11-30-2013, 09:12 PM
My name is Mike and I'm a toolaholic ...
I made an offer today on a very interesting Swedish lathe. It has no label other than the settings for the QCGB, and those are in Swedish. The closest thing I can find on Tony Griffith's site is a GK-185, by Storebro Bruks Aktiebolag. (Spellchecker didn't like that at all.) The 185 is a gear-head with a bigger motor, but the bed casting, tailstock and apron layout are the same.
http://www.lathes.co.uk/ornmaskiner/
The machine is mounted on a factory-built wooden cabinet - actually a steel structure filled in with wood. The story is that there was a warehouse full of war-surplus machinery in Sweden and the original owner (who passed away a couple of years ago) brought one over from there. The tailstock is MT3 and extends over 5". The bed is around 11" wide.
The apron layout is backwards to what most of us are used to. The clutch knob on the apron face engages movement along the bed, as does the half-nut lever. The lead screw is actually 4 tpi, even though the threading chart is strictly metric. The little black knurled knob on the centre of the crossfeed shaft is the clutch for the power crossfeed.
The 2 HP motor is mounted inside the cabinet, belted to a three-speed gearbox. The white shift knob at the bottom of the picture selects M, H, or L. Two belts carry power to the spindle sleeve. The back gears are in good shape, although the handle apparently broke somewhere along the line and was replaced by a section of threaded rod. First project if it takes up residence in my shop. I think the spindle is MT4, with about a 2 1/4" thread.
The lathe comes with a lot of tooling in HSS and carbide, plus an 8" three-jaw, a 10" four-jaw, a 10" faceplate and a dog driver plate. Some pieces, the current owner, who isn't a machinist, is throwing in just because he will never use them. If he counters with a higher price, there is a two-tumbler micrometer that I'll ask for, just because it's cool.
Anybody read Swedish? I'm thinking it will take at least a day of trial cuts to find out all the threads I can cut with this lathe. For machining purposes, it will feed a lot slower than my Hercus, so I would expect a mirror finish.
Just waiting to hear back from him on my offer. He did say that he likes the idea of it going to someone who will appreciate it.
I made an offer today on a very interesting Swedish lathe. It has no label other than the settings for the QCGB, and those are in Swedish. The closest thing I can find on Tony Griffith's site is a GK-185, by Storebro Bruks Aktiebolag. (Spellchecker didn't like that at all.) The 185 is a gear-head with a bigger motor, but the bed casting, tailstock and apron layout are the same.
http://www.lathes.co.uk/ornmaskiner/
The machine is mounted on a factory-built wooden cabinet - actually a steel structure filled in with wood. The story is that there was a warehouse full of war-surplus machinery in Sweden and the original owner (who passed away a couple of years ago) brought one over from there. The tailstock is MT3 and extends over 5". The bed is around 11" wide.
The apron layout is backwards to what most of us are used to. The clutch knob on the apron face engages movement along the bed, as does the half-nut lever. The lead screw is actually 4 tpi, even though the threading chart is strictly metric. The little black knurled knob on the centre of the crossfeed shaft is the clutch for the power crossfeed.
The 2 HP motor is mounted inside the cabinet, belted to a three-speed gearbox. The white shift knob at the bottom of the picture selects M, H, or L. Two belts carry power to the spindle sleeve. The back gears are in good shape, although the handle apparently broke somewhere along the line and was replaced by a section of threaded rod. First project if it takes up residence in my shop. I think the spindle is MT4, with about a 2 1/4" thread.
The lathe comes with a lot of tooling in HSS and carbide, plus an 8" three-jaw, a 10" four-jaw, a 10" faceplate and a dog driver plate. Some pieces, the current owner, who isn't a machinist, is throwing in just because he will never use them. If he counters with a higher price, there is a two-tumbler micrometer that I'll ask for, just because it's cool.
Anybody read Swedish? I'm thinking it will take at least a day of trial cuts to find out all the threads I can cut with this lathe. For machining purposes, it will feed a lot slower than my Hercus, so I would expect a mirror finish.
Just waiting to hear back from him on my offer. He did say that he likes the idea of it going to someone who will appreciate it.
Mike
If you can't get one, make one.
Hawkeye, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun Forum since Jan 2013.
If you can't get one, make one.
Hawkeye, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun Forum since Jan 2013.