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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    3

    Default Hercus +rebuild with DRO

    Hi All,

    I've recently inherited a Hercus Lathe from work I think it's early 60s. Its all imperial and being a young lad (<50) I'm a metric person. There was a lot of slop in the cross feed so I thought about getting a new nut for it, but then thoughts changed to thoughts of upgrade to metric. But the cost would be about $500, and I thought would it better to stick with imperial new nut only and get a DRO attached to it.

    Does any one have experience of attaching DRO to Hercus?

    Thanks

    Nick

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Griffith NSW
    Posts
    435

    Default

    I cant weigh in on the DRO question, but you can machine out some of the backlash from the nut / dial assembly. If you can get your hands on a copy of the Hercus textbook of turning, it covers it there. Only trick is, because the cross slide will be out of action, youll have to set the compound to 90° and use that to face the relevant features. It wont get rid of all of it, some of the backlash will be in the bronze nut. Another place you might find some slop is if the special round nuts dont fit down snugly. When I bought mine, it was crappy in all three spots, but with the dial and the threaded ends / nuts tidied up, its now tight enough to satisfy me.

    Personally, id be tidying it all up before going to a DRO anyway.

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

    Default

    Nick, if I were you I would replace the worn nut with a new one from here, Hercus 9 or 260 imperial crosslide spindle nut --part Nos.22, 5H725

    Mal is one of our members and has a fair range of Hercus spares. Any photos of your lathe?

    Incidentally, send your lathe serial No. to Mal for inclusion on the Hercus register.

    Ken

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    3

    Default

    Thanks for the reply, Yes I could see the cross slide handle moving in and out especially during initial truing up of a bar. My love for DRO comes from my computer science/embedded electronics background.

    I have disassembled the cross slide and there is noticeable movement in the nut on the thread, but the tread looks good seems to have the same play on any section of the thread. So I think I will invest in a new nut and some dome nuts + tool to tighten everything up!

    Yep see how we go...

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Holbrook, NSW
    Age
    73
    Posts
    490

    Default

    This is a modified example of the Textbook of turning instructions.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    3

    Default

    Thanks for that, yep I think I've talked to Mal. The problem with this is that I've taken things apart and now I want to use the lathe! Always the way. I have attached a few pics. I will order the nut and get her back together!

    20160608_222154.jpg20160608_221432.jpg20160608_221355.jpg

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    melbourne australia
    Posts
    3,228

    Default Hercus +rebuild with DRO

    Thanks for the info Mal. This is something I've wanted to do for a while, but this part of the instructions has never made sense to me:

    The shank of the screw is then gripped in a 3 jaw chuck in the lathe and a light cut taken across the rear face of the graduated dial and screw at "C" making sure to do a light undercut on the screw shaft to give clearance for the crank handle.

    To my mind the area marked C is the front face of the graduated dial, not the rear face.

    Also, does anyone know where I can get a smallish piece of 0.03mm shim stock?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Griffith NSW
    Posts
    435

    Default

    I did some at work (a highschool) with baking paper, worked fine. Rollie paper is also quite thin and works well.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    melbourne australia
    Posts
    3,228

    Default

    Thanks Scotty.

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