thank you for taking such an interest in our older brothers' machines. with you, and men like you these treasures are one step closer to lasting forever. i wish you lived next door.
Man, that is one impressive machine. Such ingenuity. Thanks for saving it! Looking forward to more applications of it. Canthook handles, splitting maul handles, wagon wheel spoke repair, staircase railing spindle reproduction, Queen Anne or Queen Victoria chair or table leg reproduction... The possibilities are endless!
The blades will probably be designed to not catch &/or tear out the grain when driven in one direction as opposed to the other. As for the drive spikes slipping, sharp blades with the right relief angles will mitigate this. I admire your love for these old machines. I’m of a similar mold myself. My father taught us the appreciation for arcane technology and it stuck in my younger brother and I. Enjoy your “new” toy!
Always wondered about copy lathe's and how barley twist spindles were made so was super interested having this video pop up, got to the bit when you said it needs stuff doing and was then disappointed thinking have to wait for more episodes and then suddenly it's working, excellent job mate and thanks for sharing appreciated
Engle coach shop of jolliet Mt built one of these to duplicate axles and spokes for horse drawn equipment except his uses an angle grinder to really hog off the material at a good pace
Copy lathes were also used for making rifle stocks. Traditionally the prototype used for mass production was significantly larger than finished product to ensure they were rigid in a production environment.
These duplicating cutter machines are amazing. For many years the business next door to ours manufactured wooden aircraft propellers using this type machine. The master propeller templates were only half of a propeller. The machine would carve half of the propeller blank then the operator would reposition the blank end for end - reinstall it in the machine and run the master template again. This insured that both blades were carved to the exact same twist (or pitch). They usually made only a 1/4” depth of cut on each pass so it would take about an hour to produce one propeller. That are out of business now but a company here in Florida is still manufacturing wooden propellers for small aircraft and for airboats.
A shop I used to work in had a similar machine. The frame and carriage were of wood with some cast iron pieces, legs cast iron. The cutter was a very thick circular saw blade, about 8" diameter. A stack of them came with the machine, they did not leave as nice of a cut surface as yours. The cutter head was mounted in front, so as to be even scarier, the feed was by a drum and cable that winched the carriage through the cut. It was thought to be from the 1850's, there was no clue as to who had made it.
It’s a cool old lathe . Now there isn’t an excuse for having a bad handle in your axe . I hope we get to see this one hooked up in the line shaft shop . Thanks
I always like see such interesting machines and how they work. Looking at this I get the feeling that it could also duplicate rifle shocks as well. Still would have to channel them out but the outsides would be shaped... Thumbs Up!
Very very cool!! I have always wanted to find one of the old aluminum patterns some of the old lathes would use. Amazing machine! I hope to find one one day!
Very cool! You can remove that chain and take it to a Fastenall or other chain supplier (for size/pitch matching) and get what are called "half links" that allow you to take up slack of less than a full link; very inexpensive. You may not need to build a tensioner for that.
I have also heard these generically called tracer lathes also. you can make anything you can make a pattern for. hatchet and hammer handles. decorative railing pieces. we had one that someone made a more pointed tracer bar and cutters and used it for furniture pieces and also probably of more interest to you...They are excellent at making flat belt pulleys just make a pattern with the correct crown and you can easily duplicate it :)
Duplicating lathe… They had one at Silver Dollar City which was powered by steam. Used it to make baseball bats, rolling pins, and numerous other items. Unfortunately there was a fire a few years back and I don’t think they were able to save it but I’m not positive.
I'd probably look at making a pattern and running the blank through a bandsaw so the lathe doesn't work so hard. It should allow for one pass with a much smaller cut.
Flat left or right hewing axes have bent handles but they are green cut and tied to a heavy shingle of wood, then wedges are pounded where the crook needs to be below the head. It isn't much, just enough to not shred your knuckles flattening a log cabin wall or floor and cut flat comfortably.
Interesting, I didn't know there was such a machine.... Where do you getting 110 and 220 volts? That was long gone in ME 40 years ago, we no have 120 and 240 volts......
Got a sledge head in front of me now. Didn't like the price of handles so It is my riveting anvil now. Putting walnut scales on a little bucksaw blade patch knife with brass pins. I like the copier. Did anyone ever have two axis panel copiers before 1900?
