Barn or garage find

[C-Bag]

Somebody of your prowess could make whatever it takes to fix a machine tool. With your ability to weld cast iron you could probably bring a casting back from the dead. I see where some on old forums talk about making a new ratchet box/case. That would be quite and undertaking for me. Look at what I found out in the desert:
bakersfield for sale "metal shaper" - craigslist
Not as cheap as mine but looks totally cherrie.

[Frank S]

well after cleaning the lathe and mill I powered up the lathe and ran it through its paces. Runs great the only thing is who ever repowered it with the timing belt drive grossly under powered it with a 1 hp 120v motor But I can at least use it like it is if I need to
Every thing on the mill functions and the 3 ph motor does run so About all I need to do to it is make 2 mor mounting bolts for the head as it only has 2 now and the spindle brake band is missing that too is no problem for when I get around to it

[Toolmaker51]

For lubricants, I like ARMITE products, especially 12/34. Not perfect, but close. Isn't noxious, hard to remove, or too thick. Real good intermediate rust preventative.
For longer terms or against dirt, I oil or grease surfaces and 'wallpaper' them with plastic food wrapping film. Way easier than cosmoline variety sealants, when time for re-commissioning arrives.
Wish I had a few ounces of FluidFilm for every gallon I dispensed for Uncle Sam. Certainly our USN established most intensive cable maintenance program. Cable only performs as intended when properly lubricated, as a tremendous amount of surface area is working as a mechanism. Individual strands nest into each other under tension, lube enhances ability of the already smooth wire to tense and relax back into helical form.
The best protectants are probably those used on injection molds in storage; also called ''cavity seal''. On the expensive side, and their solvent is one of few things that dissolve it.
Kerosene is the standby for cutting through that grease/ dust/ no-wantium. But try regular handcleaner during or afterward, equally effective on painted or surfaced areas on machinery. Even the dollar store versions work. And washes right out of cotton rags!

[C-Bag]

That's great Frank. Sounds like a way easier time than I'm having with my Atlas. It's a little like peeling an onion as everything I take apart has something messy or backwards. I guess that's why it was sitting in a stack of junk and was cheap

So far the only real head scratcher is trying to figure out a motor start capacitor. It's got the old original 1/2hp motor and the wiring was hinky to say the least. Upon checking the start capacitor it's all funky and corroded inside.

I don't know how it was working, but it would just barely start with even the slightest drag. Everything I go through has things loose or not adjusted right or like the motor, wired to run backwards. I'm used to the valley where there were all kinds of electric motor repair shops and this area doesn't have a full fledged industrial supply. There is nothing on the old cap and it makes no reference on the motor data plate what it should take. I've watched vids and tried looking through help pages and it still seems to boil down to take to somebody who should know. Old stuff does have its mystique but I'm pretty easily stumped on electrical probs.

You are the second to bring up the idea of hand cleaner TM51. Marv brought it up during the whole excursion into Airy Points on surface plates. He mentioned when they toured a surface plate plant that's what they used to clean them. Should known it would work great for cleaning this antique! I keep forgetting because I bought a big pump tub of orange hand cleaner with grit. I guess that would work, but I think the cream would be just the ticket. Kerosene is pretty nasty stuff and messy. Thanks so much for the tip.

[Frank S]

C-bag I like thr grit for painted surfaces but have only used cream style on machined surfaces, always figured I didn't want to introduce any grit where it could be embedded between 2 matting parts

[C-Bag]

I tried it and it works ok but getting the grit off without water sux. I'll see if I can find some without pumice. When I looked online it looks like they all have pumice now

[Frank S]

I did some measuring yesterday the La Blond 16" originally meant 16" over the carriage with the 1.5" riser blocks that someone made makes it a little under 19 " but it will also swing 22" to the ways. This makes it taller than my 19" La blond which will only swing about 14" over the carriage.
Since the old lathe has had several mods to it already I might think about making a gear head lathe out of it but return it to a shorter height One thing it has that neither of my other lathes has is a full 2" through hole both of the others have only a 1.5"
If I were to go the route of making a gear head out of it I wouold make a spindle with a 3.5" through hole though
It defiantly would no longer be a La Blond other than ways carriage and feed, But that is a lot of work I am not sure I want to spend time in doing

[C-Bag]

I did some measuring yesterday the La Blond 16" originally meant 16" over the carriage with the 1.5" riser blocks that someone made makes it a little under 19 " but it will also swing 22" to the ways. This makes it taller than my 19" La blond which will only swing about 14" over the carriage.
Since the old lathe has had several mods to it already I might think about making a gear head lathe out of it but return it to a shorter height One thing it has that neither of my other lathes has is a full 2" through hole both of the others have only a 1.5"
If I were to go the route of making a gear head out of it I wouold make a spindle with a 3.5" through hole though
It defiantly would no longer be a La Blond other than ways carriage and feed, But that is a lot of work I am not sure I want to spend time in doing

Ah, but there is the challenge. I don't know for sure, but I suspect there are others here who you get an idea and even though it may not be practical just have to do it. I have so many things I "should" be doing but damn if I don't let myself get sidetracked because I just want to do something else.

I keep thinking ok, I'm done, and I'll see another piece of this 7b that needs to be cleaned up/fixed. There was a broken casting on the oil tray that was for a 1/2" rod that the motor belt guard mounts to. I decided I want to make another guard kinda like the guy that made the gear cover for his SB lathe. But I'd need to fix that casting to mount it. I just got the bug yesterday and built the whole missing part up with brazing rod and ground it back into shape. Kinda silly, but satisfying.

Are you hesitating because you don't want to "defile" the LeBlond or is it all about it would take too much time? I can see either one, but I don't think you would be destroying the machine. Just the opposite.

[Toolmaker51]

That's a tricky search, to phrase sans pumice.
found one GOJO US: Heavy Duty Hand Cleaners
GOJO US: Heavy Duty Hand Cleaners
Not all soils are the same. So when it comes to ... Lotion-style hand cleaner with pumice scrubbers that removes a broad range of soils. SDS: English French ...

and then
ITW Devcon | Permatex Brand Fast Orange® Smooth Lotion Hand Cleaner

then remembered Marv's and PJ'S discussion on queries, using "hand cleaner' -pumice
for
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourcei...ner%22+-pumice

[C-Bag]

Thanks TM51. We were close to an Auto Zone(which also carried FluidFilm) and I asked the parts person if they had non pumice hand cleaner and she took me back and found a small tub of permatex stuff that looked just like the stuff I remember. Plain ol gel, $1.99. Price was right and it worked ok for getting the Prussian blue off my 9x12 surface plate. Not tried it yet for taking shmootz off machinery.

I'm going to see if I can find the fast orange "smooth formula". That's the key, smooth, not chunky.

I had a real interesting time fixing the gib on the compound of the old Atlas shaper. A previous owner decided to get so crazy with one of the adjusting screws that upon inspection it had plowed a big ol divot in the gib with the piled up metal at the end. No wonder it didn't move full range. Added to this the gib looked like a waffle, all schwangle. I don't remember anything in Machine Tool Reconditioning about straightening gibs that had been bent. I ended up using two sets of feeler gauges on either side of the bent area(.015 on each side seemed to work best) and mashed the offending area in my 3tn arbor press. After some trial and error and the observation for a drastic bend move the gauges closer to bend, and for lesser tweek move them away. I was able to get the ancient gib pretty flat. I'm finishing it off with some careful scraping. I'm afraid to look at the dovetail, I'm hoping it was on the end edge and not in the middle somewhere. Lots of hardware to replace because everything is a pan head machine screw, just made to die or strip.