[cpcp]

Does anyone recognise the maker of this lathe I just bought?

It looks a little like a Emco Unimat but the headstock does not. It is about 700mm long and has about 200mm between centres. The cross slide hand-wheel seems a later addition and its bed looks like a piece of RSJ. It seems to have quite a few grease nipples also. All its dimensions seem to be in metric. There is no sign of a maker's plate having ever been afixed.

Thanks for any leads!

[fizzissist]

That thing is hysterical! I LOVE it!!!

[cpcp]

That thing is hysterical! I LOVE it!!!

Ha, thanks!

I find it beguiling -one moment I think it looks home made and the next I think it is cleverly engineered and well manufactured.

I just saw that the two way switch is made by Telemecanique; a pretty high spec switch -odd.

[wizard]

Obviously some thought was put into the lathe.

Ha, thanks!

I find it beguiling -one moment I think it looks home made and the next I think it is cleverly engineered and well manufactured.

I just saw that the two way switch is made by Telemecanique; a pretty high spec switch -odd.

[RCaffin]

I'm guessing it is a home brew - but possibly built using commercial facilities.
Why?
Because every bit of it is fabricated: welded up out of stock material. There are no castings as far as I can see. A commercial production would have castings. The fab looks as though some decent machinery was used to make it, and the welder was fairly competent.

Cheers

[cpcp]

I'm guessing it is a home brew - but possibly built using commercial facilities.

Yes, I'm leaning that way too now.

The photo of a couple of parts shows some cross-slide detail (very neat indeed.) The tail-stock, which due to a compound curve on it's top, I thought was a casting now perhaps reveals more. The occasional slight pitting under the paint probably indicates a welded/ground construction with perhaps some auto body filler for cosmetic sake before the 'hammered-silver' paint coating was professionally applied.

I'm guessing too that the guy who built this had a tool-making/engineering background as apart from the design he had access to some nice precision equipment to get the tight tolerances I have measured.

Thanks for all the help guys!

[cpcp]

As a reflection:

I'm guessing that the man who made this has 'passed on' or at least is not capable of working it.

It's refreshing to me to think that if you are a wealthy New York banker your legacy lasts a millisecond after you hit the 'down' button on the lift/elevator but a well made tool just keeps giving -perhaps even for a century or more...

[MINGMEICNC]

woodworking copy lathe i think it is .very ingenious the two carriers inside in first photo i think they are made for copying ,maybe

[RCaffin]

woodworking copy lathe i think it is .very ingenious the two carriers inside in first photo i think they are made for copying ,maybe

I think those two 'carriers' are actually the support for the drive motor.
The leadscrews don't look like a copier to me. My 2c.

Cheers

[MINGMEICNC]

I think those two 'carriers' are actually the support for the drive motor.
The leadscrews don't look like a copier to me. My 2c.

Cheers

seems you are right ,Look,different size of belts(are they ?) can be connected to there, definitely support for motor.but i don't know if it can use different belts ,for what ?changing the speed ?

[RCaffin]

i don't know if it can use different belts ,for what ?changing the speed ?

Yep, speed change by pulley change was quite common on older small British lathes. And this one has several pulleys. I suspect the motor may have also had theree pulleys of different sizes.

Cheers