Farm sale

[sean logieParticipant @seanlogie69385]

Lathes

[sean logieParticipant @seanlogie69385]

Was at a farm sale last weekend where there was a couple of lathes for sale (check my photo albums). In all honesty they were a bit rough to say the least . The Harrison’s chuck keyways were all split , the crosslide wheel bush was very rough and sticky . The ways though showed very little signs of wear (hardened i would’ve thought ) The herbert was an interesting machine and i would’ve loved to have taken it home with me as a restoration project . I believe the Harrison sold for £300!!! and the Herbert was unsold . Question …. should i make an offer on the Herbert (i know tge guy thats selling it ) just not sure 😉

Sean

[Peter LayfieldParticipant @peterlayfield]

Yes go for it , offer him scrap price, if you have room, it will be a great project

[ScrumpyParticipant @scrumpy]

I'm with you on the Herbert a lovely restoration project low offer £50-00 and you would be on a winner it looks like there is some tooling as well

[JonParticipant @jon]

Was thinking £300 for the old pre 1965 Harrison, Dickson toolpost worth well over £200 secondhand. Good medium work horses.
Not that long ago could get mint with Norton gearbox and extras £300, mate still uses his. Scrapped the newer 140, coolant, chucks the lot for £200 7 years ago.

[RICHARD GREEN 2Participant @richardgreen2]

The Herbert is a capstan lathe,……………… not much use for model engineering or " jobbing " work,

Perhaps that's why it didn't sell…………….

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by RICHARD GREEN 2 on 01/06/2017 16:57:30:

The Herbert is a capstan lathe,……………… not much use for model engineering or " jobbing " work,

Andrew Johnston wouldn't agree with that!

Neil

[RICHARD GREEN 2Participant @richardgreen2]

Andrew who ?……………………………………..

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

If you can move it and house it I would grab it

Definitely worth a punt, you can learn a lot from these old technical bits of kit

GL

 

Edited By Ady1 on 01/06/2017 23:58:23

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

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[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I'd be looking to see what collets it takes first , not much point in lugging it home and restoring if you can't hold any work in it or they are going to cost a fortune.

[RICHARD GREEN 2Participant @richardgreen2]

[David George 1Participant @davidgeorge1]

I worked one of these Herbert 2D capstan lathes realy solid machine. Turned out batches of up to 250,000 screws bushes etc on piece work with the correct tooling and a bar feed but I wouldn't want to use one to do one offs, no compound slide and the correct tooling and the tooling for the capstan. No compound slide, the tooling puts on angles and threads cut by a Coventry die box.

David

[Max ToleranceParticipant @maxtolerance69251]

It is as mentioned Herbert 2D capstan. One of the older models although they didn't change much over the years, mainly detail changes. The lathe would normally take 2047 collets and these are specific to the lathe you cannot use Ward collets or other similar types due to the included angle of the head and also slight differences in the diameter. It is possible to fit these machines with a new collet closer and nut so you can use Burnerd or Crawford multisize collets since the metric versions of the 2047 are quite rare (they do exist but many must have gone to the scrapper years ago) the imperial versions turn up occasionally on certain auction sites.

The main problem for anyone trying to fit one of these lathes in a home workshop is the motor. It is a hefty three phase unit designed for rough industrial use. they are almost indestructible and extremely heavy so the current drain on start up and reversing peaks at high levels. You can go from full speed forward to full speed reverse with a flick of a handle and the motor will do this all day as often as you like without complaint. Whether an inverter would stand the strain is debatable and I would imagine rewiring to delta would be very difficult and very expensive even if it could be done.

How do I know all this? Well I have one in use in my shop. I have a three phase supply which helps and I make numbers of parts on a fairly regular basis. However as per previous posts you need to understand how capstans operate and have the necessary specialist cutter holders, die boxes exc. to make the best use of it. Once set it can be operated by a complete novice and produce massive numbers of identical parts all day every day hence their popularity in the days when Britain made things. Now superseded by CNC these machines are a relic of our industrial past and many thousands of them must have gone to the great scrap yard in the sky since the sixties/seventies

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