Adept mini lathe

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

Well I couldn’t resist the little adept lathe at a local tool dealer.
Complete but the four jaw chuck is missing the jaws and screws so I will have to fabricate those.
But it’s a lovely looking little thing and I intend to completely refurbish it as a display piece. If anyone has a spare chuck I’d love to buy one. Mick

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

[Robert DoddsParticipant @robertdodds43397]

Hi,
Make your own backplate but I got one of these at 80mm dia and seems more than adequate
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-JAW-INDEPENDENT-LATHE-CHUCK-K72-80-TO-320MM-/27228

Regards Bob D

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

Posted a few pics in my albums. Can’t wait to start the refurb. Fed up of building garden walls and completely replacing our bathroom with a wet room. Who said retirement would give me workshop time…

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

I’ve stripped the lathe down today just to see what state it’s in. The tool post looks home made but very nicely done,possibly for round shank tooling or boring bar.
The four jaw is marked Adept but missing jaws and drive screws. If anyone has an adept four jaw could they let me have photos and measurements of the jaws and screws so I can have a go at replicating them.
All in all it looks like a really neat little project to keep me busy. And it has the blessing of SWMBO who decided it will look nice on the sideboard. I knew it was only a matter of time before I sneaked a machine into the house. Mick

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

**LINK**

**LINK**

I'll see if I can take some measurements over the weekend.

Progress on 'supercharging' mine has stalled a bit;

Neil

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

Hi Neil. Many thanks for your post. But I’ve been bitten by this little lathe and bought another which has both 3 and 4 jaws,drive plate centres And the original motor drive and belt pulley shafting. So I’m.going to make a working lathe for table top turning and a decorative one for the sideboard.
I will try to keep this thread up to date with my progress. Mick

[John MCParticipant @johnmc39344]

Reading this thread reminds me of my first lathe some 40+ years ago, an "Eclipse",( http://www.lathes.co.uk/portass/page12.htm)l. Very similar to the Adept I remember my mentor telling me. I learnt all the basics of turning on that lathe. I even managed to bend the spindle (mandrel), a replacement was made in the local cigarette factory!

I would love to find one now and do exactly as Tractor Man is doing. Not so sure I could leave it on display though, the urge to use it might become overwhelming!

Now, where do I start looking……

John

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

'Epay'? The shapers come up regularly, so I suppose the lathes appear occasionally?

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Tractor Man, the original motor was a stand with a foot peddle and a flywheel, but they also supplied a jack shaft with a 6" V pulley on one end of the shaft, and pulleys to match the lathe head stock pulleys.

My Super Adept is driven by a 4 pole shaded pole motor of 180 Watts, the motor has a 1" pulley (top R/H corner of photo), driving the 6" jack shaft pulley. I use 5 mm round heat fused belts.

Ian S C

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

Search eBay for adept lathe but in the filter tick sold items and you can see how many are kicking around.
I found a couple of new oil cups on eBay.
Yes I’ve seen the treddle drive, I think.i prefer electickery to that.
So I now have two adept lathes to refurbish.keep me busy in the cold months. Mick

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

I have posted some images of the new lathe in my adept mini lathe album. I’m confused though as both lathes are marked as Adept but the first one has more characteristics of a super Adept. The second one has a tail stock unlike any others I can find in the net. It must have been modified to a screw feed as the handwheel is an old radiator valve wheel and the screw is normal form not acme.
The original solid centre is still with the lathe. The locking screw is on top rather than behind the casting.
Do I have two heavily modified machines or just par for the course output from Portass?

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

First one looks like a standard Super Adept.

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

I thought that Neil but the bed casting does not have super on it. It does have dovetails on the bed whereas the other has square slides.
The tailstock is puzzling me on the second one with its top mounted locking screw.
The tool slides on the first one puzzle me as the shaped ends appear to have been cut flat.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

They are a neat looking little machine when you see them all tidied up like Neil's, with little baby back gear and all.

Surprised to see they use a tapered bronze bearing in the front headstock. Obviously where Myfrod got the idea for the Super 7 bearing from.

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Posted by Hopper on 11/12/2017 08:48:39:

Surprised to see they use a tapered bronze bearing in the front headstock. Obviously where Myfrod got the idea for the Super 7 bearing from.

I think that's one of Neil's mods. I expect be got the idea from a Myford

Rod

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

LOL, that makes more sense. Nice one Neil.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

My lathe has parallel bearings, taper bearing a bit over the top for Adept (except Neil's one).

Ian S C

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

There are no bearings in either of mine but the working one I will make up bronze bearings for.
Is the best way to bore out the head stock bearings on the lathe with a small boring bar. ?

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Tractor man on 10/12/2017 22:38:17:
I thought that Neil but the bed casting does not have super on it. It does have dovetails on the bed whereas the other has square slides.
The tailstock is puzzling me on the second one with its top mounted locking screw.
The tool slides on the first one puzzle me as the shaped ends appear to have been cut flat.

I don't think the 'super' is a reliable indicator. What is definitive is if the bed has cast in lugs for the leadscrew, then it must be a Super.

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Tractor man on 11/12/2017 12:56:06:
There are no bearings in either of mine but the working one I will make up bronze bearings for.
Is the best way to bore out the head stock bearings on the lathe with a small boring bar. ?

Do what I did and saw off the headstock and make a new one

Then fit a new bed and you are sorted!

Neil

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

Just a quick word on the taper in the head and tail stock. I took out the Jacobs 0 adaptor from the drill chuck and measured the taper for the spindles. As near as I can make out it is a 1/4 inch taper per foot on the diameter, or 0.0208" taper per inch on the diameter which is a standard workshop taper according to the engineers black book.

The angle offset for the compound slide shoulder be 1.4 degrees, sorry minutes and seconds belong on a clock to me lol.

I will have a crack at turning a taper and see if my measurements agree.

T.M.

[Tractor manParticipant @tractorman]

By the way Neil, the carrier bracket for the leadscrew is a brass affair with two locating dowels and bolts under the lathe bed, no cast lugs???

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Tractor man on 11/12/2017 19:19:37:

By the way Neil, the carrier bracket for the leadscrew is a brass affair with two locating dowels and bolts under the lathe bed, no cast lugs???

In that case someone may have converted an Adept. The Adept has no leadscrew.

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I don't think anyone has ever classified the Adept taper, it seems to be a 'factory special' – one reason for my beefed up spindle with an MT0 taper.

I plan to bore out the tailstock for a spindle big enough for MT0 as well.

Neil

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