Information on old Nuttall Herbert lathe

[rlaxton]

Hi All,

Recently acquired this little beauty off ebay: Nuttall Herbert Lathe



Does anyone have any information on this unit? Everything works well and I am in the middle of cleaning up 10 years or more of surface rust but I would love to know when it was made and how to take it apart for when I do a big rejuvenation.

Thanks in advance.

Richard.

[morrisman]

Richard

I spotted that on EBAY ..you did well . A good deal for the money . Looks to be 1930's era .

Mike

[Ueee]

Richard,
Nice score, specially with all those chucks.
There is some info here Page Title on a geared head nuttal lathe that looks to have the same style apron and gearbox as yours. This thread https://www.woodworkforums.com/f65/he...e-info-118107/ shows a similar machine- maybe you could PM mistercartoon. Its a start anyway. Getting a manual could be pretty hard, you'll probably just have to "suck it and see"

Any pics would be very appreciated, we all like pics!

Ewan

[wbleeker]

read the lathe number and date of production off the RH end of the bed,back i think
Will

[4-6-4]

There is a bloke in England who would probably be able to help. I have bought a manual for an Asquith Radial drill and a Kearns horizontal borer from him. I will look up the address if you want. He would want a machine number and it is fairly expensive.
Yours 4-6-4

[Metalman]

Hello rlaxton.
There is a forum member here in the Blue Mountains who has a Nuttall Herbert that he has been restoring. He has posted about it a few times in the last 6 months, his forum name is 'swarfmaker'.
There was also a tailstock from a NH on ebay recently, it had fair amount of interest and went for about $150 if I remember correctly, so there must still be a few machines around.
Regards, Mm.

[.RC.]

You do not need a book on how to pull those lathes apart..... They are very simple...

[rlaxton]

read the lathe number and date of production off the RH end of the bed,back i think
Will

Hmmm, that's the thing, I have looked all over the bed and headstock and still can find no numbers or dates. Oh well, hopefully someone else with one of these can tell me exactly where I should be looking.

[rlaxton]

You do not need a book on how to pull those lathes apart..... They are very simple...

True, but there look to be a number of bolts missing from the lathe and it would help to know that this is not intentional. Perhaps I should just tear it down and figure it out myself. Then again, perhaps I should just use the lathe and be done with it.

As with most lathes it has had a hard life, although I suspect that the last 30 years or so have been a lot easier.

Richard.

[bollie7]

Richard
On the later Nuttals the build date was stamped into the bed at the tailstock end, on the little section of bed between the front V way and the front, flat way that the tail stock sits on. Usually quite small. Can't remember if the older machines like yours had the date or not.

The following is from a post I made to another thread about these lathes about 2 years ago.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f65/he...e-info-118107/

My brother has a lathe exactley the same as this one. Bought it at auction about 1977. It was missing the spindle and everything on it (spindle). We managed to buy a NOS pulley and the large gear for it. We bought a lump of round bar for the spindle which I was able to machine up after hours at work. I machined the OD for the pulley, bearing journals and drilled the hole down the guts. I was in 3rd year at TAFE and we were doing gear cutting. I machined the blank for the small gear and the teacher I had at the time used it as a class demo of the gear planner they had in the workshop. It just so happened that they had a cutter specifically for that gear. The TAFE had had those old nuttalls before they got the gear head nuttalls.
We then scraped the bearings in the headstock to the new spindle and I then finished turned the end and cut the thread for the chuck. It all turned out pretty well if you'll excuse the pun.
My brother still has the machine but he has hardly used it in all the time he's had it. I think we put about a 1 hp or 1.5 Hp single phase motor on it.
In the pic, to the left of the top cone pulley there is a rectangular box with a handle on the top. This is a two speed gearbox. So the machine does have a reasonable range of speeds available.

regards
Bollie7

[morrisman]

True, but there look to be a number of bolts missing from the lathe and it would help to know that this is not intentional. Perhaps I should just tear it down and figure it out myself. Then again, perhaps I should just use the lathe and be done with it.

As with most lathes it has had a hard life, although I suspect that the last 30 years or so have been a lot easier.

Richard.

Hi Richard

Like you, I've a soft spot for anything old . Something quaint about old lathes ... they tell a story .

If you are going to run it ,it might be good to inspect the spindle bearings first. Look for any wear grooves or pitting ? Does the spindle run in the cast iron?

Mike

[wbleeker]

Richard
I own no 404 28/9/1942 but it is not at my place, as far as I can remember the number is in the little flat groove next to the Vee of the bed at the right hand end, not sure is it is front or back though, maybe your groove is full of crap?
I have also seen the same lathe with only the Herbert brand on it also, I presume they were a wartime joint venture between Nuttal and Herbert.
Will

[rlaxton]

Ahah! Victory!

I finally found the poorly stamped serial and date of manufacture. Looks like the serial number is 250 and the date stamped is something like 8 20 41



Which is a bit odd considering it is either Australian or Brittish manufacture. Still, hard to argue with a 1941 build date. As you can see, the bed a bit rough.

Below is an image of the gearing setup for the shaft and leadscrew. You can see the very large double gear in the centre. The back gear has 127 teeth and the front has around 100 (I have not counted the front one). Only one gear is in use at a time and the gear can move up and down to engange the gears to the left and right. This is what leads me to believe that we are talking about metric and imperial cutting.



I think that I will take Mike's advice and check the spindle bearings before I go any further. Chances are there is little that I can do if the are rooted but at least I can look for any problems.

[rlaxton]

Richard
I own no 404 28/9/1942 but it is not at my place, as far as I can remember the number is in the little flat groove next to the Vee of the bed at the right hand end, not sure is it is front or back though, maybe your groove is full of crap?
I have also seen the same lathe with only the Herbert brand on it also, I presume they were a wartime joint venture between Nuttal and Herbert.
Will

So my lathe is like your lathe's older brother with 153 siblings between them )

[pipeclay]

Is that Stud gear the one you photoed earlier that looks more like a Sprocket than Gear.