Cataract Bench Lathe Serial #5093
By James R. Instone
The following pictures and descriptions are how I cleaned up an old Cataract Bench Lathe and got it to working again.
I was missing a dead center for the tailstock. I tried all the familiar styles such as a #1 Morse taper which did not fit. After looking in Machinery’s Handbook at all the other tapers to no avail, I decided to make my own taper. I plugged the taper with a piece of dowel and melted hot glue into the taper. After ejecting the hot glue plug, I measured it to see what kind of taper it was. It wasn’t perfect, but it gave me a place to start. I made several minute changes before I finally got the taper to fit. The tail stock has an internal taper of .033” per inch. I turned the first one out of brass because it is easy turning. After I got the taper figured out, I then turned one out of steel to hold a 3/8” drill chuck with a 3/8-24 thread.
I needed a dead center because there was not a dead center with the machine. Rather than cut another taper, I decided to make the dead center fit on the outside of the tail stock ram. The ram measured 7/8” in diameter. I used a ball bearing so that the dead center piece would not need to be hardened. The fit on the ram is very snug, so I made it long enough that backing the ram out will dislodge the dead center attachment.
The lantern-style tool post was missing. I decided to make my own tool post. I used a 2” square piece of steel. I cut grooves large enough to hold up to ½” tools around all four sides. I decided to cut the grooves large enough to hold my scissor-type knurling tool. The scissor-type knurling tool is a lot easier on the lathe than a regular knurling tool. In order to use smaller tools (3/8” and 7/16” tools) one must use shims under the tool to bring it to center. The distance from the cross slide to center is 3” and I measure with a digital caliper to figure out the shim needed.
The headstock was hard to turn when I first got the lathe. There was a lot of surface rust on the lathe, but was mostly from condensation, not from being wet. I disassembled the head stock and found that the wicking in one of the tapered sleeve bearings had disintegrated and was binding the shaft. After cleaning and replacing the wicking, the headstock turns fine.
The lathe came with a four-jaw independent chuck. I made an adapter plate to convert from the bolt pattern and recess to fit a new three-jaw universal chuck. I made the first side on my other lathe and used the Cataract Lathe to cut the final side for accuracy. The three-jaw chuck is easy to remove and re-mount the 4-jaw chuck.
The lathe spindle is hollow and will pass ¾” stock through. The spindle nose is ground to use 4-C collets. The rosewood handle on the left side of the headstock is used to tighten the collet.
The power to run this lathe was missing. I used a ½ h.p. 1725 RPM capacitor start motor for power. In order to slow the speed down, I made a jack-shaft to get the speeds I wanted to run the lathe. On the first pulley, it is running at 250 RPM, on the second, 350 RPM, and on the third, 575 RPM. The pulley on the jack-shaft to drive the flat belt is homemade. I parted a 3” v-belt pulley apart and inserted a hockey puck between the sides. The hockey puck is turned down to 2.75” in diameter. The motor mount and the jack-shaft mount slides along to align to each pulley. The motor mount tilts backward to apply pressure on the belt. A very simple and efficient source of power for this small lathe.
I painted the motor and the lathe with Cobalt Blue Metallic Rustoleum. The motor mount and shield is painted flat black. The whole assembly is mounted on a sheet of ½” aluminum with wood slides so it can be moved on the bench when not using it for cutting metal.
This lathe is being used to make parts to construct a working model of a crane. Most of the parts for the crane are made of aluminum, brass, and some steel.