AWGB Woodturning Forum
General Category => Tool tips & reviews => Topic started by: Les Symonds on May 24, 2019, 05:02:36 AM
-
One of my recent students has contacted me to voice his concerns about a lathe that he bought a few days ago. It's a Record Power DML 24x, three speed and painted blue, which I believe makes it a Mk1. I'm not familiar with this machine, so I'm hoping that somebody out there is, and can answer a few questions for me.
- What are the bed bars made of, solid or steel tube? What diameter/length are they?This lathe was supplied with a pair of metre long steel tubes.
- What fixings are used to lock the tool-rest into the banjo? This one has no more than a grub screw
- ....as above, but for locking the tailstock quill
- What fixing is used to lock the toolrest banjo in position on the bed bars? This one has nothing more than a hex-head nut and bolt
- ...as above, but for the tailstock
I've sent a message to Record Power in the hope that they will answer these questions as well, but might well have to wait a few days, so was hoping to get a quicker response here.
Thanks....Les
-
I think the newer ones have solid Bed bars Les as for the rest of it I am not sure.
I would guess he bought it of Ebay or a simular site and this is always the risk that there are problems with it.
New ones are not that expensive and worth the extra bit of money
Regards George
-
I think the newer ones have solid Bed bars Les as for the rest of it I am not sure.
I would guess he bought it of Ebay or a simular site and this is always the risk that there are problems with it.
New ones are not that expensive and worth the extra bit of money
Regards George
Thank you George....fortunately, he bought it off a neighbour, so we can sort this out for him, but I wanted to be sure of my facts before I told him what to complain about.
I felt that they should be solid bed bars because they were on my first lathe, which was a Coronet No1, and which predated the Record takeover of Coronet. I felt it very unlikely that a company like Record would swap from solid to tubular.
Les.
Incidentally, the previous owner sold the lathe because he was giving up turning as a hobby. He hadn't wanted a full length bed, so he'd swapped the bars for a pair of short wooden bars, about 15" long. They are so irregular in their shape that the centre points of shaft and tailstock are several millimetres out, both horizontally and vertically....no wonder he was giving up woodturning!
-
Hi Les,
My experience of these, of various vintages, are that the DML range used hollow chrome vanadium bed bars and the CL range used solid bars. This was reflected in the cost of the lathe.
The DML 24 should have bed bars that allow 24" between centres so the 1metre length sounds about right. Some length is 'wasted' under the head and tailstock.
Like most lathes the toolrest was locked in place with a Bristol handle but most of these wear out and the user replaces them with whatever is at hand. I use an electronics company who do a nylon handled, steel insert bristol handle for a very reasonable price (£4 for a male 6mm thread). Let me know if that's the size required and I would be happy to send one to you but would have to add a bit for postage.
Similarly with the tailstock quill but this had the front of the thread removed so it would run in the slot in the quill. This served two purposes - it prevented the quill rotating as you wound it in and it meant that the locking was on the bottom of the slot, not on the quill body, which would leave burrs and prevent it sliding in and out smoothly.
Finally, the banjo and tailstock on later models had a short threaded stub, with a short steel rod handle, that engaged with a bolt that descended from those sections, but I don't know when they were introduced. I know several turners who have just a nut and keep a convenient spanner for just that purpose.
It does sound like there are a few things that could be done to make the lathe a bit more user friendly but it still sounds like a good little lathe on which to get started.
One last thing to mention, and is a common poblem. The pulleys are held on the shaft with two grub screws, one on top of the other. The top one is a 'locking' one. If the pulley is slipping on the shaft, remember to remove the top grub screw so you can tighten the lower one. Apologies if you were aware of this but I thought I should mention it as I have 'helped' several turners with exactly this problem.
Hope that helps,
-
.....Apologies if you were aware of this.....
Many thanks Paul, that sounds to be quite comprehensive. The bed bars supplied are just basic cold-rolled mild steel with continuous welds along them, so it does sound as though they might be a later "swap".
Cheers....Les
-
Hi Les,
I have the Record Power No 1, which also has the Coronet Insignia cast in the tailstock. The whole unit is blue and I'm guessing, that,
for the most part, the bars and bar supports are the same as your student's. The bars are solid and weigh a ton. I believe, when new,
there was an option to buy the three foot bars or a longer set, four feet I think, but the memory is hazy on that.
Hope that helps , best wishes - Jim
-
Hi Les,
I have the Record Power No 1, which also has the Coronet Insignia cast in the tailstock. The whole unit is blue and I'm guessing, that,
for the most part, the bars and bar supports are the same as your student's. The bars are solid and weigh a ton. I believe, when new,
there was an option to buy the three foot bars or a longer set, four feet I think, but the memory is hazy on that.
Hope that helps , best wishes - Jim
Many thanks Jim....between the 3 of us, I guess we have the three different models...I had the pre-Record Coronet 1 (with solid bars), you had the post-Record takeover RP No1, which then transformed into the DML24/36. The more I read, the more I think that the bars should have been solid.
Les
-
Hi Les,
I don't think there's any doubt that they should be solid. I can't see the lathe running on hollow bars,
it just does'nt feel right. The trouble is, if they are available at Record, I would imagine they would
cost an awful lot. How about hollow tubing filled with something heavy - sand, cement, mother-in-law,
maybe that might have a good chance
best wishes - Jim
-
Hi Les,
This is on sale on eBay......currently £75 finishing
tomorrow at 1900 and looks like it's sitting on solid bars !!
(search on).......'Record Power DML24 Lathe and Record RP3000 chuck'
could be an answer, actually the whole lathe looks OK. pick up
at Peterborough
best wishes - Jim
-
Hello Jim.....thanks for taking the trouble with this...unfortunately, that's a Mk 2 model and my student's is the original, Mk 1 model. The crucial point being, what developments did they make from the Mk1 to the Mk2....having said that, I tend to agree about the bed.....as Coronet was using solid bars before Record took them over, it seems highly unlikely that Record would have substituted hollow tube for the Mk1, then reverted to solid bars for the Mk2.
Les
-
The original Mk1 had grubscrew and a spanner fo moving the banjo and tool rest, I used one once, and only once!
Ron
-
The original Mk1 had grubscrew and a spanner fo moving the banjo and tool rest, I used one once, and only once!
Ron
...that appears to answer my original questions 2,3,4 and 5. Regretfully, Record still have not got back to me; I realise that it's been a weekend and a bank holiday Monday, but today will be the 3rd working day since I ailed them and got an automated response saying that they try to deal with enquiries within 24hrs.
Les
-
That is why I always recomend Axminster over Record Les.
Regard George
-
To be quite honest, George, I've had some shocking service from Axminster lately, including a partial-delivery order, which I pre-paid for, and which they just didn't bother to complete. Several weeks later I had to nag them to get the order completed, and then they invoiced me for the items, despite the pre-payment. I wrote and complained, and they cancelled the invoice, but at no time did I get an apology......it's not the Axminster that it used to be, in my mind!
Les
-
Sadly I think you are right Les they have expanded faster than they can cope I think.
Regards George
-
Must admkit I agree with Les. My little lathe developed a fault, they had it back pretty quick but it was returned worse tban it was sent. A pillar drill packed up once the guarantee was over. Maybe just dumb luck but they do seem to have gone downhill since opening all the new shops.
pete