ELLIOTT OMNITOOL MT 48/4000 Lathe

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ARGENG
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2009 6:41 pm
Location: Melbourne Australia

Re: ELLIOTT OMNITOOL MT 48/4000 Lathe

Post by ARGENG »

Dave,
You were spot on with the lead screw, the brass pin is stuffed, it is quite small and measures the same as a piece of brazing rod. There is a screw in one side of the lead screw, not a bad idea as if it has sheared when you take the screw out a small piece falls out. I think you are correct regarding the bearing setup for the spindle, at the front it looks like there is a lot of thickness and 2 bearings as the older Cardiffs makes sense. There are balancing holes on the side of one of the gears on the spindle. The toothed belt driving the spindle is on the end of the shaft outside the head.
I have also found that there is another sight window near the well and pump on the front face of the head, pointing into the bed, the cog indicator has a line half way through it so maybe that is where the head needs to be filled to.
I have worked out the thread dial indicator, basically the unit is swung into contact with the lead screw and then locked in with the knurled knob. It was a bit stiff previously and so I could not feel it moving.
The more I investigate the more I am over the moon with this piece of Kit. I have a Yamaha Go Kart Crank which I need to re-build. I think if tolerances are up to spec on the lathe I should be able to true up the bearing surfaces and then shrink fit a hardened sleeve that will suit the standard crank case bearing size.
Unfortunately I only scored 1 tool holder, yes I know there were probably left in a box 2 moves ago and now in land fill, this really eats me up, luckily the reverse jaws for the 3 Jaw are present, along with the 4 jaw, fixed and traveling steady, I also have 2 sets of extra jaws for the Elliot 3 jaw chuck. I did pick up a virtually new German 4 jaw self centering chuck plus some appropriate tooling with inserts, I also have a spare Multifix B series Main QC unit. Also a smaller Dixon type QC tool post with 4 tool holders, I might put this on my Le Blond to sell. Cannot wait to have all the lube sorted out and then fire up at home. I need to get a mirror on an extension so I can see what the motor is rated at. Interestingly on the end of the motor there appears to be a clutch arrangement, spring loaded, when I ran the lathe on inspection at half speed, 2600 rpm it did seem to ramp up to full speed.
Regards
Bruce
Richard_W
Posts: 2031
Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2003 1:00 am
Location: Molalla, Oregon

Re: ELLIOTT OMNITOOL MT 48/4000 Lathe

Post by Richard_W »

Hopefuldave wrote:If it's anything like the earlier Cardiff lathes, the spindle runs in twin opposed precision taper rollers at the front and a parallel roller race at the rearDave H. (the other one)
That would be a 3 bearing spindle.
Hopefuldave
Posts: 148
Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2011 8:17 pm

Re: ELLIOTT OMNITOOL MT 48/4000 Lathe

Post by Hopefuldave »

Indeed it would be a three bearing spindle... Like the Cardiff lathes had!

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with a two-bearing spindle, as long as the spindle itself is properly stiff, the real problems come with Chinese thin-wall tube spindles running in low-spec' ball-races - a decent taper-roller at each end of a hefty spindle will do a good job, almost as good as a pair of decent conical plain bearings[1] ;)

If the designer went to the trouble of putting the spindle pulley(s) in their own bearings and driving through splines / keys[1], even better as the spindle will be isolated from motor and belt vibrations to a great extent - it makes a big difference to the surface finish.

Dave H. (the other one)

[1] Holbrook, for instance, went with this arrangement for the Model C lathes initially, but later production offered a choice of Timken precision taper rollers or for *really* close-tolerance work with diamond and ceramic tools (back in the 50's...) conical white-metal plain bearings. At high speeds and fine (sub-thou") feeds, the finish from the plain-bearing machines can look like chrome... They did fit a proper oil supply though, magnetically and particle filtered and the pump driven from the spindle belt pulley so it would deliver more oil flow per spindle revolution when in backgear and still supply the bearings when "out of gear" in free-spindle mode - part of the warm-up procedure!
Rules are for the obedience of fools, and the guidance of Wise Men - Douglas Bader
Griffin
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2021 5:30 pm

Re: ELLIOTT OMNITOOL MT 48/4000 Lathe

Post by Griffin »

Hi,

I have just purchased an Elliott MT 48/4000 and came across this on the forum and I'm looking to restore it so any help on manuals and advice would be greatly appreciated ,

Thanks
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