[Jeroen]

I headed home from Antwerp at around 1300Pm. Only an hour drive home.

Time to get going on the Spider!

First thing is to see if I could get the blower heater fan unstuck, without actually removing it. So the trick is to get some penetration oil into the blower, near the bottom bearing.

I had bought various hoses, syringes in Antwerp:



After trying a few different combination I thought this might do the trick:



In the end I found out the little hose was still too big. Only a very tight gap between the fan and the housing. But I managed to push the little straw through and gave it a good dose, Waited for five minutes and then started to push the fan blades from underneath. All very fiddly, but I could definitely feel it spinning a little less tight. Put the switch on and sure enough it started spinning under its own power! Slowly at first, but over the course of about a minute I could hear it spinning up! Very rewarding. I let it spin for about 20 minutes. Then I used another WD40 product, basically a lubraction type.



Let that spin for 20 minutes as well. I am happy to report that my blower heater fan has never run this smoothly!

Next, time to hang the three new signs I bought. The smaller ones, I just use nails. But these were quite heavy, so out comes the drill, plugs, etc



Very happy with these new additions



Next job, to fix the stiff door handle on the driver door of the Spider. I cut away some of the protective plastic that was still stuck in there. Then I used the same lubrication spray as I had used on the stuck fan. And presto: no more stiffness!



I also noticed various bits and pieces in the bottom of the door. Had to use very tools to get them all out.



Getting the door card back on is always a bit of a thingy. This is an Italian design and not very good design at that! Lots of fiddly bits that need to keep it in position. I stock them all, just in case:



These plastic bits, screw into the back of the doorcard.



The metal ones, sort of slide over the door card and then you have these little plastic plugs that go in the door. It is a silly system, but I can still claim I am using all original Alfa Romeo parts. For what it’s worth



Getting the doorcard back on, always requires very careful positioning, banging at the apposite place and endless fiddling to get the various bits and pieces lining up properly.



I have bought some odd tools over the years, I hardly use. But when you find a use for it, it is very rewarding. The last screw holding the door card in place was in a very awkward postion. You could not get a normal screw driver, but I had this very long one, that did the trick!



So that is all jobs done on the Spider, except the brakes. I also drilled the holes into my work bench to install my new lathe. I need to get a new electrical plug and some bolts for it. To be continued.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

^^^
I feel you would have been happier with a preowned Myford or Schaublin mechanical. My choice would have been the Hobbymat (Made in GDR), but very importantly, with all accessories.
The Sieg will certainly do odds and ends. But I doubt you'll have pride of ownership, or the satisfaction of operating a finely crafted precision machine tool with your own hands. (Before the machinists here tear me to shreds for saying the Myfords etc are the W123 of lathes, those most certainly are not. But also certainly are a couple of levels above the Siegs)

In my case it is very much odds and ends. I have been looking for second hand lathes for several months now, and I get daily updates from various second hand web sites. These little hobby machines do not come up very often and they are at a price range you might as well buy new.

I did manage to try out the Sieg and I was pleasantly surprised. Nothing like a Myford or a Schaublin, but they come at very different price points.

PS - Just as an aside, could you find out how much a Weiler 8" (fully mechanical lathe) costs there new. And what is its reputation. Interested in knowing because (I think) it is a superb lathe, and made here in India. One of the Colchesters is also made here in India, but I think the Weiler is a class above.[/quote]

I have not seen to many Weilers. Here is one guy selling them second hand and they still command serious money

https://www.surplex.com/nl/producten/weiler.html

Are Weiler still produced new? Whenever I google I only get second hand ones. Not a singly regular dealer or machine shop shows up?

Jeroen

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Are Weiler still produced new? Whenever I google I only get second hand ones. Not a singly regular dealer or machine shop shows up?

Well the Weilers and the Colchesters are certainly produced new here. So also must be sold as new somewhere!

Regards
Sutripta

[Thad E Ginathom]

Weiler looks alive, German, and well. And expensive, I guess.

And Colchester is, erm, not still in Colchester: Yorkshire.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

PS - Just as an aside, could you find out how much a Weiler 8" (fully mechanical lathe) costs there new. And what is its reputation. .

I have found some Weiler dealers here in the Netherlands. No price information on their website. Going by the images they show, all their models have electronic read outs at the minimum.

This is the only image / model I can find that looks purely mechanical

https://www.laagland.nl/nieuws/weile...-in-zijn-soort

Do you happen to have an actual Weiler product name / number? I will be happy to give them a call, see what they quote.

Jeroen

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Do you happen to have an actual Weiler product name / number? I will be happy to give them a call, see what they quote.

I'll actually have to physically rummage in some paperwork. Might take awhile since I'll be traveling 11th onwards, and tomorrow is a holiday.
But I do remember that when a good Rajkot lathe was ~ 1.5 L, Ludhiana ones considerably cheaper, Weiler was north of 8 L! HMT did not make such small lathes, but if they did I think it would have been cheaper!

The Colchesters were contract manufactured, and not to be sold by the contract manufacturer. Maybe something similar applied for the Weiler models, where a significant 'royalty' had to be paid by the Indian party for local sales.

Regards
Sutripta

[Thad E Ginathom]

The Colchesters were contract manufactured, and not to be sold by the contract manufacturer

Fully built? I'm fairly sure Colchester still have a factory in UK where they actually make stuff. Maybe that's changed now.

If I ever can get a lathe, I'd probably be better off with an Indian lathe than a Chinese one. And now I know from whom to get advice!

[Jeroen]

Over the last couple of days I have got everything ready to install my lathe properly. First it needs cleaning though. Lots of preservation stuff on it.

The manual said to use paraffin. Which I don’t have. I’m quite sure other solvents might have done the trick too. But I happened to see this little bottle in the local pharmacy.

I also ordered and just received this “leibaan” olie. Which is special oil for the various sliders. Again, other oils might do, but this is what most machinist on the various forum recommend. So I am taking my cues from them

The lathe comes provided with four bolts. But for my workbench not long enough, so I found four proper length ones and some washers in my parts bin.

I also had to buy a new plug. As with the grinder and the mini mill, I will cut the original plug of the power cord. Already drilled a hole for the power cord to go underneath the workbench. As shown in earlier posts, I have a three plug extension cord mounted underneath. Plug and play as they say!



I am not sure when I will get to it though. The next couple of evenings I am out due to some political engagements I want to attend. So probably the weekend.

Good news, although many (car) events are being cancelled due to the Corona virus, the British Car and Lifestyle show is on. Model car mate Berndt is exhibiting this year and spanner mate Peter might come along as well.

As I mentioned earlier Peter came round last week to appraise all three cars. I just received all three reports.



He mails the reports to the insurance company as well. They will adjust the car insured value on the policy, adjust the premium and confirm to me.

Having these official appraisals is an important part of a car’s providence. Especially since I do a lot myself, I don’t have a lot of bills (other than parts) to show. And this very thread of course!!

Although these appraisal reports are mostly visual inspections, Peter also mentions the big maintenance jobs that I have done during the preceding three years. So for instance on the Jaguar it is mentioned that I have upgraded the supercharger cooling liquid pump, on the Spider the Swissvax polish and wax treatment. On the W123 the various new rubbers and the renewal of the distribution chain. All on three cars it is mentioned that the engine bays were cleaned by means of dry ice etc. etc.

Also, each report has at least four images of the car exterior, the interior and under the hood.


Jeroen

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Do you happen to have an actual Weiler product name / number? I will be happy to give them a call, see what they quote.

LZ series. LZ-330, LZ-290. Might be some other sizes also. And some other models. Here Weilers are better known as second operation lathes. The LZs are normal lathes.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Fully built? I'm fairly sure Colchester still have a factory in UK where they actually make stuff. Maybe that's changed now.

Contract manufacture does not mean the original factory is closed!

Regards
Sutripta

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

LZ series. LZ-330, LZ-290. Might be some other sizes also. And some other models. Here Weilers are better known as second operation lathes. The LZs are normal lathes.

I called the Weiler dealer I found earlier, here in the Netherlands. The LZ series is discontinued. The nearest sort of lathe they produce new are these:

https://www.laagland.nl/producten/we...onele-machines

The simplest, the Primus, costs an absolute whopping Euro 32,000. The gentleman I spoke to gave me a suggestion about a Dutch firm that does reliable refurbishing of all sorts of lathes. Spoke to them as well and they have a nice, completely refurbished LZ 280, have a look toward the bottom of this link:

https://www.laagland.nl/producten/we...onele-machines

When you scroll down that link, you will see a number of very nice lathes!

They are asking Euro 5,200 for the LZ 280. Which is ten times the price of what I paid for my little Sieg. Obviously, apples to pears. But to put things into another perspective, I paid Euro 4,500 for my Mercedes W123! Many years ago, but still.

I think it does looks like a really nice, extremely solid lathe. Very different from my Sieg. No doubt, but it also weight in at 450 kg and it is 380VAC.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Yesterday afternoon I got my Lathe all cleaned and properly installed.

As usual when cleaning things, take it apart as much as possible first



I cleaned of all the preservation oil with paraffin.



Just opened everything up to see what it looks like. Here you see the various gears. It comes with a different set as well. Different gears allow you to set different cutting speeds. Also the difference for cutting metric vv imperial thread is set with these different gear wheels.



I used a cloth with some of my special “leibaanolie” on it to lightly oil all the various parts. I also mounted the special perspex safety cover. It has these little hinges that also throw a safety switch. With it in the upward position the lath will not start. You need to open it to put the chuck in. The chuck itself is spring loaded, so you don’t leave it in accidentally. Better safe than sorry!



Bolted the lathe onto my workbench, cut of the plug, run the power cord through the hole in workbench. Protected by some additional heat shrink around the cord.



Looking good and ready for use!





Now I need a little project to get me started. I have enrolled in a one day course in only a few weeks. But I am apprehensive it is likely to be cancelled due to the Corona outbreak. Wait and see

Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

As you are probably more aware than before, there is a wealth of machining stuff on youtube.

I know you are not a beginner, but rather an out-of practice machinist of the past, but, if you feel the need to brush up on the absolute basics you might take a look at Blondihacks' channel. She has videos on both mills and lathes for absolute beginners. She covers the stuff that many others just assume people know.

I remember my first silver project. Probably much the same as many other beginners, it was a plain ring, made from a piece of silver sheet, from which a piece had to be cut to length and width, bent, soldered, sized, polished. I think it took me three evenings. Later, I could knock up a wedding ring in half an hour or less. Now... I'd be back to learning from scratch, with the added frustration of having once had knacks that now have to be relearned. I do sometimes watch youtube stuff on jewellery too. Isn't it amazing? When I learned, it was books, trial and error, and being lucky enough to have a couple of friends in the trade.

Now I need a little project to get me started.

There's a thing. If I had a lathe, what would I do with it? I really have no need at all! With jewellery... at that time there was a social/work circle and gifts/repairs/commissions, along with skill-testers that often ended up in the scrap pile, meant I could spend as much time at the bench as I wanted.

Apparently, most home machinists spend their machine-shop time making... stuff for the machine shop

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Yesterday afternoon I got my Lathe all cleaned and properly installed.

Do you have a 127 tooth gear?
Does the lead screw have a keyway slot cut into it?

Regards
Sutripta

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

Do you have a 127 tooth gear?
Does the lead screw have a keyway slot cut into it?

i don’t think so, but according to the manual, with the gears supplied I can cut both imperial and metric thread. I guess it is down to accuracy?



It does not have a keyway slot in the lead screw.

Jeroen

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I guess it is down to accuracy?

...

It does not have a keyway slot in the lead screw.

The errors are huge! It takes 1.5 mm = 16 TPI.
Small lathes normally cannot accomodate a 127 tooth gear. In which case approximate it by a 80/ 63 or 47/ 37 compound. That will be far better than what you have now. BSP and NPT are very much in use even now.

It looks like it uses lead as feed. No separate feed.

Regards
Sutripta