Go to section: Obtaining the lathes | Pillaging a third lathe | Homemade countershaft |
The seller was very helpful in loading the lathes. He used his tractor and some chains to lift the lathe so we could unbolt the legs. The lathe weighs about 800 pounds. The bed is a 5-foot long hunk of machined cast iron. The lathe you see has a 12-inch swing (can turn objects up to 12" in diameter). The second lathe was disassembled in a pile of parts and it actually has a 14" swing!
Here are all the lathe parts loaded into the van, about 1600 pounds worth of cargo. It was about a 2.5 hour long drive from the seller's place in Connecticut back to New York but it went without negative occurrences.
Here I'm back in the driveway of lab headquarters and have unloaded the lathe pieces. As you can see there is a lot of surface rust. Fortunately both beds are in great condition. There is so much grease on one of the lathe's headstocks and both lathe's saddle (carriage) assemblies that It's almost impossible for there to be serious rust on them.
I use a hydraulic motorcycle lift the move the lathe around with. I think this lift is rated at 1500 pounds capacity. It makes moving the lathe around a simple job.
As you can see the area in the basement looks very cramped with this hulking machine in there. Fortunately the mess is partly the result of rearranging things to fit the lathe. The mess will be cleared up resulting in a decent work area. Click on the photo for a larger view
I've built an extension for the motorcycle lift so I can raise the fully assembled lathe off the ground to move it around. The extension is cheaply made from plywood but it's definitely strong enough and besides, I only raise the lathe about 1-inch (or less) off the ground when I move it. This extension will also be used when I lift the lathe onto the heavy duty cart I have planned for it.
Here I've assembled both lathes to make them easier to work with and this takes up less space than just having the parts scattered around. These things DWARF the Gingery lathe... In fact the Gingery lathe is in the top left background! Click on the photo for a larger view Go to the next page.
Go to section: Obtaining the lathes | Pillaging a third lathe | Homemade countershaft |