Wednesday, August 01, 2007

All gone

The lathe has gone - picked up this evening by David, sold for £415.

When circumstances are better then maybe I will get another, but that's all for now.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Lathe For Sale on Ebay UK

Lathe is for sael, got to go and so is on Ebay
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140140042298

Ends 29 July 07 - Get Bidding sooner rather than later as you will only forget....

Monday, June 25, 2007

FOR SALE!

Raglan Mk1 LittleJohn 5" Desktop Screwcutting Lathe + Tools, E Mids

Read about this type of lathe at http://www.lathes.co.uk/raglan/page12.html

It is with a heavy heart I have to sell my Raglan Littlejohn.
I got this lathe for motorbiking - it is one of the few lathes desktop with 5" to the bed, and accepts over 20" between centres. It accepts over 1" through teh headstock, has MT4 on the headstock and MT2 on the tail. It has 1/2hp single phase 1425rpm motor with new forward/reverse switch, new V belt, and a reprint of the owners manual. It has good backgears and good brass idler gears.

You relatively easily mount an RGV cylinder head for compression work, and is ideal for all kinds of spacers and light general machining.

The lathe has variable speed variator control, is back-geared for slow speed work and has screwcutting ability via change wheels, supplied. It is supplied with the following:-
  • Raglan Lathe Handboock Reprint
  • 4 tool post holder
  • Raglan Headstock Nose Protector
  • Raglan 9" Face Plate
  • Raglan Catch Plate
  • Pratt ES748 8" Four Jaw independent chuck (no backplate)
  • Bernerd 6" 3 Jaw self centreing chuck with backplate
  • CVA 5" 3 Jaw self centreing chuck with backplate
  • Chinese MT2 1/2" Drill Chuck (new)
  • Jacobs MT1 1/2" Drill Chuck
  • MT4 Dead Centre (new)
  • MT2 Dead Centre
  • Chinese 3" V Blocks Pair (new)
  • Chinese 3" Angle Plate (new)
  • Set MT Sleeves: 5-4, 4-3, 3-2, 2-1
  • 3 point fixed steady (need base pate spacer making)
  • 5off Various dog drives
  • Half completed grinding attachment
    • Eheim 280W Single 240V Grinding motor
    • Angle Adaptor
  • Approx 15 assorted lathe tools (1 carbide)
  • 5 piece centre drill set (new)
  • Changewheels
    • 30T
    • 32T
    • 2off 42T
    • 44T
    • 45T
    • 3off 48T
    • 60T
  • Pack of shim stock
  • Washing machine pump (not shown, intended for suds)

All supplied in a big 2ft square metal box

I had this for over a year, was gradually rebuilding it, but need the cash as the rent is due - you can read my Blog at http://raglanlittlejohn.blogspot.com/

Lathe comes with a wobbly stand and big metal box full of stuff. Collection only as it is heavy, but two pepople can carry OK. I collected it in a Corsa 1.2 with the rear seats removed and a 1/2" ply board in the back, so it easy fits in an estate car.

Ebay Header ShotAction ShotGear Train



Change WheelsSupplied Kit




£525 ono - If I get no response then it will be on Ebay in July.

Here is a similar one (NOT MINE)on EBay including original stand
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190125016979

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Final Tools

Ordered the following reasonably priced things from RHR Engineering on Ebay:
  • MT3 Full Dead Centre
  • MT2 Full Dead Centre
  • 1/2" MT2 Drill chuck and Key (missing from my other one, which is MT1)
  • 5 Centre Drills
At the weekend, I will hopefully take some miore cuts off those crank wheels, and arrange a method of driving them. Just need to get my micrometer back from Mike B, which he borrowed in 2001.

Dead Centre
Chuck

Picture 3

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Running

Finally running! Double checked the wiring, fiddled about with the drive pulley forks for an hour and off it went. I even managed to mount up an old crank web half and took some cuts.
However, the clamp bolt for the tool post came loose due to wonky threads in the T nut, so I redrilled the post (using the lathe) and re-tapped the T nut - M10 as I don't have any imperialistic taps.
I also fiddled about with the HUGE 4 jaw chuck I have that has no plate, so I mounted it to the Raglan 9" face plate (only just fits), but then took it off as the face plate felt too wobbly for something as that heavy and I didn't want it to crack.
I also ordered some extra bits from Ebay - more details tomorrow.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Sorted Electrickery

Right hand side of motor showing bridges required for two pole on/off, two pole switchover A few hours in the garage, and the switch is wired up. I put two earths on the lathe as there seemed to be scant regard for earthing in the standard layout - one in the switchbox, one in the motor..
I also need to get some 8mm threaded studding to replace the motor bolts as they are only just holding teh motor together.

As it hadnt been used for a while, there were some pop and cracks from the motor, and as I was turninng the motor off to go in and make dinner, the fuse blew! I have to expect this, which is a problem with direct on line motor switches. I will try and locate a few transorbs or other supressors to reduce tehse effects, as again there were none originally.

Lets home that there is no real damage under the cover or anything as I have a fiddle tomorrow, when I finally get aroudn to setting up the variable speed pulleys.

Left side of switch howing motor connections - brown/blue for main wiring, black for starter.

Monday, April 09, 2007

Winter Slumber is over!

Finally got around to making some work on the LittleJohn!
It was around 17C in the garage, so no excuses. Two things had been making me slow in working on the lathe:
  1. Lost the cross slide angle adjuster pinch bolt - 3/8" by 16tpi Whitworth with a 1/4" square
  2. Uncertain what to do about the Forward/Reverse Switch
No 1) was finally sorted today when I found it! I spent a day in the garage two weeks ago looking for the bolt, and even considered making my own - thanks to the chaps at Raglan Machine Tools Yahoo Group for advice on the size, to no avail.
But today, after further hunting, finally found it.
No 2) Was also resolved today. The Lathe has an angled casting bolted to the motor which holds a forward and reverse switch adjacent to the variator pulley lever, as seen in this picture. Mounted on this was an original roller leaf spring type four pole switch, heavily corroded with broken plastics.
I mentioned below that I bought a nice new forward and reverse switch (here) but this needed a new housing, so I could not decide whether to restore the original switch, which is possibly 40 years old, or to use the new switch in a plastic housing.
Today I decided that this is a tool, so sorry purists, the new switch goes in the gutted housing. I'm keeping all the pieces, so it may be possible to convert back later.
I also spent some time making a new motor connection cover which has the cable gland mounted direct, as I didn't like the motor outlet at the 3 O'clock position as this will bang on the wall.
Next Steps
Do the actual wiring!