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.

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.

Sorted Electrickery

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.

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!