Reconditioning a Relmac lathe

[irving2008]

lol, good job on the bargins £2.50 ! Any chance of some pics of your progress and also you doing your bearings !?!

Oh I plan to do a complete record of this... failures and all (I expect to have to pour this more than once!)

I've worked out how to locate the spindle correctly for both front and rear bearings and I'll do the front one first, using the rear bearing and tailstock as guides, then before removing it I shall fabricate a locating bracket that can be bolted to the rear banjo to retain the rear of the spindle in correct alignment to the front bearing once the rear bearing is removed. I'll cut this out rather than melt it out to avoid potentially moving the locator (melting it out will require me to put the lathe on its end somehow to catch the melt without it going everywhere) but might use the torch to soften it...

Weather permitting (this has to be done outside and can't be done in the rain, water droplets and molten metal don't mix!) I hope to do the front bearing this weekend...

[Lee Roberts]

...rear banjo to retain the rear of...

Banjo ? is that the same as a Dodar? or a real name for a part?

[irving2008]

Banjo ? is that the same as a Dodar? or a real name for a part?

Its a real name... old English lathe terminology for the moveable slotted bracket that supports intermediate changewheels for screwcutting as it comprises a large circular boss attached to a long narrow slotted arm. Also known as the 'changewheel quadrant', particularly if it has multiple radial slots.