When you look back to what this looked like before any work started it is truly amazing. Beautiful restoration. If I were into lathes, I would want a big old lump of restored cast iron like this rather than a new machine. I love it.
Thanks Mike a lot of people still don't realise what you can get for such little money. To buy a lathe with the same capacity as one of these you would have to get something like a VB which costs around £5000. This lathe was the 15th RS made way back in around 1936. I cant imagine you can purchase a machine nowadays that will last 79 years and still be useable.
I then prepped the lettering on the headstock and motor, I later found out that the green frog tape is not as good as the yellow for this use. When I removed the tape it brought some of the paint with it.
Looking at those fabulous old Wadkin's gives me really mixed emotions. The sheer British staggering high quality over-engineering and use of cast iron says so much about our history as a Nation of world class engineers. Then you juxtapose it with where we are now versus the Germans, Japanese and the Far East in general and I get all depressed at what's been lost.
I reckon I've got one more workshop in me and when (if) I get round to building and equipping it I plan to go the whole hog with 3 phase because those beasts have really earned the right to be used and used and used. As you say, they're also stupidly cheap. Absolutely gorgeous. Well done again for breathing new life into the noble Waddy :-)
Wallace - I have decided that I am a Castoferrophile , whether its the connecting rods of the Flying Scotsman , the great flywheel on a Thames pumping station or my 1947 Multico mortise , its the solidity and the " proving its still got it " . Absolutely wonderful and especially after a coat of new paint . Great stuff .
Steve I know what you mean, when I first started messing with wood I soon realised that modern hobby machinery was pants so went down the old pattern makers machine route which is cheaper than the stuff from axminster or even B&Q. I put the tailstock together, the RS tailstock can be slid sideways for off centre turning.
As I mentioned earlier I have been black oxiding some of the parts to help stop future rust. All you do is clean and degrease the part and then stick it in the solution, take it out and use a water dispersant like 3in1 or wd40 and then wax it.
I needed some brass washers so I marked some squares out with centres
Drilled some holes
Cut the squares out on the bandsaw and then mounted them together on the lathe
Steve I would describe myself as a wannabe hobby woodworker who very occasionally gets some paid work for very basic joinery. When I first started playing with wood I soon realised that modern machines for my budget weren't up to much which frustrates a person starting out. I have always liked restoring things, I did a MG car restoration at 19 and used to like messing with old stationary engines. Doing wadkin machines is a very slippery slope and quite addictive. But I have accumulated quite a few machines for a small price. My ultimate goal is to do bespoke stuff but I will freely admit my skills with wood are very limited. At the moment I am more comfortable taking a machine to bits than doing a dovetail joint. A bit long winded but it describes me pretty well