Monarch Model 612 28” Monarch Lathe Update: She’s Alive! 

The 612 and 614 are the perfect lathes in my opinion. The absolute peak.

A little old lady owned the machine..only turned Aluminum on Sundays. Ignore the sawdust in the gearbox!!!

That look after you sparked up the Lathe was priceless...

Good going Niels ! That's awesome that the Monarch is rocking and rolling now

That smile of yours is sure very large this day..........great having helpful viewers.

Isn’t it great that there are wonderful people in this world like Niels, who are willing to freely share their skills and talents with others.

I have watched Keith since the beginning. When he got the lathe, it looked like a dead elephant. Some troll stated "you bought trash, that will never run". I had faith because its a rare machine that Keith , with his gentle southern patience and vast knowledge cannot fix. And here we are.

This is so great that you are doing what you love Keith, as they say love what you do and not work a day in your life. I just hope one day I can find a great lathe like you did fella. I hope this year I will be able to stop over and say hello Keith.Good day and hope you had a Happy Easter too. Peace vf

I ran one like that for years great lathe.

Thank you for rescuing this lathe from going to the scrapper !

Thanks for sharing Keith 👍🇦🇺

I know your excited about this one Keith!! Congrats...

Your excitement is contagious!

That is a beautiful machine, always liked the Monarchs!

I absolutely love the shape of that machine! And the color is perfect!

Well done Nils, great bit of assistance provided there.

Hi Keith that is super good news.

A wonderful part of the community here! So happy to see this machine running!

Hi Keith been here a while like many. That is a nice Monarch. What a nice viewer to come by and help you and the machine even sounds great. Nice tail stock if it was not for you they would today be gone, way to go Keith. Thank you for the share, Lance & Patrick.

Nice going Keith, good to see it running! Very generous of the viewer to step up and help like that.

What a beautiful machine, sound like it runs nice, lots of great features.

You have all the BEST toys!! It always puts a big smile on my face to watch one of your video, to have such great machines to play (work) with, it must be fun!!

Keith that is some exciting news. I look forward to see you making chips soon.

It's easy when you know how, and it looks like you're learning how. Very nice lathe! Can't wait to see some big turning on that beauty.

Excellent that the beast lives and wasn't a total nightmare to get it that way. When you sell the LeBlond you'll be an all-Monarch shop.

The look on your face when the lathe started was priceless.

Wow! What a beautiful monster of a lathe!

Coming right along !👍

"Hopefully this isn't going to turn into too big of a project" I look forward to the next video series :)

Looks good Niels

looking good Keith. Nice to have good friends.

Anything that is designed to specifically prevent or specifically allow operation of a device dependent on the state of another device or environmental condition is called an "interlock". An Interlock can be something as simple as a switch on a door that prevents machine or circuit operation while the door is open up to a complex series of multiple machine conditions, temperature, humidity, light conditions, time, vibration, etc. that only allows a device to operate under a set of narrowly defined environmental parameters. Tracing interlock circuits on old equipment, especially equipment that has been damaged, modified, or altered can be a royal pain in the ass.

Good job mister

Yay! That's great! Thanks.

Had a similar electrical problem with my 12" Chinese lathe. I think lightning got the electric panel and literally SMOKED IT. LUCKY IT DIDN'T BURN MY SHOP DOWN. I was totally lost. A dozen switches and a hundred wiring connections just blew me away. I scrapped out the entire control system and replaced it with a $20 rotary switch and a $15 emergency disconnect switch. Now it's wired just like a 1950 model lathe or mill. The best part is, now I understand it.

I continue to be impressed by the kindness and generosity of your viewers. Glad you got rid of those gremlins. A little corrosion will slow you down. Standing next to the tailstock gives a sense of scale. Look forward to chips flying. Thanks for sharing.

Nice work Mr Rucker

Congratulations :-) I was good to get a project running

Hey Keith - Were you this happy and excited when your kids were born ?!!!!! So glad that you got the Monarch running. I have been waiting to to see the Monarch run, from the it arrived in the shop.

You have to be lucky sometimes, getting a tailstock and steady must have been nearly as exciting as the electricals fixed. Looking forward to seeing future progress.

I want a lathe that size!!

cool machine

I'm betting that Keith gets another few steps into that Monarch and before you know it he is scraping ways and making slight corrections until it runs better than it did the day it came off the factory floor.

I believe rapids on that series of Monarch are hydraulic driven so likely your oil issue is effecting them as well.

Great Video, Keith

Nice simple fix, good deal.

There is a corn farmer up north of you that also works on chip pans on big Monarch lathes, he recently repaired one that had been destroyed by a forklift, he is probably not very busy right now, I think the ground is still frozen up there. Have a nice week.

The eternal optimist "It won't take much".

That is an awsome lathe

now you can do big work!!! nice.

Good Morning! :)

That's a really nice lathe. I don't think I've ever seen that model before.

Some Monarch's have Hydraulic Spindle bearings, keeps constant pressure on bearings as they heat up and cool down.

When you get it running you need to make some DEEP cuts and make Abom jealous.

Hey! It’s got a tailstock! I must have missed that episode!

Monarch still has a parts and warrant division here in cortland ny. My father worked for monarch from 1972 to the day the closed the cortland plant. You can do a little research and find their contact info .my dad stopped by and was visiting old co workers they still have all the specs to make parts

Impressive 1500 rpm for a large machine of that, or any age. Check your lubrication before running it in anger. Thanks for sharing and best regards from the UK.

I say we make Niels an honorary southerner! Awesome! And, War Eagle!

What a monster

Great video Cant wait to you get your gantry crane built so you can use that wench trolley I gave you

That's awesome! It's good to have friends with special powers! LOL

that thing's a beast. =O

You should have named the lathe Gordon, so you could announce, in a booming voice, "GORDON'S ALIVE!" 😀

Ah yes. The clasical. "Its operational" failure. Happened to me a few times as well

"Old mechanical time clock" - Believe it or not, that is exactly what is still made and commonly used for defrost timers on commercial refrigeration like walk-in coolers at restaurants.

Now your equipped for those “odd jobs” like someone needs a replacement barrel for their WWII era battle tank. As they say, let the chips fall where they may (they’ll stack up fast with this bad boy). 😎👍👏

2:02 - Every old car 'was running when I put it in the garage'. No, it wasn't. 8:57 - The old Jet 10-24 had a back-gear which got me close to what you're seeing. The new Grizzly runs a reamer at speeds that don't make me happy. Cam-lock chuck?

Check out Brian Block working (heating and beating) on his monarch chip pan.

They have bigger ones surplus in decommissioned navy shipyards. How about a 36" next time? Add a 50 ton gantry crane? You could make some cool clock parts with that set up, maybe? "It's not just a job, it's a passion."

Hopefully someone contacts you & tells you that they have a tracing attachment designed for your lathe

you are very welcome Keith! Thanx again for having me out for happy fun shop times, that was a good one, lots of strange stuff and odd readings. I look forward to next time, maybe by then I'll have one of these to play with; ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-scZaJUEffY4.html those old controls are usually very durable and can be refurbished without special tools so they normally last a long time so I knew there would not be big problems.

Keith: I think you will find that the rapid drive is a hydraulic motor run from that tank and pump. The oil pump in the carriage also runs off of that drive shaft so it is necessary. Monarch lathes with power rapid traverse did not have a hand knob on the carriage feed wheel, lots of folks added one but there is no counter balance weight on the wheel. Also if you do add one DO NOT use your left hand to move the carriage! It will smack your wrist, been there bought that t-shirt. Those lathes are a BEAST they love to remove metal.

Don't do that!. You don't need at all to have morse tapered tailstock once you have a really good tool post with morse. Carriage will allow you to power drill easier on these bigger machines, and with really big drills.

I do have some 220 volt and 3 phase contact relays if you have a need for them

I'd have to check the parts diagram but I'm pretty sure that the apron oil pump runs off the same shaft as the rapids, so no rapid feed also means no oil to the saddle and apron. Might want to prioritize that repair

That Monarch spindle speed control looks similar to what is on a LeBlond Servo Shift. I tend to avoid any lathe with hydraulic speed control valves, they can be a nightmare to troubleshoot, I prefer direct geared head lathes.

Looks great, Keith! Does the compound connect directly to the cross slide or is that what you have to modify because of removing the tracing attachment? Also, have you been able to come up with anything about the base of the tailstock to get you more contact?

What are the odds of an electrician with motor controls as a specialty dropping in. Great! And do you really need a drill chuck on the tail stock? why not mount a morse taper attachment on the carriage?

That panel box has more wiring than a house panel.

Although it certainly wouldn't be an original look, it might work well to have the chip pan sprayed with a truck bedliner material.

This seems to be your last video on this 28" Monrach. I don't think I've ever seen you using this lathe. Did I miss something? Perhaps you decided to get rid of it?

Would these monarch repairs be the subject for a weekend project?

that thing is LOUD!!!

Kieth did you have fun in the old machine shop? How many tools followed you home? I see your handwheel is a little broken.

At the 7:50 mark, when you started it up at 1500 RPM, it should have gotten up to speed better than that. Have you adjusted the clutch yet?

Good work Neils. Does anyone know what the meter above the controls is for ?

Odds & ends 61: tracer attachment

It sounded strange when it was running, or am I wrong?

I guess, Niels will not visit you again, lol. Maybe he is in his backyard, burning all his maps from Georgia....

what size of motor on that lathe? what size is your rorto-phase? what size is your service 100 amp? to building

Who, had to puch down on my headset... you need som plugs operating that “beauty” ... 😳

Well now I have to know why the rapid traverses don't work.

why do monarchs have such small spindle bores

time to throw a small tractor up in there and make some chips. :)

Might just be Nils and not Niels. Nils is a common Swedish name, and many Swedes emigrated to Minnesota.

What year is she?

Thats an Abom size lathe.

Keith, that is a great lathe, did you see the article that was written on "super lathes" : www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/antique-machinery-and-history/heavy-duty-lathes-115875/ I believe this model falls into this category. I looked at a 610 that was in excellent shape but had to pass because I don't have a space for it. Don't modify the bearing tailstock, if you want the drilling capability use a power drilling attachment for the carriage the way DSG do it, much better and you will also have power feed and fast retract: picclick.co.uk/Dean-Smith-And-Grace-DSG-Power-Drilling-Attachment-113701121246.html#&gid=1&pid=1 I picked up one for $100, much cheaper and easier than modifying the tailstock. Looking forward to seeing some big blue chips!

Nice machine , does the replacement tail stock line up center on the head stock ? You have a 3 & 4 jaw chuck for the old girl ? LOVE to run that girl for a while. Question ? how long a bed ?

She's a stout machine. History of the Industrial Age tells us that the country with the best machine tools is the most productive and wealthy. Monarch USA tells that story well.