1920's Monarch laqthe

[Robert]

I've spent a healthy sum of money and many hours building 80/20 workstations for a prototype dept. group I was responsible for in my last job prior to retirement. Seeing some in use in this thread brought a smile.

Robert

[R.K. Maroon]

Thank you for the replies, gentlemen. Two of my fellow club members and I managed to get the lathe up on the stand on Saturday. I will get another photo once I get a little further along. In the meantime, I found some historical information on the Monarch Junior. For one thing, it was offered in bed lengths of 2-1/2, 3, 4 and 5 feet. Here is the little guy:



Kinda cute, but a bit hard to take seriously. Having said that, I'd bet it's as long as I would ever need. I think mine must be four feet, but I'll have to check.

On a related subject, I would like to learn how to do driver work, but I haven't before been very gung-ho about it. Now that I have a lathe with the aforementioned compound cross-slide, my interest has peaked up a bit. I know that Joe Foehrkolb recommends collets for this, so I am starting to research these. I have a set for my mill so I am familiar with the basics, but I need to know what to look for in collets for this lathe. The first thing (I think) will be to figure out the spindle size/ thread. Any help or recommendations would be welcome.

Jim

[bob turner]

Back then there was a lot of standardization. Look for a Morse taper in the spindle when you measure thread size. Report back on that. Collets also came in standard sizes - 3C is my size, but the 9" South Bend may be smaller. I can adapt back and forth - the length and collars on the drawbar are the variables.

Rather than measure, I bet you can find the instruction manual with sime computer searching.

https://monarchlathe.com/services/parts

[bob turner]

The Sheldon takes C-4; the smaller South Bend C-3.

[R.K. Maroon]

Thanks for that input, Bob. I noticed on one of the machinist forums that somebody claimed the Monarch Junior used a #4 Morse Taper, but I wasn't sure if that was built into the spindle or referred to a collet collar that would attached separately, like a chuck. I will inspect the spindle next chance I get.

And thanks for the link to Monarch. I tried finding a copy of the manual on-line and had no success. I will contact them and see if they have what I need.

Jim

[Roy]

Besides Junior, is there a manufacturer's model number, or other designation?

http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=2103&tab=3

[R.K. Maroon]

Roy, the only number I have found is a lot number, which is K1827. I have emailed Monarch and they responded that they will see if they can figure out what I have. We'll see.

As to the spindle, there is no internal taper. It appears to be an unmachined straight bore:



Also, I noticed that the Junior came with either 9" or 11" swing. I had guessed that mine was a 9", but it appears to be an 11". I will double check once the headstock is back in place.

Jim

[bob turner]

That is unusual. Almost all headstocks and tailstocks have taper on the inside. You sure? You have good internal calipers?

[ScaleCraft]

Find a wood dowel and see if it binds up halfway down.

Looks like much bigger Monarchs, but data nonetheless:

http://manuals.chudov.com/Monarch/Monar ... Lathes.pdf

[ScaleCraft]

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/a ... ed-200632/

Juniors became Sheldon? The lathe mentioned in this link is K-1042, he claims Monarch told him the K prefix indicates pre-1928.

[R.K. Maroon]

Hmm...well, I thought I was sure about the "no taper", but I was snooping around the vintage machinery forums and somebody was discussing how some lathes had very shallow "self locking" tapers, which meant you had to tap out the collet to get it to release (or at least that is how I understood it). So I double checked using a set of socket wrenches on an extension to probe the bore diameter. Sure enough one size socket went in maybe a half an inch before jamming and the next size smaller went in over an inch.

More reading is required. Glad I don't have an immediate need for collets.

Dave, I heard back from Monarch and they told me the same thing (pre-1928). Alas, no manuals. As to Sheldon, I have been looking at thoses and many of the castings are the same, indicating a connection between the two companies or Sheldon "knocking off" the Monarch. The Monarch version seems to to be mostly pre-war while the Sheldon is mostly post-war, so I am guessing Monarch sold off the Junior line, which Sheldon improved and continued.

Jim

[ScaleCraft]

one of those links I posted references to a yahoo monarch group, where allegedly manuals reside. I did not look.