Holbrook 10B lathe

[Anthony mooringParticipant @anthonymooring22681]

I noticed a thread on the forum requesting information on the Holbrook 10B lathe.

My Father bought one of these machines new from Rotogrip Ltd in Birmingham in October 1990. They had mounted it on a boxford cabinet stand for him. He had replied to the advert in Model Engineer magazine and was advised that Rotogrip were the sales agents for them the price was £2357.50 inc 3 jaw chuck. I did contact them recently to ask if they could supply a backplate to fit the machine but they said they had no knowledge of ever selling these machines which seems odd as I still have their original invoice.

As a school technician my Father was used to Super 7s and Boxfords which he felt were not robust enough for the range of work he wanted to carry out in his own home workshop when he retired which was general engineering plus making and repairing telescopes. The Holbrook took up little more space but proved to be a very much more capable machine. I have now inherited the 10B which is numbered HM31 and have moved it into my own workshop and can vouch for just how heavily made it is, two strong men struggle to move just the bed alone. I am looking forward to getting it set up and using again!

[Anthony mooringParticipant @anthonymooring22681]

Reply to information requested

[RRMBKParticipant @rrmbk]

Hi Anthony.

I put the original listing up as mine is no 18 and came to me virtually from its original buyer.

Your chuck backplate should be no problem as it is the same thread and register as a Boxford or South bend so one from either of these can be used. From memory I think it is 1 1/2 " x 8 tpi.

Whereabouts in the UK are you? and are you visiting the Midlands Exhibition? I will be there Fri Sat & sun .

I also have a manual you can photocopy although it isnt really up to much !

Kind regards

Brian

[Brian WoodParticipant @brianwood45127]

Anthony and RRMBK,

A note of caution if I may!

Backplate threads on the Southbend lathe are likely to be cut to American 60 degree form rather than the equivalent pitch 55 degree UK standard. I don't know about Boxford, they might have 'anglicised' that thread when copying the SB lathe

Hardware will engage for the first 2 or 3 thread turns and then lock up so be careful.

Regards

Brian [another one!]

[RRMBKParticipant @rrmbk]

A very good point Brian ( the other one ! ) but when I swapped my South Bend for the Holbrook I kept most of my chucks, backplates etc and all of them fit perfectly.

I think that boxford cloned the S.B and that the 10B was then subsequently designed to use S.B / Boxford accessories to avoid having to develop new stuff. I suspect the other alternative at the time being the Myford parts, they were considered not beefy enough.

[Clive FosterParticipant @clivefoster55965]

My copy of the Holbrook B10 sales leaflet says 8 TPI UN for the spindle nose threads so clearly 60° form.

Never managed to scrape together enough pennies to afford one but talking to Dick Anderson at a Model Engineer exhibition I recall him saying that it was "A Boxford done right" and that Boxford accessories would generally fit.

As I understand it Boxfords started out with 60° threads on the spindle nose then changed to Whitworth 55° form and subsequently went back to 60°. As I recall it a faceplate allegedly from a broken up mid 1960's Boxford fitted my SouthBend 9C just fine as did an ME10 one on my SouthBend 9A.

Clive.

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