Thread: Pitts Lathe Circa 1890

Hi, thought you guys might get a kick out of this lathe i bought last year.
The story ends (for me) not long after, I cleaned it up into a usable state and made a small amount of swarf with it, then circumstances changed and i needed the space for a more precision/production oriented machine, and had to sell.
In the meantime i felt privileged to work on the kind of machinery my grandfather used as an apprentice. (i'm only a youngun)

All the features of these flash fangled modern lathes are there, albeit crudely. The 240v drive was clearly added on later as these were originally driven by shafts running through the entire factory. OHS inspector's nightmare!

Anywho, some pics. There is also some info on these gems over at Pitt's lathe

Some of the bits and bobs I made up to get the machine useable and semi accurate

New cross slide bush, leadscrew and nut


Bushed at the other end and lash set via nylock nut


New compound slide screw, nut and bush. Lash is adjusted at this end via the 2 small c/sunk screws. LH thread so the handles worked as normal (originally RH)


Other end...



Annnndddd this is why i felt the need to turn up new leadscrews, apparently 120 odd years of use will produce "slight" wear



Toolpost bushed to maintain alignment


And faced where the compound slide swivels, had been broken and welded previously



That's about it! Never got a chance to paint it, but did scrape a LOT of gunk off it, and some sort of honeycomb type insect nest from under the apron.

Nice old lathe. Pity you had to sell it.

Given how far you had gone with it, would have been worth finishing.

Great photos and thanks for posting.

Tony in the UK who runs Lathes.co.uk would almost certainly be interested in copies for his web blog. Ping him an email.

Cheers

Rob

I think I sent him some photos, but i might have forgotten. I probably did forget, i'm good at doing that.

For me, the leather belt drive killed this thing in terms of any real usability, and space in my workshop is almost as valuable as spare time, so it had to go.

Aside from struggling to get enough power to the spindle, it worked quite well as a lathe and left a reasonable finish. It did scare the willies out of me with all the exposed gears etc though.
The guy who bought it was stoked, i dont blame him as there were a LOT of hours involved to bring it upto that condition. If he got the drive sorted it would be a great bit of gear for occasional use.

I think the previous owners lost the "guards" off it all , great find though. As you say it's a pity to have to get rid of it, but room is room.
Kryn