The Assessment... Prize, or Pig in a Poke?

I wont go into detail about the second time I moved the lathe, this time from Milton Ontario to Pickering Ontario, because I didn't take any pics and that all went smoothly except....

Let's just say that picking up 1250 pound machine by the bare metal of the base, with bare metal forks requires care and attention. The lack of friction will permit a machine to slide right off the forks if the tractor or skid steer you are using departs from level in any of three directions. Twelve hundred pounds of machine will kill or maim anyone it hits.

So we spread out the forks to provide a wider base, and used load binders to fasten the lathe to the tractor during the lift. Pro-tip, remove the load binders before trying to back your loader away from your trailer to avoid embarrassment if there are any onlookers.

Given the long day we left the lathe on the pallet ready to lift the next day with our gantry crane and electric hoist.

With the lathe finally in our own shop I could begin to systematically tear down and clean portions of the lathe to catalogue what is missing and what essential parts must be replaced with OEM parts in order to meet my standards for a quality restoration.

Where original parts are no longer available I'll try to machine new parts to the original specifications, but I may make minor changes to improve functionality and durability. 

I could easily see that the finish is pretty poor. With worn, cracking, and peeling paint. The ways and lead screw looked okay visually, but a light surface rust has formed in a couple non-critical places on the cross slide.

I found that the lathe had no oil in either the head stock, variator or the gear box. The oil levels in the apron remain a mystery for now. 

I purchased 5 liters of Morlina 10 for the variator and headstock from Variate Ltd in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I could not find a local supplier of ISO Tellus 68 oil for the gear box, or rather I haven't heard back from the company Shell referred me to, so I will just use an equivalent sold by Canadian Tire; Certified AW68 Anti-Wear Hydraulic Oil, it's about $100 for 18.9 liters, or $40 for 5 liters.

But before tackling the head stock, gear box and variator I wanted to assess the easier items first, so onto assessing the accessories first.

What was at first excitement at seeing a KC15 collet chuck quickly turned to disappointment when I found that the chuck was missing the front cap required to retain the collets and that there were only two collets out of what should be a set of 12. At least there are two chuck keys.

Initially I was not sure were Burnerd Multisize collets, because I couldn't read the manufacturer's name on them. It required a quick trip to the ultrasonic cleaner to reveal those details.

So far things are not looking all that great from a standpoint of completeness, which means I'd need to spend a lot to make this chuck whole. According to Colchester the cost of a cap is £286 plus carriage of £15 to be precise. That's just to be able to use 2 collets. Optionally, I can make a cap, and for less than the price of a new cap. 

Thanks to a few helpful people from the Colchester Lathe group I was able to obtain the dimensions of the missing front cap. Along with a few good photos of a complete ER Collet chuck and cap. 

The above drawing comes from the Colchester Lathe group, and is located in the "files" section of their site, under lathe accessories. Based on the information shared by members I created a fusion file of the cap and intended to make a test piece before machining, heat treating and grinding a new cap, whether I decide to retain this chuck or sell it to get cash in reinvest in the refurbishment of the lathe. 

Below was my back up plan 😎 

I found this rusted L0 mount collet chuck listed for sale locally. The cap is the same as for the D1-3 mount chuck I have, and I'd thought of salvaging the cap by bathing it in evoporust for a day or two, but the seller got extra greedy so I passed on it and the MC type collets he was selling with the chuck.

IF I wanted to keep and use this chuck there is a seller on ebay from Quebec Canada who has been trying to flog allegedly new old stock set of EC collets for $4000. So with a new cap the cost would be over $4500 CAD. Of course I could find cheaper used collets in the UK, but still...

That much money could pay for new front bearings if necessary.

Given the cost of EC collets and a new cap for my KC15 collet chuck I've decided that a 5C collet chuck would make far more sense. Additionally, since the Chipmaster is limited in the distance between centers I thought I'd make my own 5C collet chuck and draw bar.

This will preserve as much as my distance between centers as possible for smaller bar stock and should yield the best precision. I'll machine the chuck over size, heat treat it and then grind the parts to the finish dimensions. 

Such projects are why I was so thrilled to buy a surface grinder and a bunch of various grinding fixtures recently. I'll have to make a tool post grinder for this lathe in order to grind the internal tapers for the chuck.

The 5C collet adapter slips into the 4.5MT in the spindle, and also goes over the taper D1 nose taper to protect the nose from damage. Of course a draw bar (not shown) will pull the 5C collet adapter and collet both tight into the spindle bore. A threaded hole(s) in the adapter will allow cap screw to be tightened and push out the collet adapter if necessary. I haven't shown it in the images, but I'll put a captured brass push rod in the hole to prevent marring the spindle surface when using the extractor screw to free the chuck.

The inside of the collet adapter that goes over the spindle nose will have sufficient clearance so that the adapter does not bottom out on the nose, and can only seat in the 4.5MT of the spindle. I'll first finish grind the outside of the 4.5MT on the adapter on the surface grinder, then seat the adapter into the spindle and use an internal grinding wheel on the tool post to grind the final 5C dimensions on the inside of the adapter. The goal is near perfect concentricity so I can make sweet little engine parts.

So there is the solution to use collets for bar stock. This leaves a surplus partial KC15 Burnerd Chuck, and two EC collets. 

Coming up in part 2, the tool post.