IXL lathe change wheels

[Keith LongParticipant @keithlong89920]

Hi Everyone

I've recently acquired an IXL Leader lathe that I'm now renovating. This isn't the type of machine with the flat belt drive, but a full gear head version. The head stock seems to bear a VERY close resemblance to the early (pre 1939) Colchester Master, with the clutch/brake lever operating on the left hand rear of the headstock rather than the front lower right. Tony Griffiths, on his website, mentions that “Colchester” lathes have appeared badged as IXL – I think it's one of those! The bed, saddle and tail stock all match those on the 6”x40” IXL Leader that Tony has pictures of, but I think this is the “Model A” with the lighter construction. The machine does not appear to be a “marriage” as the speed plate on the headstock carries the marking “Leader lathe – British Manufacture” cast into it in the same type face as used for the rest of the plate – and the same type as that used on the plate on Clochesters.

History over, the main thing that I'm hoping for help with, is suggestions for replacement change wheels. I have a selection of change wheels that will allow me to cut just about any thread I'm likely to want, but they have definitely seen better days. Most have some chipped or damaged teeth and, some have already had new teeth fitted, so I'm thinking of trying to get as full as set of replacements as possible.

The wheels are 20dp – the same as Myford, but are 1/2 inch wide rather than 3/8 inch and have a 9/16 inch bore rather than 5/8 inch. They do share the same size key and keyway however.

Does anyone know of another make of machine that uses these size wheels?

Coarser pitch gears won't fit, in spite of the size of the machine the space for the change wheels is pretty restricted.

So far my options appear to be, keep hunting on E-Bay and be prepared to wait a long while. Use Myford pattern wheels, bushed to fit (or sleeve the studs and shafts as required), with spacers if needed; or make a set of wheels from scratch. The latter actually seems to be the most economical option if I can hob them, using a single cutter, rather than using a set of cutters, as well as being an interesting exercise.

The wheels should be 20 to 70 by 5s, with 40 duplicated, plus 76, 80,90 100 and 127 – so quite a set to find or make.

regards

Keith

[Keith LongParticipant @keithlong89920]

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

That's a lot of gears to cut yourself, but the saving and satisfaction could be huge.

It will be more costly, but consider making the gears from aluminium alloy blanks – it is rather less stressful and they should be just as good in service, unless you plan to be using them on a daily basis. You could always make them and get them hard anodised.

Neil

[Keith LongParticipant @keithlong89920]

Hi Neil

I'd wondered about aluminium, but hadn't thought about hard anodising. Some will get quite a bit of use as they are also used to drive the shaft that gives me power sliding and surfacing. That picks up it's drive by a separate gearbox from the main leadscrew. Ali would certainly be easier and cleaner to cut, as my initial thoughts were to use cast iron blanks. The hard anodising is probably not something I'd want to be doing at home but as Airbus builds it's wings just down the road from me we must have a suitable conrtactor somewhere in the neighbourhood. Just need to get "Yellow Pages" out.

Keith

[VersabossParticipant @versaboss]

Hi Keith, while I cannot help you with the gears, I would advise you – in case you decide to make the gears from aluminium – to replace the gearing for the power feeds with simple vee pulleys. I did that with my lathe a long time ago; until now I broke only one of the small Bando Polyurethane v-belts. It will be a joy for your ears when the hissing sound from fast running metal gears changes to almost absolute silence

Second thought: not only for Aluminium gears, the benefit is there for steel/iron ones too!

Greetings, Hansrudolf

Edited By Versaboss on 19/09/2012 21:45:09

[Keith LongParticipant @keithlong89920]

Hello Hansrudolf

That's certainly something I'm going to look at, it'll just depend on how much room there is and what sort of ratio I'll need. I was a bit surprised to find that the lathe used such fine pitch wheels as my other machines (Drummond round beds) use 14 dp gears which by comparison with the 20 dp look almost massive!

Keith

[Stan CarterParticipant @stancarter64068]

I have recently restored An IXL lathe myself in terms of change gears my lathe came with none at all, but after being gifted a book called the amateurs lathe i found out that with minor modification you can use myford changegears my leadscrew has a pitch of 8 TPI the only issue is you will not be able to use the original IXL changegears after the modification. this modification consists of sleeving the mandrels so that the myford changegears fit I then inserted threaded rods and profiled the end of them so they act as a key for the gear to sit on

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