flather

You have to strike fast if you want to be 'in the game' at Uncle Henry's. New ads for the week are up early Thursday A.M. At 0730, very early for me, I was online and perusing the enticing offers.

'Whatcha doin'?' Pat asks.

'Oh,' I tell her, 'the usual, looking at lathes.'

' See anything?'

'Yeah, lots of them. Odd there are so many this week.'

'You like any of them?'

'Here's a South Bend Heavy 10.'

'How much is it?'

'Yipes, a thousand'

'I think you should get it for your birthday.'

Well, I got back up off the floor and said that I doubted that we should do that. Pat insisted - gave me carte blanche... Who am I to argue with fate?

The most interesting ad was for an old flat belt lathe. It was located about 30 miles north, in Wilton, and we had been planning to go up that way anyhow to visit Farmington's really nice used book store. Called the guy and made arrangements. Yep, right on Highway 4 next to the Calvary Baptist Church; can't miss it.

Denny has a nice little machine shop. I say little because of the size of his shop, but it is chock full of machines. He shows me the lathe. I pretend to blow my nose and surrpetitiously wipe the drool off my chin. I turn cranks and everything is free and smooth - like glass. The lead screw looks nice. I look at gears and don't see any missing teeth. A few dings on the ways up under the chuck. Lots of grease and fuzz, not much rust. There is no motor, but Denny explains how they rigged a motor after if came off the line shaft. Babbitts and flat belts - I wipe my face again.

The beast is a Flather 14" quick change with a patent date of 1906. Looks to take between 3 and 4' between centers. Comes with steady rest, three jaw chuck, 4 jaw chuck, and other stuff that is laying around. All the handles and wrenches look to be there. I tighten and loosen stuff and pretend I know what I am doing.

It was Denny's grandfather's. Grandpa used it in the family mill to make parts for the machines. Mill went defunct and Flather was sold to a nearby machine shop that put him to work. Sometime later he gets replaced by a newer machine and and stuffed into a corner, and finally he is moved outside to live under a tarp. Denny didn't like grandpa's lathe living like that - no respect, and he bought it back. Cost him $600, and that's exactly what he wants for it. He'll load if for free.

Looks fine to me, but there is a downside - isn't there always? I have to take this huge - about 5' tall x 5' long x 3' wide, American Tool Works shaper that was also grandpa's. Same money - both for $600. I am a little dubious. The shaper is obviously one heavy mama. Stephen Thomas showed me what one will do when I visited him, so I have a small clue - but how useful is this behemoth? Denny hauls me over to his shaper and turns it on. He says the one he is selling me will do more than his newer one. It will do things you can't do on a milling machine, he adds. Grandpa used it exclusively to make feed rollers for the moulding machines. Ah, that rings a note in my head. Denny swears that the thing works like a clock. It is also flat belt and babbitt and came off the same line shaft as Flather.

I write him a check. Tomorrow I will call him and arrange for a time for me to arrive on Saturday with Rimjob in tow.

Did I mention that I am excruciatingly jazzed, tweaked, hopped-up and excited? I wait to see what Bob V. will say. I have asked him about a couple of other lathes and he steered me away from them. Did I do good? Hope so.

Looked on Google and there is a lot of Flather stuff, but no pic of this lathe. It was a local company, Nashua, N.H. and Flather seems to have made a few patents.

Will post pics soon. don e.

And here is the unknown quantity - quality, too. I never dreamed of owning a shaper and have only the vaguest idea what they do - move lots of metal with savage force at a single stroke - sorta like superman.

The machinist selling me grandpa's old machines assures me they both work fine. They look used. Other than that and being very dirty I don't see any obvious problems. Both machines need motors. Machinery handbook says I can run the lathe nicely on 2 h.p.; the planer looks like it might need 5 - or more. I will certainly power Flather up before the planer; the planer needs some deep study before it gets electrified.

Flather I have halfway figured out and the rest should not be difficult. Just need to build a high stand to mount the motor on, and pull a fair amount of stuff apart to check gears and see that there is oil everywhere. Lots and lots of little oil ports all over the place..

If I start by tearing Flather down for the repaint, etc., I know it will be one long while before I have him running. Current plans are to go in just deep enough to be satisfied that all will run, clean him up the best I can, and put the motor to the plug. I want to use him regardless of how he looks. The pragmatic moment has arrived. Might open the babbitts for a peek, but I ain't chopping nothing out that don't need chopping.

Started pullling Flather off Rimjob-the-trailer and tipped Chuckles Kubota up on two wheels. I had figured him at 1500# - not. Backed off and called the wrecker and a couple hours and a hunnert bucks later both were inside. I know I did the right thing.

Inside needs qualifying. What is left around here for shop space? Well, the little 12x16' tractor shed is perfect for a small metal working shop. That is where they now sit. Neither machine is where i want it in the shed, but I will worry about how to get the elephant in there to move them around later. The shed really is perfect. I saw from Denny's shop how little space you need for a machine shop compared to a woodorking shop and took the cue. So, that is it for the moment. Glad you are all participating.