Motors and More Sparks

I found a nice metal box and four position switch in the refuse skip, so hopefully I can fit that onto LittleJohn lathe no2 to make it better for when I sell it. It will definately be better than using the main switch to turn on/off as is now, with no direction control. I also have some flexible steel tubing with standard cable gland pipe fitting, but it is a bit short.
This got me thinking about motors - I need to understand the motor wiring a little. A quick review of the two motors showed that, as supected, LittleJohn lathe no2 has a newer Crompton-Parkinson motor fitted, now Brook-Crompton, type number VSA534HH3A, 0.33BHP@ 1425rpm. The motor mount looks to have been redrilled for this motor, and I am guessing that is replaced the original motor, but as Crompton-Parkinson has now changed names, this must be some time ago.
LittleJohn lathe no1 has a Metropolitan-Vickers BS2418 motor, 1/2 hp @ 1425rpm. It says Quote D165710S for spares. Since Metropiltan Vickers has not existed as a name since 1960, I assume it is the original motor. It also has a nice cast iron bracket bolted to the top of the motor, and a forward/reverse roller switch that looks original. The switch is nicely positioned just above the top cover.
This places me in a slight quandry, as I would have liked to keep the original motor, especially since it is higher power, but am concerned that a 40 year old motor may need replacing sooner rather than later.
Back to the Brook Crompton motor website, there are four terminals (plus earth) - Z1, Z2 and U1,U2. Z1 and Z2 are the start winding, U1 and U2 are the run winding. I guess that the the motor is reversed by swapping over either U1, U2 or Z1, Z2.
I havent had a look under the MetVick cover yet to see what the wiring is about. Since there are four wires, I guess it must be the same as the Brook-Crompton.
More details top follow...

Belt Arrived and Sparks

The Belt arrived. I was a little surprised to see the actual postage cost was 99p plus cost of envelope etc, but cant help thinking £5 was excessive - maximum £3.
I have been scrounging at work, and thanks to Alan and Roger, I have some nice heavy guage 4core plus earcth cable for the motor direction, some plastic conduit and also a relay that I can make into a no-volt switch. I still need a housing and microswitches etc to do this. I also have a handful of cable glands that will come in very useful.

Aprons

I took the apron off ready to inspect the cross slide. It was saturated with swarf and dirt. The apron was stamped with 72, and the saddle was also stamped with 72. I noticed the dowels that align the apron with the saddle are also a slightly different spacing to the dowels on the saddle from LittleJohn number 1, so it looks like these machines were made before the age of mass machining and part compatability - each one is unique. This means I need to swap the entire Saddle and Apron from machine number 2 to machine number 1. I also need to investigate the LeadScrews, to determine if these are also handed for machine.
The nut that engages with the leadscrew is die cast from zinc alloy. When I first saw it I thought it was ruined, but all it needed was a good clean!
I also investigated the brass nuts on the cross slide - something wierd is happening, as there is an imprint of a large nut, but a small bronze nut is in place. I assume the original leadscrew nut had some method of setting backlash, and may sort something out similar later.

Review of LittleJohn Mk1 Number 2

Had a chance to review machine number two today. This was the machine that was bought from Manchester, and known to have damage. It is serial number 0640, for those interested.

First Glance
At first glance, everything looks OK. There is a neat 4 post tool holder, a chuck (not shown) and tailstock. When I collected, the guy explained there was some damage to the gears, caused by him trying to remove the chuck the wrong way, but it powered up OK and the variator worked and sounded OK. He had been using it as a plane lathe since, but now wanted rid. It looked very similar to a picture of a lathe on the Yahoo Groups forum from Ebay.
A look under the cover showed something not quite right. The backgear and power feed drive gubbins were absent.
The good bits were that the motor was a replacement, so relatively new.

The Details
According to Tony's page on the LittleJohn, the lathe came with 2 x 30t, 32t, 36t, 42t, 44t, 45t, 48t, 52t, 60t changewheels as standard, plus the 52t and 44t metric conversion wheels and a pair of 48th wheels for imperial.
The bag of bits contained: 30t free, 30t bushed, 44t, 3 x 48t and a 60t changewheel. Compare the picture with Tonys Raglan page below.

Plus, a chipped backgear assembly, chipped 38t main power drive, chipped 76t with good 30t, and good small reversing gears, including the fragile brass one. Looking under the top bearing cover (where the LittleJohn name is) showed further damage to the backgear with the engagement pin.

Speaking practically, if I only want to cut metric threads in the common sizes of 0.75, 1, and 1.5mm pitch, then I only need (apart from the 44 and 52t gears) 2 x 30t, 32t, 36t, 2 x 45t and 48t, as read from the plate on the lathe. Note that 0.8mm was missing, but I will worry about that later.

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The previous owner had removed all the backgearing and cam operated lever, so it would operate ungeared at 1750-270rpm for using the variator for spindle speeds. Also included was a roughed out blank for the 38t main power feed from the spindle, but I doubt I will use it. The last picture shows the gear cover was cracked and repaired, possibly before I was even born!

LittleJohn Drive Belt

I managed to find a cheaper source of drive belts!.
I just bought a 22mm(7/8") X 8mm(5/16") X 725mm(28 1/2") drive belt, Rolflex number 22Ho725DR from:-

Marc Green
Marksman Industrial Ltd
Bearings, Belts,& Industrial Supplies
6 Rowhill Avenue
Aldershot
Hampshire GU11 3LU
UKTel :+44 (0)1252 345 455
Fax :+44 (0)1252 318 880
www.marksman-ind.com

The cost was £21.79 + £5.00 Carriage + VAT so £31.50 total, bargain

Introduction

This Blog is designed to show my progress in repairing a Raglan LittleJohn lathe. I have wanted a lathe for some time, as I occasionally need to make up spacers and other simple items for my hobby, tinkering with motorbikes. However, the relative infrequent requirement to do this kind of work, coupled with the percieved expense of a small Myford lathe on Ebay put me off, and I joked with myself (such a comedian) that I would get one when retired.

However, a particular project involving machining down crank wheel to make a Yamaha crankshaft fit a Suzuki engine made me think again. I was quoted £500 by SEP, which, although reasonable for the work, was outside my budget for this project. I have comissioned SEP before and will no doubt use them again, but other options were needed.

So the prospect of buying a cheap leathe that may need some repair work was considered. A quick investigation of Tony's excellent www.lathes.co.uk revealed the Raglan LittleJohn was one of the few small lathes with over 5" above the bed - most small Myfords or Denford Viceory have around 3.5".
After waiting, a Raglan came up on Ebay in Essex - I won the auction for £117 in late April 2006. This was LittleJohn number 1. It had numerous parts missing, an ebay picture is shown above and it will be described in more detail , when I get some pictures.

I joined the Raglan Group at www.YahooGroups.com mailing list, and after patiently waiting, a message was posted in late May 2006 about another Mk1 LittleJohn that had some damage to the changewheels, and was only £125 in but in Manchester! However, I was busy away in the US with work, so couldnt go and collect. About a month passed, I had time to go and have a look, so I bought it in late June 2006. This became LittleJohn number 2. It has damage to a few more parts like the backgearing, and will be described in more detail.

So the purpose of these pages is to show the progress in repairing. I don't want/have time/patience/money to restore these lathes, I only need them as a tool, so sorry to the purists out there, that's just the way it goes. I will probably sell the unused raglan and other parts on Ebay for spares later, so hope to recover some of my costs.