A couple of weeks ago I picked up maybe the worlds dirtiest and most neglected old Craftsman lathe
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lathe.jpg
It had been sitting in a workshed untouched for at least the last 10 years since the owner passed. I bought it from his son who is late 50's early 60's. So it's possible the lathe had been ignored for a while longer than 10 years.
When I went to look at it the motor would turn, but just smoke the belts. The headstock would BARELY turn by hand.
The tailstock quill was frozen and the tailstock itself was stuck to the was.
The carriage wouldn't move and neither would the cross slide.
It had rust, dust, dirt dobber nests, and mouse crap everywhere.
With all that said it was intact and I thought I could bring it back to life. No plans to "restore" it to look special, just to restore it to functionality.
The next day I headed to the garage armed with steel wool pads, a fine edged scraper, fine sandpaper, WD-40, moly grease, and 30w oil, and 3 in 1 oil.
Step 1 sweep out the rust, chips, and mouse poo. Knock off the dirt dobber nests.
Step 2 brushed 3 in 1 oil on everything and let it sit while I drank some coffee.
Step 3 Scrape, scrub, oil, wipe down, repeat, repeat, repeat.
I spent the better part of 8 hours with WD40, 3 in 1 oil, a scotchbrite pad, oothbrush, some 220 grit sandpaper, and a fine edge hardened steel scraper doing step 3.
I loosened the gib adjusting screws to get plenty of slop in the carriage and tailstock, then started brushing and scraping away the gunk built up on the ways. In some places the goo was close to 1/8" thick.
Eventually I realized to get the ways clean would require removing at least the tailstock, so it hit the bench.
These pics are about 4 hours in.
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lathe 2.jpg
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lathe 3.jpg
These pics were taken January 11th. Since then I've been doing small jobs with the lathe to give it some time to loosen up and see if it needs a full teardown to be serviceable.
Last weekend I made 8 weld bungs for the front suspension on the Locost project.
Operations were as follows:
Cut to rough length on the band saw
Chuck in lathe and center drill
Through drill to 1 size smaller than tap drill
drill to tap drill size
Face one end
turn diameter to press fit into tube. * when I got the diameter I was looking for I set the dial on the cross slide to zero. The turning was removing 0.109 .035 on the roughing passes and a .004 finish pass coming back to the preset 0 on the cross slide.
Remove and rechuck to face other end
I'm describing the detail on turning because I wanted to know how well it would repeat to size. with 8 parts I had 0.002 variation according to my micrometer. Close enough for me.With the turning repeatability close enough for what I do, I have no plans to rip the carriage apart and place the feed screw or nuts.
What I have learned using it on small jobs is that the tired old motor has seen better days.
It still overheats in about minutes running on high speed.
What is one to do?????
I've seen a few videos on YouTube about DC treadmill motors on lathes, milling machines, drill presses and sanders. I spoke with a couple of friends and decided that's the direction for me.
She's getting a DC motor swap!!!!
I got on Craigslist and FB marketplace and started searching for the perfect treadmill.
My criteria is 2 hp minimum
rated for continuous duty
CHEAP After a couple of days of calls and messages I snagged the perfect donor.
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treadmill.jpg
$30 on FB marketplace. Messaging with the owner I learned it had been collecting dust. The lady said it had a "Lube" error and wouldn't turn on. I get on Google and find out it's a smart treadmill. Every 150 miles it shuts down and won't run until you lube the belt and clear the code.
Clearing the code is literally a 4 second fix. Press and hold STOP and Speed ^ for 4 seconds.
Treadmill works like a champ!!!!
I'll update this thread as I gut the treadmill and go about fitting the motor and a variable speed drive to the lathe.
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