Right place, right time

[rodp]

Walked into our preferred hardware supplier today, more for a chat than anything and leant on the counter talking crap, as you do. Out the corner of my eye I noticed what appeared to be a tailstock sticking out from under a pile of other tat. Asked why he's got one chucked on the floor and he says "because it's still fastened to the lathe"

Let's have a look then I says and he lifts it up on the counter. It's old but in good used condition, about 8" or 10" between centres and about a 4" swing. No motor on it but that's not a problem. Everything works (with backlash) freely, no visible damage and a nice little 3 jaw chuck.

I ask the big question , how much ? He says it belongs to the new bloke that works there and he wants £50 but is out at the moment. I said ring him and ask if he'll take £40 now, he did and he will.

It's now mine
That's 3 lathes now from the little Unimat (beautiful little tool) to the Union and now one in the middle
Union's got to go I've decided, I'll upgrade to one with levers instead of gears and belts etc, I can't do with the faffing.

[fizzbangwhallop]

Jammy git!



But.. nice one!
atb
Fizz

[Gloop]

I would like a lathe but I would have to sell one of the bikes to make room. Hmmmm, my bike, nope, her bike, naw, the hack, naw, emotional ties there. Maybe I need a bigger garage.

Anyway, you are definitely a lucky bugger..

[SikaStag]

It must be tiny if he could lift on to the counter.
I reckon my tailstock would of been heavier to lift on to the counter.
My Lathe weighs over 600kgs. took a few strong guys and a lot of profanities to get it sitting where it is right now.

The backlash on a lathe can be problematic unless you have a digital read out, then it means nothing.
I was lucky to get a Lathe at a good price from a known source that deals in machinery. Instead of £4000 I got it for £2100 including the Anilam Wizard DRO. That was with steady rest, traveling steady, 6" 3 jaw chuck, 8" 4 jaw chuck, and lots more. was a bargain I thought. I bought the Lathe to fit sound moderators for customers when I was an RFD. I have held onto it not wanting to part with it. Now it is coming into its own.

New Bartlein barrel on its way right now from the USA. Cant wait to do my first rebarrel job on my Tikka M55 in .308.

Ian

[sunndog]

lucky bugger.....gotta get meself one

[Marky610]

I recon my lathe could just about rebarrel a plastic pea shooter

[SikaStag]

A friend of mine purchased a .243 from a dealer in the Borders. The dealer had threaded the barrel on a lathe that looks like your s Mark or slightly smaller. I went with him to collect the Rifle as I was signing his .22 that was in storage at the dealers so that he could do a 1 for 1 to get the 243 on his ticket.
I looked at the rifle and was shocked that someone could keep a straight face after handing the rifle over.
He mounted the barrel through the headstock of this little Lathe and into a 3 jaw chuck (accuracy right out of the window). He must have made a mess of the threading and started again. so if you can imagine the 1/2 UNF thread was an inch back from the end of the thread. He obviously did not want to mess with the crown on the Rifle, so he can a clean unthreaded area from the crown back to about just under 10mm to where the threads then started.

I couldnt hold back and had to say to him what the f±§k is that. They mate told me to keep quiet and not to say any more. I duly obliged. It was his money that paid for the job.
I told him that the crown on the Rifle was damaged (possibly prior to the dealer getting the Rifle). I said it would not shoot worth a dam. We got it home to the Farm and I set up a target at 100y. It held a 2.5" group. My mate was gutted and pissed off that he had not listened to me. I said do not buy it. He did.

I was quite sorry for him at this point. I said lets get up to my workshop and I will cut it back and recrown it the right way, concentric to the bore line, using 0.0001" dial indicators.

It takes a while to zero a barrel till you have zero movement on the dial indicator. He got fed up standing about and went for a cup of tea in the house. I finnished his threading job and cut a 90 degree target crown. I told him to bring it back up at the week end and I would float the barrel and make up a load to test fire.
On the Saturday he arrived with his Rifle and when everything was sorted we went to test fire the loads. We chose the best group that was less than a quarter of an inch at 100y. If you want to see a constant smile on a shooters face do the above.
He went to the range he is a member of on the Saturday only to find out that it was a competition for a silver trophy that had no name on it at all. He won the competition out right beating guys that are serious F class shooters.
They all could not believe how he had been an also ran with his 308 then turns up with a .243 that beats them all.

Some of the guys that he beat were past customers of mine. When he said that I had done all the work to it. their chins dropped.

Ian

[rodp]

It must be tiny if he could lift on to the counter.
I reckon my tailstock would of been heavier to lift on to the counter.
My Lathe weighs over 600kgs. took a few strong guys and a lot of profanities to get it sitting where it is right now.

The backlash on a lathe can be problematic unless you have a digital read out, then it means nothing.
I was lucky to get a Lathe at a good price from a known source that deals in machinery. Instead of £4000 I got it for £2100 including the Anilam Wizard DRO. That was with steady rest, traveling steady, 6" 3 jaw chuck, 8" 4 jaw chuck, and lots more. was a bargain I thought. I bought the Lathe to fit sound moderators for customers when I was an RFD. I have held onto it not wanting to part with it. Now it is coming into its own.

New Bartlein barrel on its way right now from the USA. Cant wait to do my first rebarrel job on my Tikka M55 in .308.

Ian

Yep, it's only a small one but heavier duty than the Unimat. The Union is now on ebay and I shall look around for a decent sized one to replace it. The Union was a good old lathe but it's time to upgrade.
I used to have a beauty, 6' between centres and 10" swing but got rid of it when we moved units, bad move It was a 6 tool capstan with tail stock so production work was a doddle

[SikaStag]

The capstan tail stock would be a big help for me. I can get by without it and save a lot of dish. They are expensive for the M300. Everything is expensive for the M300.

My Pratt Burnerd collets and chuck arrive today by Hermes. just waiting for the driver to call me to arrange to meet further down the valley. It takes a delivery driver 50 minutes to deliver a parcel to me. They get well frustrated when they get a parcel for me. I now have them call me when they are on their way and I tie in a visit to the local town to stock up on supplies. Keeps everyone happy.