Compact 5 help!!

[Brian InglisParticipant @brianinglis94632]

Hi All,

 

First post for me and hopefully not asking too much (?). I have inherited a lovely Emco compact 5 Lathe/mill and would love to use it as was wished. My question is what would be a good first project (I like the idea of the sparey diesel engine, but will the machine handle it, 65mm centre?) and are there any must have additions to the lathe/mill? I’m thinking 4 jaw independant chuck or face plate? DRO scales? That sort of thing (cheap ones preferable).

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Brian.

[Brian InglisParticipant @brianinglis94632]

First project, help needed!

[Ramon WilsonParticipant @ramonwilson3]

Hi Brian,

 

Welcome to the forum – you will find lot’s of help here purely for the asking

 

I’m not all that familiar with the Compact 5 but I can say you do not need a large set up to make small diesel engines. I’m sure you will find that it will be more than adequate for anything similar to the Sparey and I’m thinking here specifically to the 5cc and not the smaller ‘.8’cc. engine

Personally I would certainly look toward the purchase of a suitable four jaw and a face plate as these are almost essential for some ops. The other item would be a small rotary table and particularly one that can be used in both horizontal and vertical modes. By making some simple but useful fixtures you will be able to make most of the small model aircraft type engines should you desire.

 

If the area of model engines is of specific interest to you then I can recommend visiting the Model Engine News site here

 

Hope this helps a little and good luck with your project whatever it is.

 

Regards – Ramon

 

 

 

 

 

[adyParticipant @ady]

Best of luck Brian.

The guys who make single cylinder engines are amongst the most skillful people you will ever have the pleasure of knowing.

The stuff they do is at the limit of what we, as the descendants of monkeys, are capable of producing.

 

When you get there please let us know because many try but only some will achieve.

 

I suggest you start with some tooling, go onwards from there, and good luck sir.

Edited By ady on 02/05/2011 23:53:20

[adyParticipant @ady]

EDIT:

If you go for it.

Your first engines probably won’t work.

 But if you dedicate yourself wholly to the subject you may become a god.

 

You have a pretty good lathe, made by skilled people, so the limit is you.

 

Takes a long time though…you’ve got to be a bit of a nutter who can talk like you’re normal.

 

You’ve got to be dedicated, which is a big step up for most of us.

Edited By ady on 03/05/2011 00:00:43

[adyParticipant @ady]

EMCO by the way also made the little weeny Unimat lathe.

 

Everything I ever looked at that they made was within one to two hundredths of a millimeter, it was the post WW2 crowd who was mainly involved in their production.

 

XXXXXX

Edited By ady on 03/05/2011 00:20:26

 

Unfortunately, all was not as rosy as it first seemed for the lathe lacked a tumble-reverse mechanism – so making repeated boring operations and left-hand screwcutting difficult – only 6 changewheels were provided (though these were sufficient to provide a fine feed to the carriage) and there was no proper backgear, just a speed reduction through a toothed belt to a second pulley assembly. The omission of backgear was a considerable drawback

 

No tumble reverse…no backgear… no dog clutch…no wonder we won the flippin’ war

 

http://www.lathes.co.uk/emco/page2.html

Edited By ady on 03/05/2011 00:24:43

[Richard ParsonsParticipant @richardparsons61721]

Brian After mounting the lathe on a suitable base I would buy a 4 Jaw independent chuck, and a drill chuck and a rotating centre for the tail stock. From what you tell us you have a ‘work centre’ a lathe and a vertical mill. Am I correct? The next thing I would look at is to motor. It looks like a ‘squirrel cage’ type with a capacitator start. If it is not and has brushes then I would look for an ‘add-on’ speed controller to get below 200 rpm limit. Remember there is a simple rule of thumb for the headstock speed for mild steel, which is 288/D where d is the diameter of the stock bat in inches (or 7315/D for the Millimetre version). At 200 rpm the limit is about 37mm diameter for mild steel. The lathe’s maximum capacity is 130mm swing

Otherwise I would put my thinking cap on and at least make a handle that can be used to turn the headstock by hand. Or perhaps a method whereby you could turn the lathe by some other means.

The lathe seems to have been made as a ‘Clock Maker’s lathe’.

As to models I would start by browsing through this web site http://www.lathes.co.uk looking not so much at the lathes but at the accessories to see what you need/like and figure out how to make them.

 

Good luck and above all enjoy your self

Dick

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

If you just have the basic lathe without the mill/drill then I would suggest a vertical slide to allow you to do milling in the lathe.

 

Jason

[Brian InglisParticipant @brianinglis94632]

Thanks for all the replies, I posted then wandered off, not expecting a reply for days!

It is looking like a 4 jaw chuck will be a crucial purchase then start saving for the rotary table, in the mean time some small tooling projects then in at the deep end with a Sparey 5cc or similar.

Thanks again for the information.

 

Brian.

 

PS. Anyone know of a cheap 4 jaw chuck for sale, have seen the EMCO price tag, wife may have something to say about that.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

The problem with the Emco lathes is they have their own unique mounting methods, Having owned an Ecomat 8.6 for a number of years I learnt what the short taper sizes were and was able to make up backplates.

 

As the 5 uses chucks that screw onto the spindle with bolts through the chuck you either have to us their chucks or make up a backplate to use with another chuck but that would mean having to bolt on the backplate and then bolt a standard imported chuck onto that each time you changed chucks

 

This e-bay seller has them though I think they are promachine tools

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-jaw-independent-chuck-Compact-5-lathe-/280468227811?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item414d3586e3

 

J

Edited By JasonB on 03/05/2011 19:12:51

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