My very old lathe: Bolet 4L screwcutting

[ariz]

hello!
on request of Rake60 in another topic, I started this thread about my lathe

it can be seen here http://www.cauzzi.it/boley/index.htm
and also here http://www.lathes.co.uk/boley/page3.html, because the pics on the Griffiths site are those of my own lathe

it was made probably in the 1930 - 1940 decade in Germany, and sold in Italy
I bought it a couple of years ago in Torino, the city of the FIAT factory of cars
it was of an engineer who died, so his family sold it on ebay and I bought it

the eight of center is 120 mm, the distance from center about 500 mm
it is still very precise, nevertheless some wear on the slides is present (in those times they weren't hardened)
but the robust structure obviate this problem and the great tapered screw for registering the compound makes it absolutely rigid

once again, sorry for my poor english language
that's all

 

[crankshafter]

Hello ariz
Nice lathe Nize english ;D
CS

 

[rake60]

Great Lathe!
It looks to be a Model L.E. (4L)
It's condition is amazing!
Did you restore it?

Rick

 

[bentprop]

That's a beautiful machine,Ariz.I especially like the drive underneath.Doesn't take up much space.
Don't worry about your english,it's a lot better than my Italian ;D

 

[ariz]

Great Lathe!
It looks to be a Model L.E. (4L)
It's condition is amazing!
Did you restore it?

Rick

well, I have only carefully cleaned it, regulated, lubricated and finally painted
and changed the 2 belts too

the bronze bearings that take the spindle were in good condition, probably they had been changed in the past
the pulleys on the bottom instead run in ball-bearings, and they were ok too

the lathe is equipped with a lever to command a 2 speed electric motor, but I have only single speed motors
I tried the 1400 and the 2800 rpm motors, and finally went with the 2800 rpm motor

 

[bmp]

Hi, I know this is an old post, but I am looking for information specific to this subject. I have been restoring and using a lathe made in Japan that is a dead ringer for this Boley L.E. 4L. The tag is in Japanese characters . It says lot1, article 1, 1942. On the casting the embossed logo is MK circumscribed by an almost complete circle which could be the letter c and all of this is enclosed inside an embossment of a gear. I'd send pics but they are on my dead laptop. The big question I'm trying to answer at the moment, is what type of collets does the headstock take. I know back then that Germany and Japan were partnering in a lot of mfg so maybe that's the same collet type.
The measurements of the inside of the spindle are as follows. 1.045"I.D at the mouth . The taper trigs out to be 15.66 deg ( strange but very repeatable ). Then follows the taper for a lathe center. I didn't measure that angle supposing the collet to be a straight shaft by then. The straight cylindrical section is .830" I.D ( roughly 21mm). which then recesses to .705" dia.(17.9mm) for the rest of the spindle hole. The length from the opening to the recess is 2.612" (66.3448mm)so from your picture the callet would be a little longer than that.
I'll try to get some more pics soon if needed. I'd like to find out who made it sometime anyway.
Thanks for your help.

 

[RMO]

bmp,

If you need help on the Japanese characters, send me a photo and I can translate them for you if you don't already have that done. Wasn't sure from your post.

Mike