FILENAMES: PRATTLATHE.JPG PRATTLATHE2.JPG PRATTLATHE3.JPG DESCRIPTION: This is a picture of an old lathe recently acquired by the poster and discussed in RCM. Posted by Michael Miller . The following description was provided: ================================================================= Hi folks, I think I just did something foolish. I bought a lathe. I've been reading this newsgroup since last spring, I've been reading text books on how to do machining, and I've been surfing through every website on the subject I could find. So, I decided that maybe I might like machining metal. I've just about got my bathroom remodel done (to appease my wife), so I had been checking the want ads for tools to buy to get started with. I found a used "$200 bandsaw" that was about 15 years old for less than half the price of a new one. I put on a new blade and it cut pretty good. I then took it apart and started de-rusting it using the electrolysis method (A tip I learned from this group. Thanks!). Works great! I've got about half the pieces all cleaned up and re-painted. Then last week I checked the want ads, and there was the ad I've been looking for: "PRATT & WHITNEY LATHE. metal. $200" I called the guy and went out to look at it the next night. Well, I bought it. Just yesterday I got the last of it into my garage. Its about 13 inch swing, I think 54 inches between centers. Taper attachment, screw cutting (with u-change-em gears), and I think it has power feed in both the cross-slide and the saddle. It came with a 12" southbend 4-jaw chuck, an 8" Horton 3-jaw chuck, a 1/2" Jacobs drill chuck (with shank for the tailstock), dead centers, cutting bit holders, boring bars, etc. When I first saw it, I figured the accessories were worth the price, but since I made a deal, I did haul off the whole thing. Now, before anyone gets too excited, this lathe is dirty. Grimy, rusty, no paint dirty. Its also old. It came with a 2hp single phase motor made by the Century Motor company. There are two patent dates on the motor ID plate: 1898 and 1902. The lathe is driven by overhead flat belts. It came with the overhead pulley assembly, complete with the hardwood handle to engage the pulley-clutch mechanism. The pulley bearing support brackets are cast iron, and say "PRATT'S PAT Feb 22 1870" The lathe sits on heavy cast iron legs. I took the legs and tailstock off, and tried to load it into my little pickup truck, and it compressed the suspension completely. So I ended up calling a towing company with a flat-bed wrecker, and they moved it for me with no problems. That was another tip I found from this newsgroup. Thanks! Last night I took off the compound. It has an 8 TPI leadscrew, and the collar around the handle is divided into .125". The cross-slide is the same way. The compound is bolted onto the cross-slide in such a way that it can swivel. After I got it taken off, the grime and grease just wiped off easily to reveal a near-perfect compass for setting the compound angle. I checked around the lathe some more, and found a number stamped in the end of the bed: "413" There is a plate rivetted to one of the legs. It says "3554" , I think (I should re-check that number). There is a plate rivetted to the bed that says "PRATT & WHITNEY Co, Hartford, Conn" I'm posting all of this here in the hopes that someone has any information on this machine. I'm going to spruce it up and use it, and I don't even know what color I should paint it. I'll try to get some pictures of it onto the web soon. Oh, I've already been to the lathes.uk website (which is an awesome resource), but I didn't see anything like my lathe there. Thanks in advance for any help! -Mike --------------------------------- 1) Reversing lever. Looks like you throw this lever to cut left hand threads. Throw it back the other way to cut RH threads. 2) Not sure. Different ratios for power feed? Has three positions. 3) Very puzzling. This shaft is behind the spindle, and there are gears on both ends of the shaft. These gears mesh with gears on the spindle. There is a lever that makes this shaft come closer to the spindle to engage the gears together. When that is done, the spindle seems to be locked up. Maybe an indexing arrangement? 4) The spindle nose. This portion is threaded for the 4-jaw chuck... 5) This portion is a smaller thread for the 3-jaw. -------------------------------------- 1) Upper part of compound. Not really in the picture. 2) Taper attachment. I think I know how this works. The cross-slide seems to have a secondary dovetail-slide on the bottom of the cross slide. I think there must be some way to free this dovetail, and I put a short rod through a hole in the cross slide into the taper jig, and then the cross slide follows the taper jig. 3) Lower part of compound. Its over there because I took it apart. There are nuts on the saddle/apron just in front of this piece. These nuts hold the compound to the cross-slide. 4) This is wheere the compound mounts. You can see the two t-bolts that hold the compound in place. 5) No idea. This wrench came with the lathe. I don't know what this bolt does. 6) No idea either. 7) This knob appears to engage the cross slide with the power feed. I am by no means certain of this. I could be very wrong. 8) Thread engaging lever. Standard fare. 9) threading dial. 8 divisions.