04-02-2014, 09:48 AM
Hi,
Before I wander into the garage I thought I'd give an update. I started work on the Lorch yesterday afternoon spending an hour and a half of sheer joy getting my hands dirty testing how the dirty metal parts would polish up?
The lathe is incredibly dirty and at first I didn't know where to start so out of interest I made a start on the cross feed handle which was nearest with good access. I used a craft knife as a scraper to remove most of the dirt down to bare metal; next I used a strip of 240G abrasive paper followed by a strip of cloth soaked with Solvol Autosol.
This seemed to take forever so I had a look around to see what I could find to speed the process up; I had bought a good stock of UPOL pads at Rufforth Auto Jumble so I cut a strip off an ultra fine pad and set to rubbing the top slide area with it; This proved much better and it brought the metal up a treat; Now satisfied I called it a day and put the car away; I can't stand too much excitement in one day.
I intended to drag the lathe into our driveway and soda blast it making the clean up a much more rapid job but after consideration decided against this approach. I have been using the soda blaster with hard blasting media and to now load up with soda I'm positive the remains of the hard media would seriously contaminate the soda thereby possible inflict a lot of damage to the lathes moving parts so drat it; I've got an expensive soda blaster but dare not use it. This Lorch is an expensive precision lathe and commands respect not abuse. I'll tidy the lathe the old way by hand doing it bit by bit. I've posted the soda blaster onto eBay.
I measured the two flat drive belts and these are 1" wide but quite thick at 3/16". I dislike the alligator belt fastening metal clips which give a constant click as they go over the pulleys so I've sent an email to a local belt manufacturing company in Cleckheaton enquiring if they can specify and supply a pair of suitable endless belts for this application? If I can obtain endless flat belts it will mean removing the head-stock mandrel to mount one of the belts but this isn't a problem for me to do. I'll update on this later.
I've no intention of completely stripping this Lorch but I do plan to keep it as original as possible with a sympathetic tidy up and re-paint. I'll retain the flat drive belts and the counter-shaft together with the assorted linkages because for the use I'll put this lathe to it will do everything I ask of it without lots of modifications. I might eventually convert it to variable speed but this would only involve a motor change which is a simple job; I have a suitable 3 phase inverter rated motor to hand in either .75hp or 1.5hp versions and a new Huanyang VFD isn't expensive but I'll wait until the lathe is sorted and fully running before making the decision. This is such a lovely lathe and will be of huge benefit to my workshop; it's a joy to own and already I love tinkering around with it. I've plenty of work on so this story will end up as another of my sagas but I'm not worried because this type of project is what I like doing.
Kind regards, Col.
Before I wander into the garage I thought I'd give an update. I started work on the Lorch yesterday afternoon spending an hour and a half of sheer joy getting my hands dirty testing how the dirty metal parts would polish up?
The lathe is incredibly dirty and at first I didn't know where to start so out of interest I made a start on the cross feed handle which was nearest with good access. I used a craft knife as a scraper to remove most of the dirt down to bare metal; next I used a strip of 240G abrasive paper followed by a strip of cloth soaked with Solvol Autosol.
This seemed to take forever so I had a look around to see what I could find to speed the process up; I had bought a good stock of UPOL pads at Rufforth Auto Jumble so I cut a strip off an ultra fine pad and set to rubbing the top slide area with it; This proved much better and it brought the metal up a treat; Now satisfied I called it a day and put the car away; I can't stand too much excitement in one day.
I intended to drag the lathe into our driveway and soda blast it making the clean up a much more rapid job but after consideration decided against this approach. I have been using the soda blaster with hard blasting media and to now load up with soda I'm positive the remains of the hard media would seriously contaminate the soda thereby possible inflict a lot of damage to the lathes moving parts so drat it; I've got an expensive soda blaster but dare not use it. This Lorch is an expensive precision lathe and commands respect not abuse. I'll tidy the lathe the old way by hand doing it bit by bit. I've posted the soda blaster onto eBay.
I measured the two flat drive belts and these are 1" wide but quite thick at 3/16". I dislike the alligator belt fastening metal clips which give a constant click as they go over the pulleys so I've sent an email to a local belt manufacturing company in Cleckheaton enquiring if they can specify and supply a pair of suitable endless belts for this application? If I can obtain endless flat belts it will mean removing the head-stock mandrel to mount one of the belts but this isn't a problem for me to do. I'll update on this later.
I've no intention of completely stripping this Lorch but I do plan to keep it as original as possible with a sympathetic tidy up and re-paint. I'll retain the flat drive belts and the counter-shaft together with the assorted linkages because for the use I'll put this lathe to it will do everything I ask of it without lots of modifications. I might eventually convert it to variable speed but this would only involve a motor change which is a simple job; I have a suitable 3 phase inverter rated motor to hand in either .75hp or 1.5hp versions and a new Huanyang VFD isn't expensive but I'll wait until the lathe is sorted and fully running before making the decision. This is such a lovely lathe and will be of huge benefit to my workshop; it's a joy to own and already I love tinkering around with it. I've plenty of work on so this story will end up as another of my sagas but I'm not worried because this type of project is what I like doing.
Kind regards, Col.
Happiness is a wreck of a cabinet to restore.
