nobrakese28
Cast Iron
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2015
- Location
- Pico Rivera
A story of risk and reward.
The hunt for a series 61 started a few years ago and ended with the purchase of a Harrison 17" gap bed lathe, a fine machine, but noisy at the least. I started hunting a few weeks ago and came across a poorly advertised series 61 on eBay. The machine had every feature I could want including the taper attachment, rapid traverse, apron travel accumulator, and lead screw reverse. It made me nervous purchasing a machine without inspecting it and traveling to see it was out of the question since it was located in Midstate New York (Binghamton).
I asked the seller to send me a video of the machine, he could not get it to start. His electrician diagnosed the problem as a bad switch, and instructed him to hold the STOP switch to keep it running. The video was terrible, and he did not understand the controls.
I posted a request for anyone in the NY area on OWWM to see if someone would be willing to inspect it for me. Two gentlemen stepped up and scheduled an inspection (thanks Charles and Ross).
Their findings:
Electrical issue, machine would not run without leaving STOP switch depressed
Feed and leadscrew would not spin
Feed selection dial would not turn
Headstock shifted nicely, machine ran smoothly
Ways were in excellent shape, scraping gone but no galling or real wear on bed ways, all handles moved smoothly
No broken handles
No steady or taper attachment clamp
Aloris CA post, older plunger style
Skinner 12" 3-jaw chuck
The seller was willing to drop the price to $3500 (from $4500, originally $5600) and $2500 for shipping. I was very nervous about a potential gear train issue as well as unloading this beast. But I decided to go for it anyways! The stars aligned and the delivery date coincided with the moving of a large piece of equipment at work, so I used a CAT 12k forklift to unload the lathe. The driver was excellent and actually secured many of the doors and levers that the morons on that the rigging company should have, which in turn lead to the compound graduation dial being lost... The driver was not paid to tarp the load but did on my request, which was great because he hit a Monsoon in Arizona! Very well deserved tip I gave him!
I spend a few hours inspecting and playing with the machine and I am very happy with my findings! I removed the headstock cover as well as the QCGB cover for an inspection and it all seems to be in great shape!
Turns out there is no issue, I think the LSR mechanism was just in a weird neutral position. The issue with the feed dial was just paint on the back side...
The electrical issue was also a non-issue, the STOP switch was connected in the NO position instead of the NC!
So far everything works on the machine! Its runs pretty quiet! It needs a very deep cleaning, belts and maybe some tuning. But I could not be happier.
In regard to the compound dial, I scored a NOS compound set up on eBay a few weeks ago. Once again, the stars aligned!
Photos to come.
The hunt for a series 61 started a few years ago and ended with the purchase of a Harrison 17" gap bed lathe, a fine machine, but noisy at the least. I started hunting a few weeks ago and came across a poorly advertised series 61 on eBay. The machine had every feature I could want including the taper attachment, rapid traverse, apron travel accumulator, and lead screw reverse. It made me nervous purchasing a machine without inspecting it and traveling to see it was out of the question since it was located in Midstate New York (Binghamton).
I asked the seller to send me a video of the machine, he could not get it to start. His electrician diagnosed the problem as a bad switch, and instructed him to hold the STOP switch to keep it running. The video was terrible, and he did not understand the controls.
I posted a request for anyone in the NY area on OWWM to see if someone would be willing to inspect it for me. Two gentlemen stepped up and scheduled an inspection (thanks Charles and Ross).
Their findings:
Electrical issue, machine would not run without leaving STOP switch depressed
Feed and leadscrew would not spin
Feed selection dial would not turn
Headstock shifted nicely, machine ran smoothly
Ways were in excellent shape, scraping gone but no galling or real wear on bed ways, all handles moved smoothly
No broken handles
No steady or taper attachment clamp
Aloris CA post, older plunger style
Skinner 12" 3-jaw chuck
The seller was willing to drop the price to $3500 (from $4500, originally $5600) and $2500 for shipping. I was very nervous about a potential gear train issue as well as unloading this beast. But I decided to go for it anyways! The stars aligned and the delivery date coincided with the moving of a large piece of equipment at work, so I used a CAT 12k forklift to unload the lathe. The driver was excellent and actually secured many of the doors and levers that the morons on that the rigging company should have, which in turn lead to the compound graduation dial being lost... The driver was not paid to tarp the load but did on my request, which was great because he hit a Monsoon in Arizona! Very well deserved tip I gave him!
I spend a few hours inspecting and playing with the machine and I am very happy with my findings! I removed the headstock cover as well as the QCGB cover for an inspection and it all seems to be in great shape!
Turns out there is no issue, I think the LSR mechanism was just in a weird neutral position. The issue with the feed dial was just paint on the back side...
The electrical issue was also a non-issue, the STOP switch was connected in the NO position instead of the NC!
So far everything works on the machine! Its runs pretty quiet! It needs a very deep cleaning, belts and maybe some tuning. But I could not be happier.
In regard to the compound dial, I scored a NOS compound set up on eBay a few weeks ago. Once again, the stars aligned!
Photos to come.
