Hendey 12x30 inspection, disassembly and cleaning

[skipd1]

Luck was on my side...
I did not have to take all the gears out of my Hendey QC box
to clean it. It has bearings, not bushings, and everything looked
just fine. I did use a bunch of lacquer thinner and a long brush
to get in there and clean all the grease. My Hendey is a T&G
lathe, and it uses grease to lubricate everything. Not my cup
of tea, but it protected everything from the elements, as before
I got the lathe, it sat outside for 4 or 5 years. Moving forward
having totally cleaned up the lathe from all the old grease, I am
using thick STP oil, like that so named, "motor honey" thick oil
in a grease gun pump affair, to pump into the Zerk fittings.
Good luck on your Hendey.

--Doozer

That's a brilliant solution to getting around the grease problem on a high quality machine tool. I like it!!

[skipd1]

I used an engine crane to lift off the headstock. Almost missed one mounting bolt as it was so completely covered with paint it was invisible. Lifting off and repositioning it on my hydraulic lift table was fairly straight forward and worked out well. I wanted to lay the case on its side so I had easy access to the leadscrew reverse gear train.


I removed all the leadscrew reverse and auto carriage stop components under the headstock in the main casting. It wasn't as bad for swarf as I thought considering its age and where it was used. I cleaned up those components and cleaned out the well. I also reinstalled those components as when I finish the leadscrew inspection I plan to reinstall the headstock on the ways.


I will post more when I start to go through the leadscrew gear train.

[mattthemuppet]

Right back at you. Bented's comment was filled with alternate interpretations, yours not so much.

well there you go. Alternate interpretations of what? That he shouldn't refurb his lathe as he sees fit? That he should buy another lathe so that he has something to use in the 5 years it will take him (in Bented's eyes) to finish this one. I'm sorry, I'm not seeing anything other than snarky arseholery. If you're seeing words of wisdom, power to you.

[skipd1]

I was quite surprised that the leadscrew gear train was somewhat difficult to remove. The bearing caps had worn into the sides of the gears just enough to cause a clearance issue pulling them off. The shaft and components move very smoothly and without any side play at all. Quite a unique mechanism and its what Hendey was famous for.




I removed the top gear, its mounted to a stud shaft and the ball bearing stays with the gear. I seemed to be smooth, but I spent some time cleaning it out as it did not have the shield on upper side of the bearing. I cleaned out the oil ports in the headstock that lubricate that bearing and gear. I them pulled apart the train and cleaned and inspected all the components.


There is a ring keeper that holds the bevel gears and cones together. I was somewhat difficult to remove but it did ultimately come out. After everything was cleaned I reassembled the gears and reinstalled them back under the headstock. At the top of the stack there is a keyed thrust washer and lock nut that tension the gears for end play. I installed the lock nut with a little of blue thread locker for some added insurance. I don't want that nut loosening or coming off.

Its nice to know that those components are cleaned and work perfectly.
In addition I have learned how this works and that's definitely a benefit!

[reggie_obe]

Your images shows evidence that headstock was "fitted" to the lathe bed. Not just machined, but scraped surfaces.

[Doozer]

Single dog clutches are so simple and so clever.
I bet not many here realize the joy of threading on
such a lathe. My Hendey, my Pratt&Whitney and
both my Hardinge lathes have single dog threading.

-Doozer

[skipd1]

Your images shows evidence that headstock was "fitted" to the lathe bed. Not just machined, but scraped surfaces.

Yes it seems it was fitted. I spent some time cleaning up the surfaces of both the headstock and the casting base. It should mate up very well now that its clean and all the paint is removed from the surrounding bed surfaces. I basically only used solvents with WD40 and 0000 steel wool to do the cleaning.
An example of a well built and accurate machine tool!

[skipd1]

Single dog clutches are so simple and so clever.
I bet not many here realize the joy of threading on
such a lathe. My Hendey, my Pratt&Whitney and
both my Hardinge lathes have single dog threading.

-Doozer

I am looking forward to using the leadscrew reverse for threading. I am hoping also that the auto stop for both the longitudinal feed and cross feed work accurately as well.

[nc5a]

Nice write up and quality photos. How did you get your photos to lay out side by side?

I've never had the opportunity to use a lathe with a single dog leadscrew reversing mechanism but I can imagine it would be sweet. Keep the refurbishing story and photos coming.

[jmm03]

Skip, you are doing an excellent job, I don't have a Hendey so I can't be of any help, but your documentation of your progress should be of help to other Hendey owners and these types of projects are some of my favorite, I guess I just like learning about old iron... Thanks, Jim

[skipd1]

Skip, you are doing an excellent job, I don't have a Hendey so I can't be of any help, but your documentation of your progress should be of help to other Hendey owners and these types of projects are some of my favorite, I guess I just like learning about old iron... Thanks, Jim

Thanks, I plan to continue posting my progress.

[oxford]

Anyone have a price of what this lathe would have cost when it was new? The manufacturing that went into it is pretty amazing as far as longevity goes when you compare it to automobile technology at the time (which may just be all about price point)

[SVS]

Comparisons to buying a basic house and prices of $5-8k for lathes of this class post WWII have been made on PM. I don’t recall Hendyman quoting prices when he posts build sheets, but seems he might know?

[skipd1]

Nice write up and quality photos. How did you get your photos to lay out side by side?

I've never had the opportunity to use a lathe with a single dog leadscrew reversing mechanism but I can imagine it would be sweet. Keep the refurbishing story and photos coming.

I had a lot of trouble with that too , I discovered where ever your curser is located on composing page is where the photo lands when you pick the size.

[skipd1]

When I purchased this machine I did a pretty complete mechanical and electronic evaluation, however I had some concerns about the compound slide but I wasn't able to remove it and check. Because of that I decided to take it apart now so if there was something really wrong I wouldn't be looking at fixing it later in the project. As it turned out the screw holding the compound screw was almost completely loose. I cleaned up the parts in my ultrasonic cleaner, and reinstalled the compound. I'll rescrape the ways and tune it up when the machine is up and running.



On to some more paint removal. This is my least favorite endeavor in this renovation. At least with the needle scaler the paint is dry and all you need to do is sweep and vacuum. Using paint stripper is a last resort for me. I purchased a cheap needle scaler from Harbor Freight and it does an amazing job of removing paint on this old lathe. After needle scaling I wire brush it with an angle grinder to prepare it for filler or primer. I probably got about 30% of the total paint removed, but a little at a time between other projects.



I need to start doing a little body filler on some of the parts I've removed already