Love of lathes.

[AlanBeckett]

It was like that when we lived in Diseworth. It's actually in Leicestershire but had a Derby Postcode and Phone Number, but lots of services came from Nottingham.

Alan

[Refugee]

Same here.
Derbyshire county council, Nottinghamshire postal address and a Sheffield post code.
Our old place was a Hampshire postal address and county council with a Guildford post code.

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Big Al for the Dinnington link which is most interesting. The saddle tank loco would look good in our rear garden. Brings back happy memories of when colliers always appeared to wear eye shadow and mascara as they came out of the showers? Perhaps this was the trademark of a pit man.

Thanks Joe for adding the Dinnington information; no pedigree then for Dinnington?

My arms are now aching and my hands tingling after another session using the angle grinder. I've now spent over six hours removing rust and paint from the two pairs of legs. These legs are substantial castings and each pair must weigh more than the entire Clarke lathe. The legs have a lot of filler added and this creates a real dust cloud when attacked with the grinder but each session reveals more bare metal. Strangely the insides of the legs have a much thicker coat of paint and this paint has crazed over the years making it look like leatherette. I've never been a B&D fan but this small angle grinder is well up to the task so credit where due. I'll be glad to finish this paint stripping as its a pain of a job but necessary.

I wrote the above just before dinnertime but was blocked from posting it for some unknown reason. Heavy rain was forecast for us near The Pennines today but because I decided to work inside the garage it remained fine. I've just come out of the garage in disgust; after such a nice morning the sun was shining so I pulled the compressor into the center of the garage and was about to hook up the blaster when I saw it was pouring with rain soaking everything so I abandoned the blasting idea and have called it a do for today; the lousy weather wins again and talk about perfect timing; still it could have waited until I started blasting on the driveway; now I'm back indoors I'm blinded by the sun. Tomorrow is forecast another wet day so I'll plan a day inside the garage. I'm just fed up but not as fed up as the poor souls flooded out of their homes; still highly annoying though to have decent kit and be prevented from using it.

Kind regards, Col.

[Retired]

Hi,

Looking out at the frost this morning I thought a perfect day for blasting the Lorch legs? I set up the compressor and blaster and was soon blasting away on the driveway ignoring the bitterly cold gale coming up the valley and the odd shower a bit later. I had removed as much paint and rust as possible using the angle grinder but what a delight it was to blast into tight corners and crevices seeing bright shiny bare metal quickly appear. This time the blaster had a good run before it started to block but by now the blasting media was running low; the legs will be given a close inspection then hopefully they will be ready to receive new paint. What a long drawn out job it has been to get these legs clean unaided by our dire climate.

I knocked off for dinner just as the first heavy shower appeared to soak everything; my skin felt like sharp sandpaper but for once I had beaten the weather; what I thought to be light showers Bron told me it had been trying to snow but I was too interested in the blasting to notice. When the blaster is working as it should it is brilliant and this morning it was rapidly removing the paint and rust; After dinner I tidied up and put the car away then have just had a long hot soak in the bath; all in all a good day and I can now start to move this project forward; next job I think will be the counter-shaft frame; I'm concentrating on getting the stand finished first before starting proper on the lathe. I'm now pleased with progress so far.

Update on the drive belts. I've made a huge blunder in contacting the belt manufacturer in Cleckheaton requesting prices of endless flat belts to suit this Lorch and wasted their time? It's been an honest mistake on my part because the lathe design caught me out. All my previous lathes have had endless belts running within the head-stock pedestal and for many years these have been either Poly-V or "V" belts. When I removed both belts the lathe was sited against the garage wall giving poor access; I merely broke both belts at their metal fastener to measure them; I even used a steel tape measure to double check pushing the tape up through the head-stock and around the pulleys.

I've been looking at the pictures of the lathe and I was amazed to see that the head-stock drive belt actually comes up the outer back of the head-stock through a rectangular hole which can be seen in the picture; then the belt goes over the head-stock pulleys and down through the bed past the hidden idler pulley thereby entrapping part of the head-stock so this belt must be joined in-situ and cannot be truly endless. I've just sent an email apology to the belt manufacturer for missing this. Absolutely nothing can be taken for granted during one of these machinery rebuilds; it would have been even more embarrassing had I actually gone ahead and paid for the new belts to be joined? I can and do get caught out like everyone else even though I take a lot of care to get it right.

Kind regards, Col.

   

[AlanBeckett]

it would have been even more embarrassing had I actually gone ahead and paid for the new belts to be joined.

Embarrassing but not disastrous as you could always cut it and join it in the conventional manner.

Alan

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Big Al. Yes it wouldn't be a disaster but possibly my pocket would suffer greatly because I doubt very much having two belts professionally joined would be cheap so to have a belt joined then have to cut it would bring tears to my eyes?

I intended to have a session in the garage this morning this time getting the counter-shaft assembly ready for re-painting. I'm pretty sure my blaster is about out of blasting media so I was going to revert back to using the angle grinder which I don't like using.

I tried contacting Millar's twice by phone but kept getting the voice-mail message so I washed the car instead. I've now contacted Millar's and await a call this afternoon allowing me to visit to buy and collect more blasting media.

It's pointless owning the expensive blaster and not using it so once I have the blasting media to hand I'll try to pick a decent day (?) to do the blasting again on our driveway. The metal tray is big and heavy and I didn't fancy trying to clean this by hand. The blaster really does an excellent job getting into every crevice; it just puts me off using it because the few times I have used it the weather has been terrible; I felt perished this morning whilst washing the car with cold gusts of wind coming up the valley.

I was told a very good joke this morning by a passing neighbour called Michael. A few years ago Michael had just insured his car again and the insurance company asked if he would be interested in insuring his home with them at decent rates? Michael agreed to receive an estimate and when he thought all was OK and was going to go ahead he was suddenly informed that this insurance company didn't want to know because Michael's house is within 250 yards of a flood plain? What a huge joke this is because it's like living on a mountain here; the flood plain is down in the valley bottom. I just love insurance companies (NOT).

If I could work in comfort then I'm sure I would enjoy blasting but so far each time I've done any blasting I've really suffered with cold weather and being buffeted by strong wind; another downside is that after blasting I always need a bath as the blasting media gets everywhere. It's very satisfying though to see gleaming metal appear ready to receive paint.

I've just been researching flat belt splicing. Going back many years (1920's) flat leather belts were mostly joined by "Scarfing" the belt ends would be tapered then glued using hot hide glue; now this is good news because I use hot hide glue so am set up to give this belt jointing method a try it costing me nothing other than a bit of time?

Metal Alligator clips would possibly drive me mad with their constant clicking over the pulleys; only two joints would be needed but five pulleys are involved so the clicking would be continuous?

Kind regards, Col.

[camallison]

We had a similar experience with insurers when we moved here - they wanted to put a huge excess and also a huge premium on our building cover. Why? They reckoned we were within 300 mtrs of the River Tees which does flood most winters. I suggested that they look on Google Earth or maybe an Ordnance Survey map for contours. As well as being 300 mtrs away from the river, we are 100 mtrs ABOVE it!!!! That's going to be a flood of biblical proportions if it gets to us.

Needless to say, I didn't insure with them.

Colin

[AlanBeckett]

The metal tray is big and heavy and I didn't fancy trying to clean this by hand.

Don't drop it unless it's on your foot 'cause it might well break. Of course your foot wouldn't like it either

The Drip Tray on a pre-war Colchester Bantam that I had was similar, and probably bigger. Getting it back on to the Legs, and then the Bed on top was not a one-man job. Each end had four bolts. Two went only into the Tray, from underneath, and two went all the way through. I was always nervous about the thicknes of the Casting at the top of the Legs, but it seemed to stand it OK.

Metal Alligator clips would possibly drive me mad with their constant clicking over the pulleys; only two joints would be needed but five pulleys are involved so the clicking would be continuous?

I quite like the 'click, click'

Alan

[Retired]

Hi,

When I retired in 2000 Colin; Bron and I immediately paid our mortgage off and next immediate job was to sack the building society rip off insurance company so since then no insurance cover on our home other than insurance cover on our central heating boiler through British Gas which has paid for itself.

Thanks Big Al, yes if I drop this drip tray it won't bounce and it sure would hurt if it landed on my foot. Whenever I need help everyone quickly disappears off the planet so I always plan my projects working on my own; this lathe is very similar to yours in the bed to tray/stand bolting arrangement. It is arranged in such a way that the legs remain bolted to the tray allowing the bed to be removed separately; I just took a deep breath to lift the bed clear of the tray but I'm glad I didn't need to carry the bed any distance.

I've just returned from the top of the world having had a trip out to Oxenhope to buy more blasting media. To buy a bag (25kg) of hard blasting media costs £17 but to have a bag delivered costs another £9. I bought three bags and the trip possibly cost about a gallon of petrol so a good saving; I also asked if a tee junction could be supplied as I keep tapping the original junction with a spanner to clear it so thought I'd better collect a spare; I was kindly given this for free. I should have enough blasting media to last a while? It's still blustery and very cold so I'm not playing out this afternoon but I might brave a session tomorrow?

Kind regards, Col.

[Retired]

Hi,

It was milder but very windy this morning so I thought I'd spend more time blasting. I wanted to start at 8:30 but in consideration to our neighbours I made a start at 9:30 and quickly got the blaster set up for action.

First job was the big cast iron drip tray which I blasted on both sides then I blasted the counter-shaft frame making an excellent job of both. Apart from a number of blockages I was very pleased with the blaster and no way could I have achieved these results by hand unless I spent forever at it. By dinner time I had completed both items but by now I could no longer stand in our driveway because the wind had really got up and it was most unpleasant working in a whirlwind whipping up all the spent blasting media; the wind was picking up the media and swirling it around me before blowing it away as a dust cloud; this was becoming too dangerous to carry on so I tidied up and called it a day but was very pleased by the mornings session as seen in the pictures. The stand unit will soon be ready for paint and I intend to complete this unit first before starting on the lathe itself. I reckon blasting these two items used about three quarters of a bag of blasting media and at £17 per bag this was cheap enough considering the amount of work it has saved me and brought the items ready for re-painting.

Kind regards, Col.