Grayson Lathe Refurbishment

[Magnu420]

hi all,ive been reffered here by a freecycle member who says you could help me out ( i hope)

im after either retired or working engineers,ive been given a vintage grayson lathe http://www.lathes.co.uk/grayson/index.html
on a condition,the condition is that i restore it to what it was before when it was first made,about 1935.

i got no tooling with it,no dead centres, etc etc and wondering if anyone has anything spare that will help me with my quest
ive been given a few things like a square toolpost which i believe could be a dickson type toolpost,and a few mt1 taper drill bits
and a myford 7 faceplate.
i do believe that myford 7 parts will fit this lathe...anything will be a bonus to me and specialy to the old guy

ive spent a few hours stripping the lathe down,then its spent a few days in a electrolisis bath which i made using a wheelie bin,
200 ltrs of water,and some washing soda,and a 12Vdc battery charger

got all the old paint off,it was like a orangey colour which was painted over the original colour ( aqua blue i think)
ive gave it a coat of zinc phosphate primer,and gonna give it another coat this week, and hopefully if the funds will let me
i will order the paint this week,ive spent hours using a dremel to polish the ball handles,lead screw,feed rate handle,and anything else that was ment to be bright coloured.

so i do hope that someone can help me on these bits please

ive upload some pictures of my project (comments and that are welcomed)

ps if this post is in the wrong area of the forum please move to the correct section thanks

grayson lathe before.jpg

20151208_135132.jpg

20151208_140018.jpg

20151211_135732.jpg

20151211_143515.jpg

[Magnu420]

the forum will only let me upload 5 pictures so heres some more

20151210_154025.jpg

20151211_153020.jpg

24 hours.jpg

20151218_142416.jpg

20160119_143524.jpg

as i said earlier any comments are most welcomed

[PanBiker]

You can only post 5 images as you are inserting them as attachments. If you upload your images to the gallery you can upload 10 at a time and when you insert into posts they will autosize to 800x600.

Have a look at this thread for hints on using the gallery. I posted this when the site platform was fairly new, the information is relevant though.

Images Tips and Tricks

[Magnu420]

i did come across that about uploading to the gallery after i posted
thanks

[PanBiker]

I have renamed your thread to be more representative of you quest. The web crawlers and spiders that index the site will circulate the title around the web and it should make it a lot easier to find on the site by anyone interested.

[Magnu420]

thanks again bud much appreciated

[Stanley]

Morning Magnu (Have you got a real forename?) Welcome to the site. Interesting mix of skills in your profile! You've got an interesting project on the go and you've made a good start. I like the wheelie bin electrolysis, never come across that one before. I can't help with parts but you are doing well attracting attention, you've had over 50 hits already, it'll surprise me if you don't get some response. One way of getting more exposure would be to write a short article with pics for the ME, they are always interested in free copy. I know what you are up against, I refurbished Johnny Pickles copy of a small Birch lathe he made in 1927 but I had a better start than you, it was in better condition.



Even so I found that I had to make most of the parts I needed myself, I suspect you'll end up having to do the same. Never mind, it's worth while and when you have finished it you'll get a bigger buzz than someone who has simply forked out money for a new modern lathe. The old ones were much better basic build, they weren't frightened of using a bit of metal! Best of luck with it. If you hit any problems be sure to post, someone will have a solution!



I did the same with Johnny's bigger 1956 lathe as well. Well worth all the effort, they are lovely lathes to use, so quiet and smooth cutting with the belt drive.

Only one observation.... when you finally mount it on a firm bench, level it with the headstock foot only and don't bolt the tailstock foot down tight, make it a flexible mount, more to soak up vibration than to hold it solid.

[PanBiker]

No doubt you will have already found the Shed Matters thread Dave.

Shed Matters 2

Have a read through from the start, the first few pages include a few refurbs done by one of our members up in the North East (micktoon). There are a good number of shed men up there who may be able to help or have contacts that may be useful for you.

The start of Micks refurbishment is shown in the Marine Engines thread.

[Magnu420]

thanks for your input stanley,it much aprriciated
the electrolisis idea i found via google,someone made one to de-rust
some old tools,handsaws,hammers,machinists vice. i thought i try it and i
was surprised how it work,took the old paint off like nobodys bussiness,and de-rusted everything
when i jet washed the parts a couple of them were reluctunt to come off,ie in the corner of the tailstock
and the tailstock handwheel,so these went back in for a couple of days.also i put a rusty square in with the lathe
bed,give it a quick wire brush when it came out,all the rust gone ( see pictures)

ive been in contact with a guy via email,john hill from model engin maker forum,cos i had a same problem
that he had,on the bull gear where the set screw goes in,i had to chip away at it cos the set screw was the old slot
head type and someone snapped one half off in the past,i contact this guy to see how he mended his,he sorted his
by facing the old bit of arbour down to where he could,he then made a new boss and drilled and pinned to the gears,
then turned and drilled the finished boss to what it was before,for me i had my problem cast welded to rectify the problem
cos i dont have a another lathe to make a new boss

@ panbiker i did see the shed matters thread,a member of freecycle told me to post,but i was expecting shed matters forum
not posts,also i didnt want to hijack the thread,ive read the shed matter 1 thread and halfway thru shed matters 2 thread

here some pictures of the square before and after

20151208_140058.jpg

20151210_133319.jpg

20151114_142540.jpg

20160114_130610.jpg

20160114_130624.jpg

and if you wondering why i didnt use a screw extractor on the set screw,and get it out that way
i did,but the screw extractor broke and it broke at a point where i couldnt get any grips or pliers on it,
so i tried to drill it out,then realised after, when the drill bit slipped of and started drilling into the boss
and realised the screw extractor was carbide and wouldnt drill,so that why a chipped away at it.
ground it best i could untill i get a use of a surface and cylindrical grinder

thanks for looking

[Stanley]

Dave, don't be frightened of posting on Shed Matters, that's what it's there for, you won't be seen as high-jacking. In fact Ian it might be a good idea to transfer this thread over into Shed Matters as that will ensure more shed men see it. We know from my birthday that a lot of people read but don't post!
Don't beat yourself up over breaking the 'stud extractor', they are pot hard steel and always break! If it happens to you again they can be drilled out with a tungsten carbide drill, a lot of care and plenty of lubricant. 'Easy Outs' should be banned, I've never seen one work yet! Far better to drill out completely following the old thread line and picking the remnants out before re-tapping the same size or even slightly larger. On really expensive jobs they use specialised spark erosion techniques but it's expensive.
I shall have to look that electrolytic rust removal up, never used it but it looks like a goodie! A good example of knowledge that needs to be spread more widely.

[plaques]

My little tip to remove screws and bolts that are on their last legs (threads) is a lot of light tapping before you even start trying to unfasten it. Most people will know that using an impact driver on a light setting will unscrew a bolt whereas using a constant torque on a spanner will neck it in no time. What people miss is that most of the battery driven screw drivers will act like an impact drive if set to a low pressure. Applying the same logic to a screw slot as you would to a bolt head may give you what you are after. It doesn't always work but its worth a try before you reach for those stud extractors which I agree never seem to work.

[PanBiker]

In fact Ian it might be a good idea to transfer this thread over into Shed Matters as that will ensure more shed men see it.

I renamed this thread for Dave who had already put it into the Crafts forum. I think that having it's own descriptive title and it existing as a separate entity will give it the best chance with the bots, spiders and crawlers to spread it round the web. If it went in shed matters en bloc it would be lost after your daily post. You could put a mention or a link to the topic in a few different threads, that would also help spread the word.

[Magnu420]

heres my version of a eectrolisis bath for stanle and others who want to de-rust things without
harming the part and enviorment

plastic bin (big enough to cover the part completely)
4 steel rods or plate
some copper wire
another steel rod
some washing soda ( i use oxichem ) 1 scoop to a gallon of water
6Vdc/12Vdc battery charger

fix the 4 rods or plates to the corners of plastic bin ( i used a wheelie bin ) with long nuts and bolts
get a length of copper wire and wrap it around the bolt ends where you fixed the 4 rods or plates so it all
connected as one

fix the other rod or plate across the top making sure its not touching the rods on the side of bin
fill with water (my wheelie bin took 200 litres of water) and add the washing soda (about 40 scoops )
loaded the parts onto the rod going across the top using more bare copperwire ( making sure they were fully submerged and not touching the side rods or plates )

connected the positive terminal to the copper wire thats wrapped around the bolts connecting the side rods
connect the negative terminal of charger to the rod thats holding the parts
switch the charger to 6V
and turn on the charger and you should see bubbles rising leave it switched on for either a couple hours or days

[Stanley]

P that's a handy tip about battery powered screwdrivers and drills. On a low setting it will act just like an impact driver.
I can see me having a crack at that electrolysis trick Dave but on a slightly smaller scale!

[PanBiker]

I made a small version in a sandwich box for getting the crud off detector coin finds. I used a 1A 12v mains adaptor from a redundant appliance, it works well.

[Whyperion]

Pity I binned in a wheelie bin a fair proportion of tools that had got left in the damp - I've passed others on elsewhere, and have more still to clean up, they wont fit the lathe though, sorry for that.

[Magnu420]

Pity I binned in a wheelie bin a fair proportion of tools that had got left in the damp - I've passed others on elsewhere, and have more still to clean up, they wont fit the lathe though, sorry for that.

a shame i didnt become a member sooner

just a small update
ive been given a couple of tool holders,but minus their adjusting screws and allan bolts to clamp the tool into the holders
no worries on that dept,when this lathe up and running i be able to use the original toolholder which is like a elephant's foot
and make some adjusters,i reckon the toolholders will hold about a 12mm or maybe 1/2" square shank tool,will check the diameter
later,also ive been given a pratt burnerd 3 jaw chuck,but no back plate to hold it onto spindle,so i thought when the time is ready
i could knock up a back plate using some 10mm steel plate ( which ive got somewhere ) and get a 1-1/8" 12 tpi hex nut, mark out the
plate to the dimensions of the chuck,weld the nut onto it and turn the plate down to the size of chuck

ive been told of a mate that a guy down burnley might be able to help me out on the paint i need,so i need to get my blagging head on lol

20160222_133311.jpg

20160222_134553.jpg

20160222_134603.jpg

[plaques]

Magnu420 Have you talked to the guy who runs the second hand tool stall in the Colne market hall on a saturday. He has quite a large workshop in Burnley where he may have some of the bits and pieces you want.

[Magnu420]

@ plaques
yes i see him every weekend to see if he has anything for me

but thanks any how

[Stanley]

Good luck with making a chuck back like that.... If you get into trouble give me a shout and we'll see what we have that will help out.