Thread: My 1966 Hercus 9in C

Hi all,
I inherited this Hercus lathe from my fishing buddy. I'm new to this, Mal Has helped a lot. Thanks Mal for all your help understanding all the parts. I will get my head around it one day. Lathe has a placard on it. DEPT NSW TAFE.

Cheers Tommo

It looks nice, Tommo.
Did you get the change gears too?
You probably know already, but don't try to cut the shaft with that much supported overhang.
My rule of thumb is 3x the diameter as a maximum length sticking out from the chuck, otherwise use the tailstock or steady for extra support.

Jordan

Hi Jordan,

That was only out for display, I was teaching myself how to dial in the 4 jaw chuck.

Cheers Tommo

Jordan nothing extra as is, it's in pretty good nick for its age considering it started life at NSW TAFE.

Thanks Tommo

We're setting zero at both ends or only one on your bar?

Close to the chuck, I watched some YouTube videos, Cracked on for 2 hours walked away watched another, had another shot done in 5 min. Now I find it a little bit easier.

Cheers Tommo

When setting a long piece like that it needs to be set at both ends.

It would be a very rare occasion when you can get the bar running true over that length without touching the out board end.

In quite a few cases you would end up taping the out board end with a soft hammer to get it true, ( would pull the indicator plunger off the job when taping.)

If the bar is not round ( may have a high spot ) then either 3 zeros are ok or 2 zeros and the other 2 readings can be the same ,EG 2 zeros and 2 .003" or something similar, if you try to get all zeros with a bar that is not round you will be chasing it forever.

Welcome to a top Forum Tommo.