Paralysis by Analysis - A Smart and brown 1024 VSL Rebuild

[alastairseggie]

Dear All

I am hoping some of you more experienced machine restorers can help me because I am really scratching my head here. Let me start at the beginning.

I bought a very sorry Smart and Brown 1024 Lathe at an auction. This lathe for those who don't know them is a precision tool room lathe. Most who have used them think they are the Mutts nuts.

Here she is at auction


And coming home



I got it home and I stripped it down to its constituent parts. Bagged, labeled and photographed.....Done. Flikr photo album here https://flic.kr/s/aHsjRtmUL8

Next the bed, head, tail stock, saddle and Cross slide went for re-grinding and I got her back over last weekend. So now I am really stuck as to what my next step is and I am hoping people can help me with sorting out the sequence here.....I think I may have already got it wrong.... I have a relatively basic garage/workshop no big compressors for painting etc so would need to buy those in if I did the work my self. I love the learning opportunity and would like to end up with a lathe that is a pleasure to use, aesthetically pleasing and will last me the rest of my days.

Here is my thinking and what I am planning to do but I have never done this before so I might be completely off the reservation here.

1. Clean off the oil and grease protecting the new surfaces. What should I use to keep the bare surfaces from rusting?
2. Mask up all the precision surfaces with masking tape then a layer or two of duct tape.
3. Sandblast (or glass bead) all the outer painted surfaces, Stand, Bed, Head, apron, gear box. tail stock castings. Is this something I can do at home or should I farm it out?
4. Prime... What Primer should I use & for that matter what paint type Epoxy, polyurethane etc or should I hand brush.
5. Primer surfacer/ body filler, sand etc. repeat until a good finish is achieved
6. Paint.... Should I send this to a shop esp if I go for two pack epoxy? I don't have an oven or respiratory equipment
7. Re assemble polish etc.

I am beginning to think that I should have done this before sending it for regrinding....well at least got it to the primed stage before sending it for grinding.

Guidance on a tried and tested paint type would help and help with what I can and cant use with that paint type, the theoretical order for doing all of this, what to be care full of and what can go wrong would be invaluable.

Alastair

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[arizonavideo]

That looks like a vary high quality small lathe.

The color and build looks a lot like a AI from Holland that I have.

Quite a job but it looks like you have a handle on it. The inside of the gear head looks nice and clean just the outside has a bit of weather and wear.

It should be worth the time and effort you are putting into it.

I didn't see any after the grind pictures.

did it cost a lot?

[alastairseggie]

Hi,

Thanks for the kind words.

No, I haven't taken any Post grind pics yet as I've had a few other more pressing things that I have had on my plate. The regrind was £1000 for the bed the cross slide, Tail-stock, Head and the Saddle was Turcited. Tail stock and head were hand scraped in too.

I have been reading lots on various forums regarding prep Painting and where to go next with this so I am getting a better Idea but the work involved is not going to be small.

Alastair

[Bishopcnc]

Nice looking lathe Alistair, I own the identical lathe and have been slowly getting it back into operation. How were you planning to run the 3ph motor if I may ask? From what I can deduce the 440VAC motor is wired in Star configuration and should be able to run on 220VAC in Delta. I was planning to rewire for Delta and then run the spindle motor from a VFD, not sure what I was going to do with the work light and coolant pump yet but working on that.

Cheers
Shawn

[alastairseggie]

Nice looking lathe Alistair, I own the identical lathe and have been slowly getting it back into operation. How were you planning to run the 3ph motor if I may ask? From what I can deduce the 440VAC motor is wired in Star configuration and should be able to run on 220VAC in Delta. I was planning to rewire for Delta and then run the spindle motor from a VFD, not sure what I was going to do with the work light and coolant pump yet but working on that.

Cheers
Shawn

Hi Shawn,

You have got it in 1 guess, I was going to rewire in delta and use a VFD with Torque vectoring. I might at a future date adda DRO then try to do CSS using the DRO to vary the speed on the VFD but that is for later now I still need to get it back together. WRT the coolant pump you can run both off the same VFD provided it is sized to do both of course, and that you can change the Coolant pump to delta. you could also keep it stock and use one of these but they are very expensive for what they are. Also I don't believe you can you can run things between phases to give you single phase power as these normally need to be balanced across all three phases. I think the most likely for me is to single phase these to 240 and replace the pump and the work light innards.

Alastair

[Bishopcnc]

Thanks for the reply Alistair, it's good to hear I'm going down the right track. I to am thinking about removing the pump and work light from the original electrical system and replacing the guts for 110 or 220 operation, that seems like the most simple solution. I'll be following along with this post and checking in occasionally to see how you are making out. All the photo you have taken are a great resource for those of us with this lathe and I appreciate the work to take them and host them online. Good luck with your refurbishment

Shawn