Hi Y’All – New Member And Lathe Questions

[mdepc215]

Greetings All, my name is Mike from Suffolk, VA, the Peanut Capital of the World. I have enjoyed working through Bob’s lathe courses. My first exposure to clocks happened when my Mom gave me my grandmother’s wedding present, a 1904 Seth Thomas Adamantine mantel clock that, of course, did not run. Hmmm, I wonder if I could get this thing to run? And then, one thing lead to another, and then another, and then another …. Well, that clock is cleaned, but still not running right because in the midst of everything I became totally addicted to the Whitcomb – Webster style lathe. Rehabilitation is not possible because my lathes now outnumber the clocks. The theory and elegance of the Whitcomb – Webster design captivated me, and has opened whole new worlds for a liberal arts major. My youngest son is a bit unhappy with me. He is a college freshman at the New Mexico Military Institute and I am making him take a lathe course at our local community college over the summer as one of his electives. But truly, without the lathe, western civilization’s technical achievements would not have been possible. As an aside, for those of you with high school or beginning college age kids, I cannot recommend that school, NMMI, high enough. The tuition is state supported and the education is superb. My oldest graduated from NMMI high school and next year he will be a senior at the Virginia Military Institute, another state supported school with a reasonable tuition. He borrowed my bubble back Rolex for Ring Figure and I have not seen him since.

I have a couple of lathe curiosity questions which none of my lathe reference material addresses. The first photo is my 8mm watchmaker’s lathe and every 8mm I have come across has the largest pulley groove of the head stock oriented to the left. The next photo is my 6mm Geneva style lathe and every pulley I have come across has the largest pulley groove oriented to the right.

Next, I have one of the Borel lathe mounts upon which I would like to mount my Swartchild Triumph 8mm. I cannot figure out how to remove the stud bolt.

Thanks!! Mike

• This topic was modified 3 years ago by Tamas Richard.

[david pierce]

Mike,
You should find an answer to your question in the above post. Take a look at the last entry.
david

[chris mabbott]

Hey Mike, Welcome to the forum, I would also say welcome to the madness, but it appears that you’ve already checked into the asylum with the rest of us 😆

Your lathe pulley question could be as simple to answer as…someone installed it in the wrong direction. That not being the case, I believe I read somewhere that this was the case for using the machine euro style, with the pulley/head oriented on the right side rather than the left.. Gawd knows..

I’m sure our resident lathe type person Mr Pierce will have the answer for you as he is also in the same wing of the asylum as you, the lathe collectors block 😆 My cell is in the pocket watch ward, feel free to pop over sometime

[maitai11]

Mike,

Welcome aboard, and welcome to our little slice of paradise over here. Glad to have you

I’ll defer on the question. Not into lathes yet!

Best,

Tim

[bernie weishapl]

Welcome Mike. As for your question I am sure David probably knows the answer. I have had a few lathes over the years and really never worried about the pulley position. I think like Chris said and I also think I read something many years ago when I started that is was a US or Euro thing.

[david pierce]

Mike,
If you look at the cradle on your Geneva lathe you will see that the pulley clearance is designed that way. It will make no difference otherwise.
david

[Author]

Posts