It arrived yesterday, intact! I was more than a little anxious. Shipping by road a machine that isn't crated is bad enough, but without being there to see it loaded, is worse. The driver showed up yesterday without warning, I'd asked that he telephone me half an hour before arriving. So a bit caught short, I jump started the neighbours fork lift that hasn't been used in two years. Off I went, I hadn't brought the strop that I'd planned to use if there was a problem with the pallet. Transit had not been kind to the pallet, it looked doubtful and was! I had to get the lathe unloaded quickly as buses were having problems getting by. I got it out and onto the ground. I then spent some time getting the forks out from under the disintegrated pallet without it falling over, a couple of hours later, hanging from a strop it was in my workshop. Exhausted, I left it until today to have a look at it. There were quite a few things with it that I didn't expect.
Mostly Imperial reamers.
A usable selection of high-speed steel and carbide tooling.
The milling cutters and slitting saws should come in handy.
The fixed steady is original and fits.
The four jaw and the face plate were a surprise, they are both screw fitting and don't fit the bolt up chuck mount!
I thought of John Mills carefully oiling chuck mounting threads when I saw this!
The previous owner said he'd had the lathe for twelve years, he'd obviously never use anything but the three jaw chuck!
I put a plug on it today and ran it, everything worked. Didn't make any chips, but that'll be soon!
Adev, if you found out anything more on the specifications for the oil I'd love to hear from you.
More later, regards, Matthew
