New Meat... Old Lathe...

[Kaptan J.W. Meek]

Hi, I'm new to Sawmill Creek, but I've been turning about two years... I've been using a highly modified, cheap Ebay Lathe. I've modified the thing, because "Necessity is the mother of invention." Turned some nice table legs, lots of pens, bottle stoppers, and a few nice bowls that have really ignited the addiction to turning.. Well, a few days ago I came into posession of an old lathe. It's big, heavy, and I don't think it will be too much trouble cleaning it up.. I'm pretty sure it's an Oliver, but the plate is missing.. from pictures of other olivers the bed looks right, the last owner did some "customizing".. but the worst of it is, it's incomplete. The tool rest is missing some parts, and there is this "diamond" shaped rail that runs along the front of the bed, I think it's for some kind of adjustable tool rest, but I can't find any thing that goes to it.. If anyone knows of websites that can help to find parts and information on this machine I would certainly appreciate it. Other than that, I like the site, I'm glad to be here, and look forward to talking and getting to know you guys. I've been browsing the other posts, and have seen some nice work.. I'll be listening a little more on the "segmented" bowl threads. Thats something that interests me, but it has seemed like a bit too much trouble to me.... Thanks again for any info about the Oliver lathes..

[Thor Sorensen]

Welcome - if you can post a picture I am sure that one of the more experienced turners will be able to enlighten you.

-Thor

[Tom Sherman]

Kaptan welcome to Smc, there is a website for topics like this I think it is OWWM.com if I have it wrong, someone will correct me.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Kaptan welcome to Creek. Lots of good people and lots of knowledge.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Welcome to the Creek Kaptan! When you get the time post some pics of your turnings - everyone here loves the pictures!

[Kaptan J.W. Meek]

Thanks for the warm welcome gentlemen.. I'm trying to post a picture of some of my bowls, Lets see if this works... Nope, Ok, how do I post a picture?..I'll use the search thingy..

[George Conklin]

Welcome,

Hope this helps,

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=25115

[Kaptan J.W. Meek]

I dunno.. doesn't seem to work.. Hmm.. I had to log off, then log back on.. and try again... Oh well, dang internet!! The one with the hole, is a maple burl.. and the other is Mesquite...

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[TYLER WOOD]

you can look on the forum owwm.org. posted above was owwm.com but the site moved it's forum to org instead. You will probably get more information on what they have built and if you are real lucky, maybe someone wilol help you. I did not have much luck with most of the people there. but I did find a gent in Tenesee to help me. Good luck, I don't feel they are nealy as helpful as the people here.

Post some pics of the lathe and maybe the people here could help you some. i don't know the mechanical ability of most in here, but I do know there are some that are very good at machinery. Sorry for the long winded reply.

[Glenn Hodges]

Welcome Kaptan, we have some Generals here.

[Kaptan J.W. Meek]

Here are some new pictures of the Lathe.. My dad and I are now deep into the restoration work.. Found some navy markings stamped into the bed, an anchor w/ "U.S." on each side of it.. I think this old lathe might have been on a Navy ship. I wish it had a larger swing, but, I guess it'll do. MAN this thing is HEAVY!! Got the morse tapers out of the head and tail stock.. Bearings turn smooth and put a new cord on the motor.. Found a crack on the head stock housing, and welded it up.. Epoxy paint will go on some pieces 2day and assembly should begin soon.
scrapin' rust.
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Navel Jelly
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Primer on one leg.
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[Jim Underwood]

Keep the pix coming.. I love watching a restoration. :) Those old machines are pretty neat.

[Paul Engle]

Welcome Kaptan, the lathe may have come from a US Naval Shipyard, I worked at the one in Long Beach Ca and the carpenter shop had a good size one, been there since 1944 so it is possible. You could check the surplus depots/ and such you may run into parts under USGOV.org.

[Kaptan J.W. Meek]

OH, thanks Paul.. The Lathe the Navy may have worked with is long gone.. This old War horse was put out to pasture and eventually put down. The more we work on her, the more we find out.. but, I am fairly confident about it having been an Oliver. The Head stock is so modified and "Jerry Rigged", that I couldn't restore it to the way Oliver built it, if I did find the parts.. I would like to find a better tool rest, and perhaps an apron like it had originaly.. and, I would like to have more swing, and I might have some blocks made to fit under the head and tail stock, to raise them up a few inches, or I can loosen the bolts holding the headstock in place, slide the thing down and use a free standing tool rest, to turn "outboard".. I dunno, If it runs good, and turns good, I might be pretty happy with it, even with the shortcomings.. So far the total cost of the project is $67 dollars. That includes the wheels, plate steel, tools and paint. More pictures soon! Thanks for lookin'!!

[bruce norton]

Your pictures as not sufficient to show how the lathe looks but from the bed I can tell it is a patternmakers lathe that orginally had a carriage with cross slide and compound slide. It would have looked like a metal lathe with manual feeds. it appears to be a 12" x 36" size. I need a picture of the assembled headstock to see what model it is. You can go to : www.owwm.com (http://www.owwm.com) and look under Oliver, then photos then lathes and you may find one that looks like yours. Oliver was not the only manufacturer of this type lathe but the bed design does look like an Oliver.

[Brian Weick]

Hey Kaptain,
The V shaped spline in the front of the lathe is for a carriage. Is there a serial number stamped on the front right side of the bed ways? I think you have model 159A or it could be a 51 model ~ not quite sure at this point, can you put some more pictures up ~ that would help. There was a Kimble drive that came with the 159 lathe as the headstock or Direct drive on the 51's ,some were belt driven as well. The carriage assembly came with a tool rest attachment for the top carriage that mounted on top to put your tool rest in and lock up, just the same as the bed way tool rest holders. But the good feature of that carriage is that where ever the carriage went - your tool rest went to- there was no need to unlock the a tool holder and moving it to a new location. had 4 speeds and was produced in either 220/ or 440 3 ph voltage. Probably was produced in the 40's by the looks of it. I take it that it came without the carriage? That is a very well built and heavy duty lathe- finding parts may be a little difficult , but if you jump on the www you may be able to find some- you just have to be patient. They are a rare find ,as is the parts for them- Lucky for you - you found one and congratulations on the Oliver lathe-way to go! Hope this helped.
Happy Turning,
Brian:rolleyes:

[Brian Weick]

Here are some new pictures of the Lathe.. My dad and I are now deep into the restoration work.. Found some navy markings stamped into the bed, an anchor w/ "U.S." on each side of it.. I think this old lathe might have been on a Navy ship. I wish it had a larger swing, but, I guess it'll do. MAN this thing is HEAVY!! Got the morse tapers out of the head and tail stock.. Bearings turn smooth and put a new cord on the motor.. Found a crack on the head stock housing, and welded it up.. Epoxy paint will go on some pieces 2day and assembly should begin soon.
scrapin' rust.
61184
Navel Jelly
61185
Primer on one leg.
61186


Kaptain,
what is the C -to -C with everything on and what does the headstock look like- can you get some pics up?
Brian

[Kaptan J.W. Meek]

ALMOST DONE!!...It's important to remember that this lathe is going to be USED.. It's not a "show queen"... My dad added the "tool rack"... and we started out with a small piece of Poplar so we could see if it was usable.. LOW POWER!! So, I put a new 1/2 HP motor on it.. the 1/6th HP, just was NOT going to cut it.. I would have liked to have had a 1 HP, but getting one would have meant a 5/8's shaft, so that meant a new pully, and cost was going to be close to $180+, so I went with the 1/2 horse.. Plenty of power now.. considering it had a 1/6th horse on it, It now has 3X the power.. I clocked it and did some math and the slowest speed is about 375 RPM.. Next is about 760 and final is about 1875.. I'm pretty happy with those speeds.. Gotta get a tool rest.. Any suggestions on a tool rest?.. The one that came with the lathe, just will NOT do.. I know that I can adapt any "modern" tool rest to this thing.. just have to manufactur the part that goes under the ways.. Here are some pictures since the last posting.. Man I can't wait till my new chuck gets here!!.. Ordered a new "Barracuda 2" from Penn State Industries.. I get a 3-1/2" chuck with 4 sets of jaws for 160 bucks. To me that seems hard to beat.
Anyway, I know I'm rambling here, so here's some more pics!!
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