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  1. #31
    Join Date
    Feb 2021
    Location
    Tasmania
    Age
    48
    Posts
    30

    Default

    That's a very practical upgrade! Great work.

    Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

  2. #32
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Location
    Melbourne
    Age
    76
    Posts
    31

    Thumbs up toothed sleeve?

    Quote Originally Posted by Brett C View Post
    My last post was in 2009 and my Hercus restoration project languished untouched since then until a year ago. Most of it lay under a bench at my former workplace until I dragged it home late in 2019 not sure what I would do with it.

    An examination of the collected parts inspired me to do a little further research that quickly turned up the AMH website, and I realized that it was a viable project. Being in Melbourne and working from home since March has helped with progress. I’m guessing COVID 19 has fast tracked more than a few old projects. I’m now going to attempt to document this project in the hope that some may my find my experiences useful, or at least entertaining!

    Before I begin a couple of caveats: I have a trade background, but I am not a trained machinist, and although I have restored many things this is my first attempt at a machine tool.

    The lathe is a 1956 ‘B’ model which was given to me around 2003. It was obviously quite worn, and I quickly discovered a serious problem, the gear teeth cut into the end of the main spindle were pretty well stripped. Shortly after that I brushed past the lathe reversing switch and there was a blue flash and all the smoke got out!! It then sulked in the corner until May 2008

    Attachment 390383

    A retired toolmaker friend offered to have a look at the problem, so I pulled the headstock off and passed it to him. In very short order he handed it back to me having repaired the main spindle by machining off the gear teeth and fitting a toothed sleeve that he had manufactured along with making replacements for the tumbler gears. I didn’t expect that!

    Further dismantling of the lathe revealed it was in very poor condition. It appeared to have been run extensively without proper lubrication, but I suspect long use of a tool post grinder sharpening slitter knives without protection from the grit was the major cause of the severe wear

    A few new parts were sourced with some difficulty along with a replacement second-hand bed with almost no wear (circa’68). The new bed and some other parts were cleaned, stripped and sprayed with colour matched paint, but by late 2009 I had run out of affordable/available spare parts and ideas.

    So in February 2020 I launched back into it, painting the next batch of components and placing an order with AMH – the first of many.

    The ‘new’ bed’s ways whilst essentially unworn had suffered some abuse, but an oilstone and fine diamond hone removed the high points around the dents - still leaving plenty of character! The first real challenge was that my saddle was extremely worn with deep ridges formed each side of the ways preventing it from sitting on the ‘new’ bed’s ways. I removed the wear ridges from the saddle’s ways with die grinder and files then had to relieve the underside of the saddle in several areas to ensure clearance of the tailstock ways and bed lands.

    I then armed myself with a modified file and a tube of bearing blue and taught myself how to hand scrape, scraping in the saddle and tail stock base to fit the ‘new’ bed. I don’t claim any expertise with this but the result seems to work ok The clearance groove at the base of way’s ‘V’ required deepening with a hacksaw

    The cross-feed’s dovetails needed a little careful work with a fine stone to bring them back to parallel, along with the gib to allow all it to be set tightly with no binding as the cross feed is wound full travel. Some good news here – seems like the cross-feed screw and nut had been replaced prior to me getting it and were in acceptable condition.
    Attachment 390384
    The lathe bed was then assembled onto the cast iron legs
    Attachment 390388

    Hi Guys,

    The spindle is the last thing needing attention on my Hercus 9C restoration, (I started with a ways regrind from AMH).
    I have been pondering whether it would be possible/practical to fit a toothed sleeve to replace my worn spindle gear, and it appears you have answered the question in the affirmative.
    So questions, do you have any photos of this repair? were the old teeth "machined off" or ground off? was the sleeve heat shrunk onto the spindle, or fixed by some other means?
    This would be a great item to rescue worn spindles if someone would like to manufacture some for sale?

  3. #33
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Melbourne Australia
    Age
    60
    Posts
    37

    Default

    Hi Tex260Z

    I cannot remember exactly what gentleman who carried out the repair told me at the time and he sadly passed away some years ago, however I'm pretty sure he machined off the old teeth.
    I believe the new sleeve was installed with an industrial adhesive (ie one of the Loctite flavours), and pinned - I have marked the pin in the images below. I seem to recall he said the pin was really redundant but kept the sleeve located whilst the glue cured.

    Hercus spindle repair 1.jpg Hercus spindle repair 2.jpg

  4. #34
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Melbourne Australia
    Age
    60
    Posts
    37

    Default

    I’ve been distracted from the Hercus for some time by other projects, but occasional uses made me realise I needed to organise my tooling better, so I recently completed some upgrades to this effect.
    The toolchest is one that I acquired economically from Kogan. It’s a bit of a light weight compared to units from Snap-on etc, and only about the same depth as the Hercus’ tray. But it works well for this purpose. The splash back/shadow board is mounted to the toolchest not the lathe, but a return on the gal sheet ensure chips all end up in the tray. The wooden plinth in lieu of the wheels keeps it in place and lowers the cabinet a bit giving a workable gap between its top and the lathe for it to be a convenient shelf

    20221029_104905.jpg 20221029_104942.jpg

    The other addition is a small cabinet that I have made to hold all the change gears beneath the gear cover, should make picking and changing the gears a bit quicker.

    20221029_095427.jpg 20221030_132432.jpg
    Attached Images Attached Images

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