#5 Barnes First Tests

[whydontu]

So my recently-acquired #5 Barnes lathe is now reassembled and installed on my smaller lathe bench. Not bad. Needs some more cleanup, and a few items are a bit sketchy, but overall well worth the $300 I paid.

I need to make a counter shaft, 5-1/2" diameter three-step flat pulley about 6" long. After looking a the price of 6" diameter aluminum bar stock and the price of resin, I've decided that casting one using $200 in resin is out, and buying $700 worth of aluminum to throw away half of it as swarf is also not viable. Three chunks of nice tight-grain 2x6 lumber will do the trick, my #4-1/2 Barnes came from the factory with a wood counter shaft so obviously it works.

Video of chuck runout. No attempt to true up the chuck or match chuck jaws, this is as-is assembled without any effort put in to making everything nice and neat. Using a random chunk of scratched-up bar taken out of the scrap bin. Not bad for a century-old lathe that shows signs that it was dropped at some time.

 

[djberta]

Nice, I think that lathe has lots of life in it. We used to make a lot of things out of wood, flat belt on the counter shaft should work. Other option is to melt and cast one out of aluminum.

 

[whydontu]

My original attempt to make a countershaft was not good. First photo is what it should look like. Second photo is my miserable attempt to turn one from a glued-up pine block. I'm possibly the world's worst woodworker.

Attempting to find economical materials to use for the countershaft, my thought was trying to use a chunk of composite decking, the PVC/woodchip mix used for outdoor construction.

This stuff machines beautifully. Tight to dimension, sharp edges, waterproof, and can be glued up using regular PVC piping glue.

If an oak pulley can last 100 years, no reason a composition pulley won't outlast me.

 

[whydontu]

Just thought I'd throw this out there for the <Cool!> and <Jealous!> reactions. 1920s Barnes #5 lathe milling attachment.

 

[djberta]

With the gap bed what is the largest it will swing? I wonder if you can resurface brake rotors?

 

[whydontu]

With the gap bed what is the largest it will swing? I wonder if you can resurface brake rotors?

6-1/2” over the cross slide, 11” over the bed, 15” in the gap. And unlike my other Barnes lathe, this one looks like 1-1/2”x8tpi spindle nose so faceplates and chucks might be available.

 

[djberta]

That’s pretty neat. 1-1/2 by 8 tpi means lots of options for back plates so that’s a bonus.

 

[whydontu]

Three-step flat pulley machined from scrap pieces of 1x6 PVC/bamboo composite deck boards. No idea how well it will stand up, but it's easy to machine and seems robust enough to work. Dimensions are a bit of a guess, but the diameter change between each step is the same as the lathe pulley so should work OK with a flat belt.