real old lathe is gonna follow me home

H

historicalarms

Ultra Member
Thats one of the points I was going to make but forgot...my Taiwanese lathe starts to complain with much more than a .010 cut in mild steel but Im betting this thing will hog .050 easily with a sharp tool....and i cant wait to try that very thing...maybe cutting a taper on a cannon barrel. I'm betting this machine would be a gem for some of the boys on here that routinely taper a barrel blank ( the spindle bore is over 1.5 ").
 
Chicken lights

Chicken lights

Forum Pony Express Driver
historicalarms said:
Thats one of the points I was going to make but forgot...my Taiwanese lathe starts to complain with much more than a .010 cut in mild steel but Im betting this thing will hog .050 easily with a sharp tool....and i cant wait to try that very thing...maybe cutting a taper on a cannon barrel. I'm betting this machine would be a gem for some of the boys on here that routinely taper a barrel blank ( the spindle bore is over 1.5 ").
Click to expand...
What steel would you use for a cannon barrel? Hypothetically
And what size and length do you want? Hypothetically
You’ll likely need a large boring bar for the finished barrel? Or a reamer?
 
140mower

140mower

Don
That is a beaut of an old girl..... Those Hendy "tiebar" lathes were very highly regarded in their time. I suggest that you have a search in the antique section over on practical machinist and do a search for "Hendy tiebar spindle bearing" , I can't remember the specifics of the problem, but they can get hot and seize. I don't believe that the prevention is a very big deal. While you are there search for "Patrick Black" I will try and find a link. He did an amazing job of bringing one back to life. There's also a fellow over there by the handle "hendyman" that bought all of the remaining inventory and original drawings for these old lathes, or at least there was when I was hanging around there last, but I have the feeling that he was getting up in years.
The 16x6 should stand for 16" swing and a 6 foot bed.
 
B

Bandit

Super User
That's a fine old girl, maybe a bit top heavy, a lot more finesse to the "new fangled drive" then the ones I was exposed to. Hey, wheres the truck transmission? Only a slight movement on the head stock, well it might not be broke in yet. LOL. I looked at one old timer a friend had, there was at least 3/8 inch up,down movement, he was an old machinist, and joked that he controlled tool bit height by depth of feed. I wonder if t-slots were for follower rests etc. and fastening down things for line boring and milling.
Well, hypothetically, nearly any metal can be used for a cannon barrel, some of the first ones were wood, bronze, cast iron were very popular for some time. . I have turned a couple small ones for "desk tops" from bronze shafting, about 20 inches long, one of them. Ones I have seen, one guy brought small carrots, another golf balls, ball bearings, some tomatoe sauce cans filled with concrete, one was "hurling" 3inch lead balls. Very pricey, cost of lead has gone up! Barrel length over 4 bore diameters, otherwise, basically a mortar, more wall thickness there is, better it "looks".
"Some infernation" has been removed from pervious above as I am now forgetting some things!
 
H

historicalarms

Ultra Member
140mower said:
View attachment 35360
His was a 14x6. I think a lot of the pictures in that thread were lost to photobucket.
Thread 'Hendey 14 by 6 Tie-Bar Rehab' https://www.practicalmachinist.com/forum/threads/hendey-14-by-6-tie-bar-rehab.172446/
Click to expand...
other than the top drive that is an exact smaller mirror version of what I have....is that a pumpjack engine that drives the belt??
The previous owner claimed "fill those oil journals with oil every 2 or 3 hrs and she'll run cool as a cucumber".
 
H

historicalarms

Ultra Member
YYCHM said:
What voltage is this lathe? Single phase or three phase?
Click to expand...
220 single phase. One of the plates on the conversion mechanism claims 2 hp....it is a big ol' motor hanging waaay up there off center to the spindle, makes it a difficult thing to lift & move. I;m going to have to re-think the process of how I planned to take the weight off it to move it to its final spot on the floor ( about an 18 ft move from where it landed off the trailer.
 
H

historicalarms

Ultra Member
Chicken lights said:
What steel would you use for a cannon barrel? Hypothetically
And what size and length do you want? Hypothetically
You’ll likely need a large boring bar for the finished barrel? Or a reamer?
Click to expand...
Small desk top cannon & mortars are the only ones feasible to build from bar stock unless we had some very large & long drilling equipment, cost would be prohibitive.
For any big cannon tubes, I use drawn over mandrel heavy wall pipe ( minimum of 1/2" wall thickness) and as long as you desire. you've seen my big gun and it is about 5.5 ft long with a bore that perfectly fits pop & beer cans (2.625"). after the tube , it is just a case of machining a slip fit plug for one end about 4 or 5 inches in lenght and securing it in the bore with cross bolts and a VERY good weld....BP doesnt easily produce the 60,000 psi that smokeless does but the 25-28,000 that is can easily create isnt a pressure to take lightly.
The amount of detail you want to put into a cannon to make it authentic to the era you want will greatly influence the amount of time & work involved, my big gun is an almost exact replica of a civil war 6 pnder, Wiard manufactured gun and carriage took weeks to complete but just a very usable, safe tube to make a lot of noise with can be done in hours (as my1/2 size 1.625 bore gun is). Weld a couple trunnions on it and your away.
 
H

historicalarms

Ultra Member
6.5 Fan said:
Awesome old machine. Looks to be very top heavy with all that iron above the head stock.
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that's an understatement for sure, I'm almost thinking of exploring the feasibility of removing the top level of paraphernalia to do the floor move. there is a very heavey casting just above the spindle for a center-line lifting point but no room for the hoisting arm in there with all that $hit on top.

Added later;
after looking at one of the photos for a minute I think that is exactly what I will do, appears to be 4 bolts to remove the heavy casting that holds everything up there and on pivot arm need to come off for belt removal...should take a few hundred pounds off the lift as well as allowing me to lift perfectly centered.
 
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Chicken lights

Chicken lights

Forum Pony Express Driver
historicalarms said:
Small desk top cannon & mortars are the only ones feasible to build from bar stock unless we had some very large & long drilling equipment, cost would be prohibitive.
For any big cannon tubes, I use drawn over mandrel heavy wall pipe ( minimum of 1/2" wall thickness) and as long as you desire. you've seen my big gun and it is about 5.5 ft long with a bore that perfectly fits pop & beer cans (2.625"). after the tube , it is just a case of machining a slip fit plug for one end about 4 or 5 inches in lenght and securing it in the bore with cross bolts and a VERY good weld....BP doesnt easily produce the 60,000 psi that smokeless does but the 25-28,000 that is can easily create isnt a pressure to take lightly.
The amount of detail you want to put into a cannon to make it authentic to the era you want will greatly influence the amount of time & work involved, my big gun is an almost exact replica of a civil war 6 pnder, Wiard manufactured gun and carriage took weeks to complete but just a very usable, safe tube to make a lot of noise with can be done in hours (as my1/2 size 1.625 bore gun is). Weld a couple trunnions on it and your away.
Click to expand...
3989F6CB-D4D6-4F29-A5A2-6373A2B6154E.jpeg It’s gonna need a flagpole......:D

There’s a few Mennonite farms around me, I’ll kick a few tires about getting some wooden wheels and a carriage built
 
Susquatch

Susquatch

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historicalarms said:
Much more cost effective to watch for an old grain wagon axle with usable wheels on it To have a set built is north of a grand easily but an old axle with wheels can be found in the neighborhood of $400, at least thats when I was still looking.
Click to expand...

@Chicken lights - I have two old wagons (4 axles with wheels) rotting in the bush. 6 wheels still hold air. You come and get them out and they are all yours for 200 all in. But you have to take everything not just the axles.
 
H

historicalarms

Ultra Member
Got that 9 inch 4 jaw off the lathe this morn. Locked up the back gear and the old main drive so they jammed each other and put a bar between the jaws...gave it a little slap with a FBH and it come loose on the first tap.
The lathe spindle nose is threaded 6 tpi and is 2.5" in dia....I dont know if that is a common headstock size or not????
The inside taper is in perfect condition but I'm puzzleing what size it actually is, there was a big taper adapter with it but it is way too big and so is the #5 for my lathe so Im thinking this needs a #4 taper.
That 9 inch 4 jaw is interesting in that it has slotted tie down holes in it that could be used as tie downs or drive slots for a lathe dog, makes me wonder if conventional thought of the era was to remove the chuck jaws from the body & use it as a face plate sort of afair
 
Susquatch

Susquatch

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historicalarms said:
If they hold air I dont think they are what he had in mind, wood spokes & iron tyre
Click to expand...

I think they do have short spokes - not sure if they are wooden. Anyway, I was really just agreeing with you that such things can be had cheap if you can find them.
 
6

6.5 Fan

Ultra Member
Premium Member
I have an old axle complete with ifrc steel wheels. Should be 2 of them out back someplace, they were under the old bunkhouse, not sure what the original use was. Before my time.:)
 
Chicken lights

Chicken lights

Forum Pony Express Driver
historicalarms said:
Much more cost effective to watch for an old grain wagon axle with usable wheels on it To have a set built is north of a grand easily but an old axle with wheels can be found in the neighborhood of $400, at least thats when I was still looking.
Click to expand...
They may know of an old buggy or cart that could be repurposed, the Mennonite underground is amazing for projects that way

I’ll let you scrounge barrel material over the summer, there’s no rush on my end

Project Cannon for us dirty easterners needs to happen, just to say we can

no politics
 
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