Centre Lathe
For many years I had a Myford Super 7 with attachments such as swivelling
vertical slide, graduated leadscrew dial, Dickson quick change toolpost etc.
Although this was adequate for quite a number of jobs such as turning bushes and
pins, it was not upto some of the things we encounter in the restoration of
bikes and cars. With this in mind, I was fortunate to be able to buy an
11" swing Harrison gap bed lathe with all of its normal fixtures and
fittings, when our local Technical College was closing one of its machine shops.
This was a machine built in 1974 and used by first year apprentices for their
training. Although the paintwork was a little tatty, it was in excellent
mechanical condition, and even though it had used by 'raw' recruits, it had not been abused
as it might have been in production factory work. Being a 3 phase machine, I had to make the
decision of changing the motor or buying a 3 phase
converter. I opted for
the converter, as the lathe and converter together cost a lot less than I got
for the Myford. I also use the converter for the Milling machine and
intend to use it for a pillar drill I have just bought.
After changing the oil and cleaning everything properly. I gave most of
the accessible parts a couple of coats of Tekaloid coach paint, to smarten it up
a bit. The only adjustments necessary were to the clutch and the gib strip
on the cross slide. I have now had it for over 7 years with no problems.
Yes, I know Harrisons are a bit noisy due to the all steel gears in the
headstock, but they are well built and come a lot cheaper than the model
engineering single phase machines.