Love of lathes.

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks for posting the Lorch pictures David; its a beauty and looks to be loved. Your Lorch came up well too David with some TLC from you and its proving very useful.

Thanks Big Al for Tony's details; once this restoration is completed I'll contact him again sending him a selection of pictures.

I've had a good session in the garage this afternoon. First job was to install a hand control which moves the drive belt from one pulley to the other; these parts had been hanging after painting so are now out of the way; they can be adjusted once the new belt is installed. Next I mounted the carriage hand wheel in the Graduate lathe and polished it then installed it on the Lorch; forgot to take pictures of this though.

Now for the big one; I lifted the head-stock assembly onto the bench and what a truly dirty lump of metal this is. A lot of digital pictures were taken and a couple of sketches drawn. Not having a manual for this Lorch I was in the dark as to how the head-stock components were related to each other so it was a case of suck it and see. This is one part of the restoration not to be rushed otherwise it's easy to lose the plot and cause a lot of irreversible damage. It pays to clean as much dirt off as possible then search for locking devices; three split ring nuts are employed and these were easy enough to slacken and remove with the exception of one of them which refused to clear; this proved to have two hidden locating pins installed. The gear at the outer end of the mandrel was moved using a puller but it locked as it reached the end of the mandrel so was tapped back into place whilst I investigated. Sure enough a full burr had been thrown up all around the very end of the mandrel acting like a circlip; this burr was removed by gently filing and now the gear pulled free; a very small threaded bush having two flats secured the tumbler reverse in position; these are so easy to miss by a novice ; it was unscrewed then the tumbler reverse was withdrawn.

Using a piece of hardboard for protection a hammer was used to gently and I mean gently drift the mandrel clear. This mandrel rides on plain taper bearings which are slightly scuffed but considering the age of this Lorch I'm sure they are still serviceable; a ball bearing thrust race was also removed leaving the head-stock just about bare.

The head-stock casting will be painted and all the components cleaned and well lubricated upon re-assembly. I found a nameplate; "Stedall-Dowding machine tool company Clerkenwell London". It's possible this company was the importer of Lorch lathes but I've not yet had chance to check the web.

All in all a good session and only one small bit of damage was found; one of the special machine screws in one of the ring nuts will have to be replaced; I might have to be inventive with this?

Kind regards, Col.