Bantam Service

[Simon Williams 3Participant @simonwilliams3]

Looking for a lathe service engineer

[Simon Williams 3Participant @simonwilliams3]

Hello All,

Does anyone have any recommendations for a service engineer to give my Bantam a tune up – headstock bearings, shim the carriage, and the tailstock is about 7 thou low. I fiddle with most things but those Gamet bearings frighten me! The headstock spindle was loose when I got the lathe, I've adjusted them up but never got to the bottom of why they were loose. And dismantling it is beyond my comfort zone! It's a Mk 2 Bantam 2000 so it's the 6 1/2 inch centre height one originally with a two speed motor though now on a VSD.

I'm about 20 mile west of Gloucester, so someone based in S Wales or S W England would be ideal.

Thanks in anticipation of your help

Simon

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

Posted by Simon Williams 3 on 28/01/2016 22:37:38:

but those Gamet bearings frighten me!

Simon

.

Have you got a price for them.? – If not then I can assure you the price will frighten you even more.!

But bearings do loosen off during their life. This is one of the reasons they are adjustable. If you don't have reason to think they are shot then leave them alone I would say.

If your tailstock is 7 thou low I would say that is quite a bit. Is it that much out along the whole bed length or just a certain zone.? – If it is low along the whole bed length you may be able to shim it up by placing shim(s) between the tailstock bed and its cross sliding adjustable bit. (don't know the 'proper' names for them . )

On a separate note. Nice lathe you have there.

Nick

[Simon Williams 3Participant @simonwilliams3]

Hi Nick,, thanks for the response. Yes it's a lovely little lathe, hence I'd like to invest in keeping it that way!

As for the issue of the tailstock being low, my measurement is only in one position close to the chuck because that's where I can get a reliable repeatable measurement. Tthe bed looks ok, if that means anything, and it's induction hardened anyway. My impression is that the underside of the tailstock is worn, there is evidence of this if I remove the tail stock and turn it over you can feel the step in the casting. I was hoping to import some expertise to help optimise the adjustment. Not sure I feel competent to tackle this. I came across this forum googling articles on how to adjust the same.

The slack in the headstock adjusted out easily enough, but I note the injunction in the manual not to overtighten them. With what I've got here to measure the end float I can't tell the difference between just right and too tight, so I fancied hiring the expertise of someone who knows his (or her) trade and has the experience to know how the bearings should feel and behave when they are adjusted spot on.

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