New (to me) mill and lathe

stuart in mn wrote:

BrokenYugo wrote: Level" is a bit of a misnomer, it doesn't really need to be level, it needs both ends of the bed to be on the same plane (not twisted)

You're right, straight may be a better term. than level. If a lathe is put on a sled with casters, I suppose you could add screw feet at each end so that when moved into place the feet are run down to the floor, both to keep it stationary as well as to get everything lined up. I think many of the online machinist guys (Keith Rucker, Tom Lipton, and so on) have videos about setting up lathes. They use a 3 point method of alignment, two points under the main head and one out at the far end of the bed.

I think Keith Fenner touches on it a few times too when he was setting up his smaller lathe. Which reminds me, there's also often an adjustment to be made of the alignment of the head stock to the bed, I think you need a "test bar" (a really straight bar with a Morse taper on one end) for that if the headstock is ever removed or that alignment ends up being out of whack from PO berkeleyery.

This is what iam cobbling together

Just gotta get another bolt tomorrow for it to finish

In reply to Graystang:

You might try Google image search. I have an unlabeled head of a early 1900s (Allen) drill press. Even the find similar image search will turn something up. The little things like dials and wheels will give its age away generally.

You might run across patent dates on bearings or in the casting that can give you an era too.

Keith Ruckers website might turn some more machines and info up too.

In reply to jere:

After looking at some other machines on vintagemachinery.org

My hunch is it might be late 40s early 50s

In reply to jere:

Looks like the cochrane-bly base might be older..like from the teens!

Tonight back to the mill... I got the power X Y feed working...

The shift dogs were nearly seized up solid, and 1 of the gear shafts werent far behind...I had to pry the grars into engagement from up underneath, and break 1 of the shafts loose with a pipe wrench...

Oh and that poor old motor sparked like crazy from the brush end the 1st few times I fired it up...

Dont know how much I will use this feature, but sure nice to have it if I need it..

Sorry for the crummy pic, best I have at the moment

In reply to Graystang:

Very very cool! I love machines from that age.

Btw your image host revolted

I am curious about the brushes on you motor. Are they designed to lift off when the motor spins up or do they stay in contact?