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View Full Version : I'm a noob but not my lathe.



Gary Halsey
07-07-2009, 10:31 AM
While having absolutely no room in my small shop and no turning skills at all I decided that I needed a spinney apparatus. My search of the intertoobs has been painful, losing bids the last second and less then truthful/knowledgeable sellers. But I finally found an old piece of cast iron that was at the other end of the state.

I striped off 3 layers of gray paint to get to the Black tar like coating. I foam brushed 2 coats of Rust-oleum flat black to the base and Aluminum to the removable parts. The brushings in the head stock was in amazingly good shape. There were no dust/oil seals on the end of the spindles. My guess is they where felt and failed long ago. I replaced them with the common driven in rubber type seal.

There was no motor or carriage. For some reason I would like to think this lathe ran from belts drop off a shaft from the ceiling. Most likely the motor went bad and got lost. I built a carriage to hold the motor and transmission. I have ordered 20’ of flat belt and some alligator clips. I could make three belts for the cone pulley on the head stock and have 12 speeds. There is a forth step on the cone pulley and it is use to addressed the play in the shaft.

I have not found a lot of information on the web about this model. What I think I know is that this is an Oliver model 55 (obviously), it has a brass plate with SHOP NO. But no number stamped. So it was built between 1904 when Oliver started putting Oliver on there machines and 1907 when Number 1 was put on a table saw.

Any Other information about this lathe would be appreciated.

Richard Madison
07-07-2009, 10:51 AM
Hi Gary. Welcome to the forum and the spinny world. Interesting piece of "old arn" with lots of speed choices. You have it looking good.

John W Dixon
07-07-2009, 11:20 AM
Gary, that is a good looking old lathe. Thanks for sharing.

John

Kyle Iwamoto
07-07-2009, 12:41 PM
OUTSTANDING!

That is a beaut.

Dennis Ford
07-07-2009, 12:53 PM
You did a fine job of bringing this machine back to life. It should be a great lathe with plenty of mass.

Skip Spaulding
07-07-2009, 1:25 PM
Great job! Bet it gives you many more hours of pleasure.

Kim Ford
07-07-2009, 1:26 PM
Gary;

Have you talked with Rich and Eagle Machine, that is the old Oliver Factory in Grand Rapids, MI. He is a wealth of information and can help you along.

Great to see another Oliver in service. You have done an excellent job in restoring the old girl as well. Good Luck.

Kim

Steve Schlumpf
07-07-2009, 2:21 PM
Gary - Welcome to the Creek! That is quite the lathe you have there! Looking forward to seeing some of your turnings!

alex carey
07-07-2009, 2:33 PM
Thats a good looking machine. Have you measured the swing and length it can turn?

Gary Halsey
07-07-2009, 3:41 PM
Thanks for your nice comments, and not mentioning all of my misspellings. I need a prove reader before submitting.

Kim: I have seen Rich’s name mentioned before and I just sent him an email with questions Thanks.

Alex: 12 and 36, I think I can use the back side of the head stock and get 40 inches. If I build a heavy tool rest I can do this, right? It is left threaded. Please let me now before I try. I have a piece of wood stuck in a cinder block from trying to do something with my shaper that I shouldn’t have.

Gary Halsey
07-07-2009, 3:54 PM
lol proof :mad:

Bernie Weishapl
07-07-2009, 6:10 PM
Welcome to creek Gary. Fine looking lathe there and looks like you modification will work fine. Can't wait to see some turnings.

Dennis Meek
07-07-2009, 6:17 PM
Hi Gary

Beautiful lathe! You are correct that it was run from belts that ran to overhead pulleys. I have a High School instruction manual that shows the exact same lathe. And one particular interesting thing from the book is that it shows the instructor wearing white shirt, tie and vest. OSHA would have a heyday with that get-up today.

The book I have is "Fundamental Wood Turning" by Archie S. Milton and Otto K. Wohlers and it was published in 1953.

Dennis Meek
07-07-2009, 6:25 PM
I forgot to add that the book was first published in 1919 with the title - A course in wood turning. Your lathe may very well have come from this era.

Dennis Meek
07-07-2009, 6:34 PM
One last thing. You can do a search on the title Fundamental Wood Turning on Google and they have digitized it.

Jarrod McGehee
07-08-2009, 1:03 AM
You sure fixed her up nice.

Chris Odom
07-08-2009, 8:23 AM
http://www.owwm.com/mfgindex/pubdetail.aspx?id=1895

Here is a link to what I think is a sales flier for your lathe

Wally Dickerman
07-08-2009, 10:21 AM
Thanks for your nice comments, and not mentioning all of my misspellings. I need a prove reader before submitting.

Kim: I have seen Rich’s name mentioned before and I just sent him an email with questions Thanks.

Alex: 12 and 36, I think I can use the back side of the head stock and get 40 inches. If I build a heavy tool rest I can do this, right? It is left threaded. Please let me now before I try. I have a piece of wood stuck in a cinder block from trying to do something with my shaper that I shouldn’t have.

Yes, with a floor stand tool rest you can turn on the outboard side. Since it is a left hand threaded spindle, do NOT try to turn right handed. The piece will be off the lathe and airborn in an instant. However, if you happen to be a lefty, turning in reverse would be a plus for you. I've been turning on the outboard side for many years on a number of lathes.

Wally