I have an old (circa 1912) lather made by oliver. It has
wonderful cast iron bed and legs. However, the head is
steel shaft in a lead housing. After over 90 years, it
actually still works pretty well. Very little play or
vibration in the head.
But the motor is old and replacing the motor (circa WWII)
would require a lot of work, I think. The motor has caused
some of the sawdust to catch fire in the past. I have
made some changes that seem to have avoided a recurrence,
but it still doesn’t seem like a good thing…
So, I was thinking, what if I replaced the head?
The bed is basically two flat cast iron bars with a 2.5 inch
gap between them. I suspect that there are modern lathe
heads out there that could easily be put onto this existing
bed with little or no modification and others that could be
put in place with a bit more work.
The lathe is so old that while Oliver has not forgotten that
they made it, they clearly don’t support it anymore.
Anyone have any ideas how I might go about this? Sources
for lathe heads?
Thanks.
(The preview function seemed to be replacing the word
a (e.g. first letter of the alphabet) with a series of
pound signs. Not sure if that is how it will look when
posted or not, but I thought I would mention it should
someone see pounds in my posting.)
Replies
I guarantee replacing the motor will be cheaper and easier than replacing the headstock, if you can even find another headstock. I don't think I've ever seen anybody selling lathe headstocks as a separate item.
>> The preview function seemed to be replacing the word a ...
Don't worry about it. It's just Prospero's handy dandy censor software. It occasionally decides that 'a' is a rude word and replaces it with ####. It replaces all rude words it recognizes with four pound signs so we can't count the characters and figure out which rude word got replaced.
Edited 6/18/2004 6:17 pm ET by Uncle Dunc
The headstock is held on by two bolts. It looks like a very
easy thing to remove. It really looks easier to replace the
head that the motor, which is sitting under the lathe on
a cantilever system.
The tricky part is what to put on to replace it. :-)
I was hoping someone would say, "Oh, yeah. So and so sells
heads," but it sounds like that won't be the case.
Too bad...
Yeah, it doesn't sound hard to remove. The trick, if you replace it with a headstock not designed to go on that lathe, will be getting the spindle parallel to the bed in two dimensions and concentric with the tailstock, and bolting it down so it'll stay that way. After modifying the headstock, the bed, or both, because the bolt holes won't match.
I would scrap the original head only as a last resort and that doesn't seem to be the case here.
Where is the motor mounted and how does it drive the head, flat belts, v belts, gears, direct drive? The "lead" is Babbitt metal and is perfectly adequate as a bearing and can still be replaced if worn out.
If you can give a model #, I can probably look it up on the OWWM site to see a picture of the machine.
John W.
Curiously, there is a plate proudly proclaiming it to be made by Oliver Machinery Co, Grand Rapids. But there is no model or part number,
only a "Shop #", which is 8373.
We gave that info to Oliver at one point, and they said it
had shipped to Santa Monica Board of Education in 1912.
The motor is mounted under the lathe (it can interfere with your
footing if you stand close, but I generally don't). The original
motor mount was modified (you can see rather clumsy cuts by ####welding torch) to permit a WWII vintage 3/4 horse Craftsman
electric motor to be mounted. The shaft is driven by a v-belt.
There are 5 pulleys available, but to be honest, I haven't moved it out of the slowest speed arrangement in a long time...
There is a tiny bit of vibration, but I can make very smooth shavings,
so I don't think the head "bearing" (right concept if not the right
word) is worn sufficiently to replace.
I vote for replacing the motor. I have a harbor freight lathe that is similiar to the 12" Sears models of several years ago. I replaced the motor with a estate sale find. A 3/4 horse DC variable speed reversible one. I can't remember the brand at this time of morning. It is a great lathe now, or at least it is for me.
The head sounds worth keeping. I'd put a 1 hp three phase motor on it and add a variable frequency drive. This will give you variable speed with a dial and at 1 hp rated you can get a VFD for a few hundred dollars plus at that hp rating they even have it to plug in 110 volt. My local motor shop has a drill press set up that way with a Baldor VFD.
CaWood -
I would have to agree with those who suggest replacing the motor rather than the head stock. It's vital that the head stock taper be centered and parallel to the tail stock taper. They have to meet at a point. If I were in your position I'd rather work towards modifying or making a motor mount to fit the situation than trying to align a head stock to the tail stock correctly. That's (one of the) reasons I got rid of my first lathe with a pivoting head stock - it was a pain in the lower back keeping the head and tail stock aligned. And this was on a lathe that was designed with a pivoting head stock.
From Beautiful Skagit Co. Wa.
Dennis
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