Currently in the final stages of rebuilding a Ward 2A capstan lathe for making production parts. It's a heavy brute of a machine. Very solid on the headstock too.
The strip-down involved pulling apart the gearboxes on the carriage and capstan feed, only to discover some serious rust had taken hold on the gears. So much so that quite a lot of teeth on the carriage feed gears were heavily pockmarked and much reduced in thickness and the capstan power feed wouldn't engage or disengage. Evidence of grease lubrication in some of it, I couldn't tell whether the greasing was done in the 1960s or 1970s. Quite historic!
The turret indexing mechanism didn't work either, and was missing a pinion gear that drives the stops. This was sourced from the UK from Ward Spares.
Many new parts have been made and the old ones given full treatment. The bed was oil-stoned to remove some dents and many hours spent on the wire wheel making it all look like new. The paint work seems to be original, I can't tell.
A 240v coolant pump was added, the well tank lid was modified and milled away to fit the new pump.
The spindle motor has been rewired to run off single phase through a VFD (variable frequency drive). This was wired up by a great friend and master electrician Jonathan McDonald. Took some time to decipher the Chinglish in the VFD manual!
Not long to go now, certainly a rewarding journey to strip and learn how it all goes together. The English machines are certainly made to last with a bit of TLC.
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