Thread: The Harrison has landed.

Groovers, last month I acquired an old 3 phase welder from a family friend and while moving it I noticed this older Harrison l5 metal lathe there as well. Time past and I contacted him about the lathe, we agreed on a price and home she came via a tandem trailer and some head scratching and now she sits very firmly on the floor of my shed. The lathe came with both steadies, a Belco 4 jaw 8 inch independent chuck and a Rohm 3 jaw 6 inch.
As you can see the lathe was quite dirty as the protective oil coating had joined with dust to form a layer of scum. I am fairly sure that the 4 jaw has never been on the lathe.
You can see from the pictures that the cabinet door is off as the previous owner lost the key and ground off the hinges. I can live with that for the price I paid.
I removed the top cover to have a squizz at the gears and it looks rather good to me.

Almost forgot to say the price..........$300

Looks great. Did you get the ground off door with it? There is hours of entertainment there for you, well worth every cent!! It should be very useful for many projects. Are you planning a full restoration or just to have it working well?

Burner, the door was supplied and I spent a large portion of yesterday scraping and scrubbing gunk off of most seen parts. I removed the tail stock and cleaned it well, checked the oil level in the box, removed the grease nipples and subsequent rock hard grease, replaced with new grease, wired on a new plug, bit more scrubbing and a bit more scrubbing just for fun. I will post some updated pictures soon.

That's not a purchase, it's a steal. If you weren't so far away, I'd offer you $400 for it. Better still clean it up with a WIP, and I'll drool about it.
Kryn

Nice lookin unit woody, lots of potential there.
You mentioned cleaning out the old grease and replacing it with new grease, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you might have to clean out all your new grease and use oil instead.
In general where you have a grease nipple on a machine tool it's more than likely meant for oil. Get yourself some ISO 68 or 46 hydraulic oil, a Pom Pom gun and lube to your hearts content. You might also want to get an industrial size supply of rags to soak up the oil that leaks from the Pom Pom gun.
Cheers,
Greg.

watching

Spent some time today cleaning the 2 vices with brass brushes, tooth brushes and scotchbrite pads. The 3 jaw chuck is stuck on the lathe and had to be separated from its backing plate. Pictures to follow as soon as the camera is charged.
As I said before the 4 jaw is an 8inch Belco made in England and the 3 jaw is a 61/2 inch Rohm.

Any ideas on how to remove the stuck backing plate from the 3 jaw?

Damien.

Originally Posted by kwijibo99

Nice lookin unit woody, lots of potential there.
You mentioned cleaning out the old grease and replacing it with new grease, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you might have to clean out all your new grease and use oil instead.
In general where you have a grease nipple on a machine tool it's more than likely meant for oil. Get yourself some ISO 68 or 46 hydraulic oil, a Pom Pom gun and lube to your hearts content. You might also want to get an industrial size supply of rags to soak up the oil that leaks from the Pom Pom gun.
Cheers,
Greg.

Thanks for the information Greg. After I unscrewed most of the nipples and found old grease I just followed what was there. How do you remove the grease? Flush out with oil? And lastly I have never heard of a pom pom gun. Sounds erotic! Damien.

G'day Damien,
A pom pom gun or push oiler looks like one of these:

http://www.ffx.co.uk/tools/product/L...%20Gun%20120cc

The one in this link is listed as a grease gun but the oil versions look the same.
You can probably pick an old one up at your local flea market or swap meet or buy a new one from Pirtek or similar.
Most of them will do the job as far a getting oil where it's needed on your machine but in general they leak like sieves when not in use hence my reference to a good supply of rags.
I finally bit the bullet and bought an Abnox Wanner version from a place in the US which from memory cost me around $130 delivered. This sounds a bit pricey I know but it hasn't leaked a drop since I've had it and given a crap one from Pirtek cost around $60 and was in the bin within a year I reckon it was worth the extra coin. I also modified a cheap little grease gun to pump oil which worked ok but I couldn't access some of the oilers on my mill but you may not have this problem so might be worth a try.

To remove the grease, flushing with oil will do the job in some places but you will probably have to do some disassembly for other places and wipe or scrape the grease out. This is tedious work but always remember, there's not many things more pleasant than some nice oily nipples.
Cheers,
Greg.

A little bit more time spent with a toothbrush and diesel to clean both the chucks and the steadies. Both the steadies are missing at least 1 on the contact rods, these are made of brass so it should be easy to fabricate. Have a look. Damien.

I also spent some time scrubbing and oiling the Harrison. As you can see I still havent been able to remove the backing plate for the 3 jaw. Any advice will be welcome.

Originally Posted by goodwoody

As you can see I still havent been able to remove the backing plate for the 3 jaw. Any advice will be welcome.

Have you tried heating it?


Stuart

Is it possible to lock the lathe, so it won't rotate and slip a couple of bolts in the face plate, and put a lever on the bolts to undo it.

Just start off gently.
If it comes down to it, it will likely be less hassle to turn the backing plate off and replace it rather than having to replace some other part of the headstock.

Stuart

To remove the back plate assuming it is a screwed thread chuck.., install the 3 jaw back on... Put about a 600mm piece hardwood in the jaws, at right angles to the bed...

Put the lathe in neutral, hit the wood with a sledge hammer

Originally Posted by .RC.

To remove the back plate assuming it is a screwed thread chuck.., install the 3 jaw back on... Put about a 600mm piece hardwood in the jaws, at right angles to the bed...

Put the lathe in neutral, hit the wood with a sledge hammer

Rc, What is the purpose of having the lathe in neutral? Is it to protect the gear teeth or to create inertia that hopefully breaks the seal? Damien.