BCA MK III Jig Borer

[pjhParticipant @pjh]

Good day, Ladies and Gents, I recently bought a BCA that had found itself out in the rain. It is now stripped down and I am in the process of cleaning it up and respraying the machine and original stand. Unfortunately, a number of items were lost and/or stolen. The motor/pulley was probably the first to go. I am thinking of rather going the VFD route: your thoughts?

The tensioning U bracket is also missing. Could one forum member (or more!) please photograph the beast and add dimensions?

Is the drive belt elastic, i e something like the straps used to secure goods in the boot of your car? How is it joined?

The last question for now is the availability of a manual. I read the one from Lathes.co.uk is rather sparse. I got a few pages from the kind guys at Tenga but those too were also not very useful. Is there something out there that is more useful?

I am in South Africa and buying virtually anything in the UK calls for a house mortgage. I don’t even want to talk about courier charges (our PO is bankrupt). I am hoping I’ll be able to make up the missing pieces once the info to my questions start rolling in.

Nothing like positive thinking and many thanks

Pieter

 

 

[jaCK HobsonParticipant @jackhobson50760]

round poly belting is probably the stuff to use these days. Easy to get off Amazon. Lathes.co.uk will probably recommend and supply suitable size polybelt.

[Clive FosterParticipant @clivefoster55965]

In my, thankfully brief, ownership of a BCA I was frequently less than complimentary about the drive arrangements when setting the spindle at an angle to its slide. The motor mounting arrangements had been previously modified in a clear attempt to improve things. If the improvement was significant I shudder to think what the original was like to use. The massive, old style cast iron, 1 or 1 1/2 hp motor (don’t accurately recall power) hung out the back was less than helpful due to gravitational effects.

If you are going VFD perhaps consider something like the motor mounting on my “white elephant” Taig 2000LE CNC mill. The motor is a modern, 2004 vintage compact 1/3 rd hp / 250 W unit barely 7″ long by 4″ diameter and quite light. Attaches directly to the spindle “headstock” so, on a BCA both would pivot together. Might not be a standard NEC frame size tho’.

I’d imagine 1/3 rd hp would be adequate as the Taig cutter holding capacity is similar to the BCA. Or perhaps so called “servo” style DC motors might be even smaller. Maybe the aftermarket types often considered as replacements for the small import machines would be worth a look.

Clive

 

[AStroudParticipant @astroud]

Hi Pieter from a  fellow BCA Mk11 owner

8mm round polyurethane belting works for me , joined together by melting and joining the ends together once wrapped around the pullies.

I can’t comment on a VFD option, I have a single phase motor and while a slight phaff to have to change ratios on the pullies it works. The only issue I have found is the belt tends to get oily and when on the smallest drive pully on the motor it can slip due to small wrap around. It can be managed and does prevent any overload.

I have the lathes UK manual, a lot of period advert reprints and a few pages of general information, interesting but not necessary in my opinion. As a BCA lover I had to have it regardless.

Here is a picture with some dimensions, let me know if any others needed.

Good luck Andrew

 

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

It should be a round belt and the modern version of the original rubber and cotton material is available.

I fitted by BCA (Mk 2 I think) with a new 3ph motor and VFD, a matched set courtesy of Newton-Tesla, because I felt unablel to trust the previous owner’s own-built inverter supplying its original motor. I did not anyway know that inverter’s intended supply.

I too have the literature sold by Tony Griffiths, and as Andrew says, it is not ever so useful. It’s as if the original operating and maintenance manuals manuals no longer exist, so we’d be lucky to find one anywhere.

 

 

 

[Phil PParticipant @philp]

Pieter

Let me have your email address and I will send you some literature.

Phil P

[pjhParticipant @pjh]

Good morning Gents, many thanks for the info forwarded so far.

Clive, may I ask you send me a few more pics from different angles? I’d like to see what bracketry you used to affix the motor to the spindle.

Andrew, thanks for the pic and dims. I suppose I could scale the pulleys, but the line of least resistance prevails: diameter please.

Phil, many thanks for offering to send some literature. I did not include my email address in yesterday’s post, not sure whether that is ok or not. Nevertheless, I am on [email protected].

Much appreciated

[Author]

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