Thread: The Re-Birth of a Craftsman or two

Hi All
Having read many articles posted by all of you Hercus owners, I thought it time to try and add a little of mine.
I think Derek knows most of this history but will try and give a brief edition here.
In the late eighty's I managed to acquire Two Hercus Craftsman lathes from where I was working at the time, as they were now redundant and surplus to needs, as new equipment was being purchased. Cannot remember what I paid but it would only have been book value or trade in value, not a lot at the time.

Having two sons I thought it would make a good project for them to be involved in the restoration etc. well that idea failed for all manner of reasons, my not having sufficient time being one reason. So mostly in pieces they just lay around in the shed as a round to it as we all do with some things. There was also no pressure on me to use them as I had already acquired a much larger machine which served us well.

One evening I just Googled Hercus to see what appeared and I was Very surprised to find this forum. After reading lots of the postings I got a little inspired, so I have actually made a start.

At this point it consists of mostly stripping and cleaning of some of the major components, with the top and cross slide totally stripped. I have also painted some parts ready for refitting. I have taken a few pics which I hope to add to this and hopefully will add more as the work progresses.

I have just uploaded my first few pics and because of the space restraints of this site, which I quite understand the quality is somewhat downgraded. So If anyone would like a better pic at any time please e-mail

Ray

Looks like you've got yourself a decent project there Ray

Good to hear the disease is contagious

Looks like it will be a real looker when it is finshed. Paint looks good. I will be interested to see when finished. Well done.

What can I say, but Go Ray

Originally Posted by Ray39

Hi All
Having read many articles posted by all of you Hercus owners, I thought it time to try and add a little of mine.
I think Derek knows most of this history but will try and give a brief edition here.
In the late eighty's I managed to acquire Two Hercus Craftsman lathes from where I was working at the time, as they were now redundant and surplus to needs, as new equipment was being purchased. Cannot remember what I paid but it would only have been book value or trade in value, not a lot at the time.

Having two sons I thought it would make a good project for them to be involved in the restoration etc. well that idea failed for all manner of reasons, my not having sufficient time being one reason. So mostly in pieces they just lay around in the shed as a round to it as we all do with some things. There was also no pressure on me to use them as I had already acquired a much larger machine which served us well.

One evening I just Googled Hercus to see what appeared and I was Very surprised to find this forum. After reading lots of the postings I got a little inspired, so I have actually made a start.

At this point it consists of mostly stripping and cleaning of some of the major components, with the top and cross slide totally stripped. I have also painted some parts ready for refitting. I have taken a few pics which I hope to add to this and hopefully will add more as the work progresses.

I have just uploaded my first few pics and because of the space restraints of this site, which I quite understand the quality is somewhat downgraded. So If anyone would like a better pic at any time please e-mail

Ray

Hi Ray,
I have a Hercus Craftsman also, great little machine and still running like new.
Will eventually have to give it a birthday one day, just a strip, clean and re-paint should do it.
Your project is comming along nicely I see, very impressed with your painting results.
Could you give me the detials of the job ie. type of paint, primer, technique used etc.
Also If you know what change gears came standard with the machine and where I might purchase a set, that would be much appreciated.
Good luck with the rest of your project, I will look forward to the finished pics, so keep us posted.
By the way your quality of workmanship is outstanding, I dare say she may even look better than when she was brand spankin.
Not bad for a 40+ old girl.
My lathe was made in 1966 same as my better half lol.

Regards Marc.

Hi Mark
Re question about paint etc.
This has not been a total strip down to bare metal or anything, so I will try and explain what I have done.
First all sub assembly's For example whole headstock, front apron and saddle were given a good old soak and scrub in Kerosene.
Second
Headstock stripped to give the gears and shafts etc.a better clean as I also needed to check bearings etc. Also the top and crosslide were stripped completely to make handling easier and I want to re fit and adjust all slides etc. The gearbox and apron are still complete, so if I strike any mechanical problems later I will fix then and hopefully not damage the paint.

Third
All parts just given a light sand with 120 grit glasspaper painters grade off the roll, all chip marks blended out while sanding. All dust blown off, then all parts given a wash down with the enamel thinners purchased with the paint (which is a spraying thinner so use outside ) Given plenty of time to dry and a warmish day around 20deg.

Fourth
I have aquired a few large approx 1" flat artists brushes with nice soft bristles ( got a lot of strange looks in art supplies when i explained what I wanted them for) The paint classed as industrial enamel just applied with the above brush straight from the can as heavy and as quick as you can. The trick seams to be just lay it on don't try to brush it much or it will streek, it flows quite well and dries very quick so not a lot of time.

So far so good but a long way to go yet, the base units are all sheet metal so they will have to be sprayed.
The paint came from The Body Shop which may be a chain of automotive paint supplies and we have one quite close. I think I was lucky in getting a guy who understood what I wanted to do and got the consistency just right. The red paint on the inside of the bed was purchased at a later date and mixed by a different person, did not feel quite as thick and the cover was not quite as good, but this may also have something to do with the colour.

On the question of change wheels I should have the whole set but no chance to check yet.

Your remarks on the age of these lathes gave me a chuckle as I have known the ones I have from new. I was involved in the original purchase and installation, there use and now hopefully there re birth

Cheers
Ray

Hi All
Around 12 months ago I started the reclamation of a couple of Hercus Craftsman models. With many stops and starts I have finally re-assembled one in preparation for mounting on its cabinet.
At the time I started a thread which I hoped to keep going as a history, but it appears time is against me and I cannot add to the original, or have I got it wrong again, not understanding how these things work.
Well so you can see the current progress I am adding a couple of recent pics.

Now the weather is starting to cool down a little the workshop is starting to look inviting again so back to work.

Hello Ray,

That's one fine looking machine you have there and you've done a great job with the refurbishment.

Hercus had it all together when they designed the Craftsman. The concealment of the drive unit within the neat cabinet base and the reduction in the mass of the headstock makes it, for me, the most attractive lathe they made.

Please post more photos.

Regards Bob.

Thanks for all the support guys.
Will post more pics soon however I cannot find the maximum resolution permitted for pictures posted, so the ones I have posted look a little grainy, unless someone can give me a few clues on modifying the pictures to make them look better?

Well the weather is cool so off out to the shed to start cleaning more bits

Maximum size for a .jpg is 246kb, or up to 1600 pixels across. There's no point in using a resolution over 96dpi, as that's roughly the maximum resolution of a monitor.

There's no real rule of thumb for how small a jpg will compress to from a given size/resolution - it depends on the content of the picture and how well the data can be compressed. Just try a few at some arbitrary sizes and see how they look and if they have the level of detail you want.

Hi All
The saga continues and I am into the second machine even though the first is not actually running yet. As the weather was still ok for painting, it seamed like a good idea to have as many parts painted, so that I could retreat to the workshop and fire up the heater without blowing myself up.

As the paint on the second machine was generally worse than the first and I was a bit tired of sanding, I chose a totally different approach this time around.

Once stripped all the parts other than Aluminium were given a swim in hot caustic solution to remove all old paint and oil etc. see the pictures of totally bare castings. Then out came the spray guns one sunny day for a coat of primer followed by a couple of coats of enamel. This has proved a much quicker way of doing the job apart from the time taken to mask all of the bits not requiring paint. Of course setting up a better way of cleaning helped heaps.
Now the assembly work has started again, Now I have to start on the cabinets, so have a peek at the pictures, hoping I have some better ones this time.
Ray

Now thats what I call a restoration almost 12 months since the thread started and a magnificent job done.

looking really good mate cant wait to see them on there cabinets

That's fantastic
Maybe I should be doing the same with mine
Yours is coming up a treat