Help with unusual machine

[Doug2013]

I am recently retired and have inherited two machines from my father. Both have seen better days. Both machines were stored for about 25 years and have suffered as a result. One is a Mars lathe, a fairly old and heavy machine with a lot of problems, but I'm OK with that.

The other is what seems to me to be an unusual machine for home use. It is called a Unimac, and I know a little bit about it - but not enough. It was made by an Adelaide company called Precision Grinding Company in Croydon West. The inventor/designer was on the original Inventors show (ABC TV in the 70's or 80's)

This Unimac can be set up as a lathe (no leadscrew or power feed) or a borer or miller. One of the challenges is that everything seems adjustable, including the height of the headstock (300mm range) and tailstock (200mm range), the angle of the headstock. Equipment with it includes a very large aluminium faceplate (18"), another CI faceplate (10"), 4 way toolpost for 1/2" tools, and a weighty cross slide/saddle arrangement.

A conventional lathe would be more suited to a beginner like me, but I can't afford to spend on another machine. I have to 'make do' with what I have. I would like to get a 3 jaw chuck for this machine.

Googling 'unimac' shows how popular this word is - for washing machines and company names - but not one mention of my inherited machine. Has anyone out there heard of these machines, or have any parts or information about them? Perhaps they were known only in Adelaide?


Note: This is NOT a Unimat, but a Unimac.

Thanks for reading this post.

Doug http://cdn.homemodelenginemachinist.com/images/smilies/confused.gif

 

[Mbusha]

Are you sure it's not a Unimat? There's is a combo machine with a active yahoo group .

http://finance.dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/UNIMAT/?v=1&t=directory&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=dir&slk=1

Seems to be lots of info on this machine. Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[Doug2013]

Hi Mark,

Yes, there's plenty on Unimat, isn't there.
That machine is not made in Adelaide in the 70's and 80's - I heard somewhere that Unimat is made in Switzerland.

Anyway, the UNIMAC I have inherited WAS made in Adelaide and would weigh about 300kg - that would be about 4 or 5 Unimats put together, I reckon.

Thanks for trying to help.

Doug

 

[n4zou]

Can you post a picture of it? I worked for Southern Machinery and Supply in the mid 70's. He was a distributor for small and home shop equipment in the Southeast USA along with selling industrial quality machinery. I remember a truck arrived one day loaded with machines and accessories that may be the same machine you describe. I need a picture to confirm it. They sold fairly well to mostly hobbyists and gunsmiths. They were popular with gunsmiths because they could be setup to machine complicated parts without the jigs the factory used.

 

[Tin Falcon]

A little info on the mars Lathe.


http://www.lathes.co.uk/mars/

 

[Doug2013]

"Can you post a picture of it?" n4zou


I'll try. Note the 12" steel rule for scale. The original drive unit is missing (1/8 HP variable speed)

Doug

 

[rcfreak177]

Hi Doug,

Wow that is an unusual looking machine.

I have never seen one of those, Its almost like a mini horizontal borer. The range of different machining processes you could do on it would be huge. Looks to be in very good condition too.
You are a lucky man to have such a piece of equipment.

Cheers,
Baz.

 

[chipenter]

There's no reason not to , can you screw cut on the Mars if so I would make an adaptor to take the chucks from the Mars , that's a very interesting machine and I am certain it will keep the grey matter working .

 

[Mbusha]

Wow, what a cool piece of equipment. Solid. Well worth the effort to get it in operation. ...and you are right, certainly no Unimat Also, looks like lots of adjustments, should be able to tackle tasks that are difficult on standard machines. You have got a jewel.

Thanks for the pictures and post when you cut some metal.

 

[Tin Falcon]

An unusual combination machine indeed and certainly not a unimat.

use your lathe as a lathe and set that up as a mill and you should be fine for models. and if the need arises you can do large diameter light lathe work on that machine. Looks like you could turn a brake drum or rotor from a full sizes car or light truck if needed.

you will spend more setup time using that machine vs a stand mill or lathe but you have tremendous flexibility and control.You can literally dial out and inaccuracies due to wear. probably not much wear to worry about .

interesting machine thanks for sharing. put it to good use.
Tin

 

[Tin Falcon]

A conventional lathe would be more suited to a beginner like me, but I can't afford to spend on another machine. I have to 'make do' with what I have. I would like to get a 3 jaw chuck for this machine.

find yourself a Deal on a suitable height gage with a tenths test indicator that will help with setup .As far as a 3 jaw chuck that should not be a problem unless the spindle nose is an odd size. if it is an od size you will need to make a back plate on the mars.
hang in there folks her can help. just be patient with old machines and doo not force anything. if things do not move it could just be an axis lock that needs to be released. take your time that machine is a treasure learn to use it.
Tin

 

[n4zou]

"Can you post a picture of it?" n4zou


I'll try. Note the 12" steel rule for scale. The original drive unit is missing (1/8 HP variable speed)

Doug

My Boss (James Cooper) was the Southeast USA Distributor for that machine. He passed away several years ago. His Daughter ran the business for a few years but sold out closed it.

He sold hundreds of them to Gunsmiths and Hobbyists. I made threaded back-plates for customers that wanted to fit 3 and 4 jaw chucks to the threaded spindle. I can't remember what size thread it used but you can check that yourself. If it's a standard 1 1/2X8 thread you can order them from CDCO along with 3 and 4 jaw chucks. We suggested 4" 3 and 4 jaw chucks for this machine. We made our own back-plates back then which was less expensive than pre-threaded back-plates. When ordered with the machine I would make the back-plates and fit chucks to them so they would be ready to use by the customer. If ordered by a customer after he received his machine I would thread the back-plate so the customer could mount it on his machine and turn it on that machine to fit his chuck ensuring it was concentric with the spindle. Another item we sold as a accessory was a slotted 90 degree plate and vise for milling operations where the cutter is attached to the spindle and the angle plate and vice is mounted to the compound rest. This sets up the machine for milling parts the same way a vertical mill operates except it's horizontal. Placing the vice directly on the compound rest set's it up for horizontal milling operations. The spindle and tail-stock has standard Morse taper sockets but I can't remember if they were #2 or #3. You can measure them and figure that out yourself. You can then order a Drill chuck and a Boring-Head to fit the spindle and if I remember correctly it used the same Morse Taper in the Tail Stock as well. You should purchase a Live-Centre for the tail stock. CDCO has everything you need at very reasonable prices. I would purchase an AXA or BXA tool set to replace your current tool post just to make operation easier and faster. Why pay more for the BXA you ask? You can fit up to 5/8" diameter round or flat stock in the tool holder using it as a vice for milling operations and it's a lot more ridged than the AXA. Why not a CXA? You would run into problems mounting it to the compound rest.

I would love to own that machine! It can be setup to do so many operations it's well worth the effort and time to set it up. My Boss kept 2 of them in the shop for our use.

 

[goldstar31]

To all intents and purposes, this functions like a Murad Bormilathe.

The late Jack A Radford describes something very similar which he fitted to His Myford Super 7B and described it in Improvements and Accessories for Your Lathe - published by Tee.
He called his tooling as 'Elevating Heads'

 

[lennardhme]

Thats an absolute ripper Doug. Good luck with your playing.
Always knew Adelaide was the center of the universe.
Leonard

 

[Jimthewelder]

My two cents. I haven't seen a machine like that but would love to play around with it. What a find and I thought my old sooth bend lathe at work was fun.

 

[Doug2013]

Firstly, thanks to everyone for replying - so much interest! Great!

goldstar31: it does look as if the Murad Bormilathe was a source of inspiration for this machine - thanks for the reference!

n4zou: Some things I know about this machine:
Headstock spindle: 3MT
Headstock thread: 1 1/2" x 8 TPI (I think, but I can't fit a standard Hercus 1 1/2" x 8 TPI faceplate - it jams on the 1st thread)
Tailstock: 2MT
Max BC: 16"
Bed: 35 1/2" x 15 1/2" x 4 1/2"
Hstock column: 25 1/2" x 4 1/2" x 4 1/2"
Cross slide travel: 9 1/2"

Things I have:
CI faceplate 10"
Live centre on 2MT
4 milling arbors (3MT) for 3/8" (?) cutters, BUT no threaded collar to hold them securely in headstock spindle

My present point of view:
I can buy a 3 jaw chuck and use the 10" faceplate to fit it to the headstock spindle, BUT then I have no faceplate, and I still have no way to secure the 3MT milling arbors into the headstock. At present I have no way of producing these threaded items myself - even if I had a serviceable screw cutting lathe, I lack the skills to do it.

Is it realistic to ask a local machinist to copy the female thread of the 10" faceplate to make 1) Another faceplate, and 2) A short piece of pipe, threaded internally that I can turn into an arbor-retaining collar with a bit of follow-up welding and machining?

Once again, thank you everyone for your evident interest. I hope we all get some satisfaction from this!

Doug

 

[n4zou]

Headstock thread: 1 1/2" x 8 TPI (I think, but I can't fit a standard Hercus 1 1/2" x 8 TPI faceplate - it jams on the 1st thread)

It may be a bastard size or metric thread. That may have been why my old Boss had us thread blank back-plates for these machines. Some manufacturers did this in an effort to force the purchase of their bastardized parts. How hard is it to remove the spindle from the headstock? If it's relativity easy you can pull the spindle and take it to a local machinist and let him or her thread back-plates for it. That would save the cost of making a copy. It should be easy to remove as there are no gears for a lead screw, back gears, or feed drive shaft. If you don't want to pull the spindle you could take the entire headstock to the machinist.

4 milling arbors (3MT) for 3/8" (?) cutters, BUT no threaded collar to hold them securely in headstock spindle

A threaded collar is not required. Simply clean the socket and arbor so there is a clean fit. To instal an arbor or other cutters just use a forceful motion to 'snap' the arbor into the socket. You will need a shaft to knock the arbor loose from the spindle when you need to remove it. The thread on the spindle is only used for back plates.

Grizzly has blank back plates. I would call before ordering to make sure the hole is smaller than the threads that would be cut in it.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/6-Blank-Back-Plate/T10111

 

[Tin Falcon]

Is it realistic to ask a local machinist to copy the female thread of the 10" faceplate to make 1) Another faceplate, and 2) A short piece of pipe, threaded internally that I can turn into an arbor-retaining collar with a bit of follow-up welding and machining?

Probably not directly. It may be possible to make a casting of the thread from the face plate. IN my experience convention is to copy the sindle node in the form of a plug gauge. Take your time and make it as accurately ass humanly possible. then use that plug Gage to make what you need. you can use the existing face plate as a guide for measurements. The reason is it is relatively easy to measure an external thread. there are thread mics the three wire system etc.
internal threads measured with a accurate copy of that thread. internal thread compactors do exist bu you need one for each size and they are expensive.

This procedure is doable I have a spindle nose copy of my south bend and one of my 5" edestall that has orphan threads. IIRC I did this a couple times I put together an edestall lathe for a friend and sent the spindle gage with the lathe.

do you have a good thread pitch guage.

IIRC this was a problem with some of the early grizzly 9 x 19 machines the spindle nose was close to 1 1/2 8 but not quite.

I am on the wrong side of the globe to help. maybe someone in your neighborhood can help.
Tin