Safety First - Update

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Just a minor update on the lathe-gear-safety-guard mini-thing. The photo shows the first pieces folded and pop-riveted in place: there will obviously be side pieces - the left-hand side being the largest and also the main support for the thing. You can just see where the top is bolted onto the front of the headstock via the existing cast-iron back-gear cover’s hex-bolt. The wide slot in the front is to give easy access to the clutch-change of the lead-screw drive.

The whole thing’s made of aluminium sheet and 10mm aluminium angle and will be spray-painted, possibly in the shade of Birmingham Municipal green of the remaining paint on the lathe castings. When I was a kid, everything seemed to get a coat of that shade - I don’t know if it was Birmingham City Council policy or that there was a glut of war-surplus paint floating about in the fifties, but that particular hue is highly redolent of childhood to me, just like the smell of the blossom on the privet hedges that used to abound in the city.

How much serious work gets attempted/done on the lathe is probably moot, but in all honesty the main point is just getting it up and working as a tribute both to my family history and my Dad - a little bit of continuity normally not afforded to us working-class folk - and as such is a worthwhile exercise in itself, as well as a useful tool in easily fabricating all those parts that are near-enough impossible with hand tools alone.

Seriously, though, if I can get the thing fettled into producing work of any accuracy, I’ll probably end up attempting something non-trivial just for the hell of it!


Comments

  1. Joe Stoner12 July 2021 at 19:13

    I seem to remember that you Brummies are VERY adept at pilfering: BMC paint was all over areas where they had paint shops. So municipal paint would be a doddle: over order and then split the spoils and hence it's EVERYWHER!!

    ReplyDelete

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