what a good name - sir, you are indeed a rat! ) what a fantastic collection of tooling and a nice little lathe as well!

    I ended up getting my Hercus as a freeby so I was the able to spend the money I was going to spend on the lathe on a set of gears and some tooling but would still not have 1/10th of the gear you showed on the pics.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    melbourne australia
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    3,228

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    Hi ratters,
    great find. You'll be able to do some excellent work with that gear.

    It saddens me though to see old blokes parting with their gear. At least it's gone to someone who appreciates it.

    I'll be in the same predicament as that old bloke in a couple of decades.

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Tasmania
    Posts
    102

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    OK well this afternoon I performed my first real operation on the lathe, to try and determine what kind of taper it would turn over a length of bar stock. I used a piece of aluminium bar stock and drilled a hole for the tailstock end using a center drillbit, then set the lathe speed and gearbox to the slowest possible feed speed for the power feed and let it run the whole length of the bar which ended up being a 41cm cut. It took bloody ages, I didn't keep time but I think at least 20 minutes. Well the big question I have for you guys is whether the results are any good..? 0.967" at the chuck end and 0.976" at the tailstock end. Is this kind of accuracy acceptable for a 41cm cut? Bear in mind I have a less than ideal bench at the moment which isnt totally rock solid and I am also a total novice so if that result is bad maybe I can take suggestions on how to improve it? The next thing I plan to do is work out how to mount that runout guage and see what kind of measurements I get off that.

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Dural NSW
    Age
    82
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    1,203

    Default Setting up Lathe

    Ratters
    The out of parallel you mentioned is not too bad for an initial set up.
    I immediately thought of adjusting the tailstock screws at the base of the tailstock to bring the centres in line.
    However,the error could be caused by bed twist, particularly on a flimsy mounting bench.
    A suggestion, before you go any further, please get hold of the "Text Book of Turning" by Hercus previously mentioned.
    It has a wealth of information on setting up & turning. Its a great "Bible" on Hercus Lathes
    regards
    Bruce

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Southern Highlands NSW
    Posts
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    Careful about the currently available Textbook of Turning. It covers the later model 260, which has a different arrangement for bed levelling from Ratter's lathe.
    My 260 has screw and locknut adjustment between the bed legs and the swarf tray, whereas my 9 inch uses packing shims and normal bolts/nuts.
    A downloadable earlier version of ToT covers the 9 inch models: http://www.bbssystem.com/manuals/Lathe-Tutorial.pdf

    Jordan

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Northern Beaches, NSW
    Posts
    288

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    Wow... Wish Id got a 1/4 of that lot with mine!!

    I started out 6 months ago knowing less than nothing! Now, thanks largely to the more learned ones on this forum and some trial & error / practice, I know feel as though I know just a tad more than nothing! Having said that I am loving the learning curve.

    Jon

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    2

    Default Hercus brochures

    Hercus quote 1962.pdfHercus brochure.pdf
    Hi Ratters,
    I don't think I've ever seen so much good stuff offered with a lathe! This was a very lucky find. The others on the forum have identified most of the items but the attached Hercus brochure and quote from around 1962 have a bit more detail.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Southern Highlands NSW
    Posts
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    Maybe the bracket in the top-right of photo that includes the cross slide ("odds & sods") is part of the taper turning attachment?
    The part that clamps to the bed and connects to the tie rod seems to be missing from the lathe photo.

    Not to put a damper on enjoyment of this terrific lathe, but some caution might be worth mentioning.
    When I got my first lathe, I wanted a Hercus but couldn't afford a new one and didn't find a good used one. So I bought a Taiwan machine.
    Turned out to be lucky, because during the learning phase I did some damage to that lathe!
    Namely, I left some soluble oil on it, which made a nasty looking rust patch on the bed. I also managed to strip a bronze gear in the saddle, and had a few "crashes" before I got a hang of it. Later I found a Hercus, and didn't have to subject it to such torture.
    Not saying you're as clumsy as I was, just food for thought.

    Jordan

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Tasmania
    Posts
    102

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    Thanks for posting the links to those PDF files guys! I will study the Text Book of Turning a bit and I'm sure it will fill in lots of knowledge gaps. Although I will say that my best resource at this point has definitely been YouTube, for 2 reasons actually. Firstly there are just a lot of lathe operations covered which are not brand specific, but the other thing is there are loads of South Bend videos too which actually do show operations which pertain to the Hercus so that alone has helped me out a great deal.
    One thing I am interested in with the accessories that I have for my lathe is that a lot of them are painted in the same dark grey colour as the late, and I'm curious as to whether they were standard accessories that came with it or perhaps just options that the original owner purchased at the time.

    I do have another general question though which I'm sure somebody will answer, I am surprised about the top speed of the lathe not being quite as fast as I had imagined? I mean its fast but I had expected it to be quicker, and so I wonder does this limit me from any kind of jobs that need to be performed at a higher speed or it really doesn't matter?

    @Jordan - Fingers crossed I don't do any damage to it but thus far I have been very gentle in all respects so hopefully I dont make too many begginers mistakes!!

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
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    In regards to the accessories , I think all bar the thread chasing dial, change gears and steadies would of been extras. If asked for and ordered at the same time as the lathe they would probably of been the same colour.

    Hercus had a few colour changes through there life and all extras that required paint would of all been painted the same colour at each time.

    In regards to the top speed do you have the single pully or duplex pully set up.If duplex the speed range should be ok for nearly all machining tasks.

    If you only have the single pully this will still be suitable for most machining task although sometimes it is a little slow for small diameter work or brass and ali etc.

    You would need to change the generally machining guide lines to accommadate the lower speeds.

    HSS and Carbide can be used on the lathe.

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Tasmania
    Posts
    102

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    I think perhaps it would be the duplex pulley setup, the pulley directly attached to the electric motor has 2 sizes.

    Actually during some of my readings I see speed recommendations in RPM and SFM and this obviously requires some kind of tacho. Has anyone out there retro-fitted one to thier hercus so they can keep track of this?

  12. #27
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    No tacho required, just set the rpm or do the calcs for SFM.

  13. #28
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
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    Southern Highlands NSW
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    I'm under the impression that to have higher speeds, you need 2 things on a Hercus bench lathe: A double pulley primary drive, and a roller bearing headstock.
    Running higher than about 1,000 rpm with plain bearings, things could get hot and bothered.
    Is there an "R" in the model number? That would indicate frictionless roller bearings.

    You can buy a digital-laser tachometer for under $20 online. Just put some light-coloured tape on the chuck and aim the tacho at it.
    Not really needed, but fun.

    Jordan

  14. #29
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    The lathe in question is a plain bearing headstock model visible in the photo supplied.

    Fast and low speed was an available option for all models whether plain or roller bearing.

    The plain bearing models had a top rpm of around 1050/1100, with the rollers around 2600.

    The only difference with the plain bearing models was whether they were flat belt 3 pully or 4 vee pully.

  15. #30
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Tasmania
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    OK this one I now believe may be a worksheet holder of some kind, as has been suggested to me by someone who has seen the lathe and associated bits. Sound about right? It's the best guess at this stage any way


    Curious looking thingo

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