Friday 17 December 2010

Restore of OLD Lathe for ongoing RepRapping.

So I got hold of a very old looking Metal Lathe, it had no motor or any cutting tools, but it was so cheap it was almost given away to me and it looked like fun to try and get it working again.

A few extra parts/heads (for woodworking I think?)

But it did need a Motor and some TLC before this was going to work.

Taken apart and I mounted it on some old Oak worktop along with a 1/3HP AC motor and a new belt drive. Both the motor and belt was salvaged from an old Pillar drill.

I added a Polycarbonate shield, On/Off switch along with a belt adjuster made from a spring and an M8 Bolt.

Got hold of a cheap set of 1/2" Metalworking tools and it all seems to work. Nice and stable, but I'm not sure how long the old brass bushings will last?

This is really going to help with re-construction of my RepStrap and some new hot-ends I have been working on.

If anyone knows what model or how old this would be let me know, I'm interested and would like to know more about it's origins.

Soon to be used for something cool...

Rich.