Doing Deals with Slippery Jim

Peter Atwood

Peter Atwood

Joined
Oct 26, 2000
Messages
2,468
Lots of families have one of these characters, and mine is no exception. I just got back from visiting my slippery Uncle Jim and doing a little horsetrading. Jim's famous in our family, as is his brother, my uncle Larry, for selling or swapping tools and equipment that is slightly off. The piece always looks great until you get it home and that's when you discover the all important thing that's broken or missing. Until now I have resisted doing deals with them and have usually looked on from the sidelines in amusement as my Dad or my other uncles got handed the shaft. It's a game in our family of who can outfox who.

Now it's my turn.

Jimmy wanted my old barbeque sized 1920's or 30's coal forge with hand pump treadle blower so he can try his hand at blacksmithing. He's pestered me about it before because he knew I haven't been using it. I found out at Christmas that he had an old benchtop lathe and proposed a swap. So I went down today and traded him the forge with 75 lbs of coal for an old Sear and Roebuck mini lathe. The forge needed a bunch of work and he'll have to chase down some parts and a leather belt.

Well I expected that the lathe would need a few things too and I was not to be disappointed. The vast majority is there. I don't know all the names of the pieces but I'll do the best I can here.

It runs a 1/2 shaft that seems to be tight, no slop. The step pulleys have a crack in them and are missing a chunk so I'll have to replace that, no big deal.

It has #2A Jacobs chuck on it that is not true to the collar or whatever that thing is at the beginning of the shaft. I check it with a square after I detected a wobble and I think it must be pressed on the shaft crooked.

The tail piece that holds the live center and drill bits is absolutely fine and the cutting tool holder in the middle is all there and working fine. A few good shots of WD40 really loosened everything back up. The action on it seems very smooth.

The old round leather belt that was still wraped around the pulleys is shot.

No motor.

My questions:

How can I straighten out the chuck and is it as big deal?

What kind of motor do I need to get for this thing?

I think I got a pretty good deal considering that he also threw in an antique leather belt driven tiny drill press. (Also no motor but hey, its' pretty neat.)

That's my story and I'm sticking to it! :)
 
Peter, you got the better end of the deal. If the collar is what I think it is, I expect it's cross threaded. Without seeing the setup I'll have to guess that the shaft is 3/4 instead of 1/2. It should be 16 tpi and if you are sloppy it;s easy to cross thread. If you send me a picture I can tell you a little better. I doubt it's pressed on.
No matter, you got a whale of a trade.;)
 
Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been trying to dig up a lathe for months and you walk into one like this! Sheesh! Guess it just isn't meant to be. Congrats!!
 
Peter, nope the shaft is 1/2" I miked it. The hole in the step pulley measures almost 5/8 but not quite which I found confusing but I guess it doesn't have to be super tight or you wouldn't be able to slide it on.

I'm thinking the chuck is attached on a tapered end, a Morris taper or something. Maybe not. I've never understood how drill chucks are attached to drill presses and lathes since I've never removed one. But I was under the impression that they are often pressed on drill presses and this one on the lathe didn't seem to want to unscrew. ANy ideas?

Michael, I know I'm lucky lately! This is shaping up to be a great year! :)
 
As for drill presses, the delta I just got has a tapered spindle and the chuck had to be driven on. Pressing sounds like a better way to go but I don't have a press and the instructions said to use a mallet.
I don't have a clue about the lathe though:confused:
 
Must be a smaller model than I have Peter but I still think you stole it. The hole in the step pully is no mystery. They often come with a sleeve that has a split for the set wcrew to gi in. `People leave them off a lot of the time. Won.t hurt anything except make the thing bumpy when you run it.

To see if it is pressed on, get a gear puller and figure a way to brace the center on something. You may have to get creative to to that but you'll figure it out. See if you can pull it off that way. If you can, just press it on straight.

Before you do that though take a close look at the collar that goes over the shaft. If it has a Hex configuration, I'd still bet it's screwed on. If it does look like a screw on. `move the step pullys off to one side and look for a flat on the shaft. If you find one, put a wrench on it and use va wrench on the collar to try to get it off. Remember, it may be left hand threads.

Good luck!!:)
 
Peter,
You did indeed get a good deal. Usually the chuck is either held on with screws through a back plate or they are on a tapered spindle, or they are on a camlock with half-round locking nuts keeping it in place. The biggest thing is that the chuck runs true. If it is off at all it will affect everything you make. Another way to check it is to grab a piece of round stock in the chuck, put a dial indicator on it and spin the chuck by hand. It will tell you how far off it is. If you wanted I could take a ride out there one of these weekends and help you out with it and you could check out some of my knives.
Chuck
 
That would be cool Chuck! The chuck is indeed on a tapered spindle, I pulled it off this morning. However, the tapered shaft is still in the back end of the chuck and is really stuck in there. The chuck is not on the spindle straight so I sticking the whole thing back ihn the shaft willl not help me. So I'm not sure what to do next.

Peter, the pulleys are really shot. They're literally cracked and falling apart so i'll have to get a new one. No big deal. MSC has them for about $22. The chuck and spindle is another story. I'd liek to fix them without buying new pieces if possible. That one will get a little expensive!

Thanks everyone for your help. I'm going to keep after it until it works! :)
 
Good luck Peter. I'd like to hear how it works out. I have one of the old Sears/Atlas lathes and I love it. Try soaking the shaft in Kero. for a day or two. Might loosen the thing a little.
 
I just took apart an old drill press with a tapered chuck and had a screw holding the chuck on. I had to open the chuck all the way to get the screw out and use a ball joint fork to remove the chuck from the spindle. The screw that was holding the chuck on was an allen head cap screw between 5/32 and 3/16 so I had to file a 3/16" allen key down to fit.
Good luck,
Joe
 
My questions:
Click to expand...

Peter, You might try posting this question in the rec.crafts.metalworking newsgroup.
Those guys eat, sleep and breathe metal working machines.
Some one there probably can send you a scan of the original manual to boot. Go to deja
 
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