New Member/ Turner

[steve morris6]

ive been a lurker for a while and a turner for several years, so I thought it was time to join.

being from Canada, and that I also rebuild old machinery, my lathes have been older Canadian made units

I started with an old henry power tools(craftmaster) owned by my fil, pretty junky little lathe with a hinged motor and vice grip on the tailstock, no morse tapers etc etc

then I graduated to a beaver 3400, probably Canada's most popular lathe at one time. By the time I finished rebuilding 3 into one, I had the ultimate 3400; 8 speed with reverse(electrical). the 8 speed was built using a 2 speed jackshaft and the original 4 speed. I found spindles with morse tapers from different ages of the 3400

I just recently located another model from craftmaster, some call it the boat tail model and im still working on a multiple speed jackshaft for it

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the two henry's

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the big henry and one of my beavers

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the beaver 3400 I used for several years

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im still working on the now twelve speed belt drive, the problem is that the henry's 4 speed is a very close ratio.
the two electrical boxes contain the on/off and forward/reverse switches

[Bill White]

Welcome to the forum.
Betcha won't ever wear out those lathes. Great collection.
Looking forward to seeing your work.
Bill

[steve morris6]

thx bill, the beaver is a nice machine especially by the time I finished building it. the 4 four speed was very limiting so I added the jackshaft with Rockwell hangers and made the motor reversible. but the 7/8 headstock with mt2 and mt1 in the tailstock were also limiting, the 3/4" outboard thread was almost useless

then the bigger craftmaster turned up(its quite rare) I jumped on it. it has more common standard 1" thread inboard and outboard and mt2 in head and tailstocks

it is a project in progress at this point, gotta get the speed control perfected, I could go with a vfd and 3 phase but I prefer stuff I can fix!!

[charlie knighton]

looks like you have enough to start giving classes.....how much space do you have in shop/garage?......enjoy taking things outside while you can....welcome and enjoy

[steve morris6]

classes nah!!!!

im a pro carpenter/cabinet maker/trim guy who'se hobbies are woodworking, turning and reviving old machinery

in addition to the beaver/craftmaster eyecandy, I have ashop full of 1940's and 50's machinery, mostly Canadian made beaver and craftmaster, plus some delta, Rockwell and parks

many people l,ook down on the Canadian stuff after ww2, but craftmaster(henry tools) built and supplied millions of bench vices to the allied forces and the callander foundcry aka beaver power tools, supplied tank replacement parts

so after the war, they had nothing to do, so they both created power woodworking tools, I have some beautiful examples of those creations, both beaver and craftmaster from tablesaws to scrollsaws

if here's any interest i'll post pic of the rest of the beaver herd, from 8 inch tablesaws to serious drill presses and a few other manufacturers too but all from the 40's and 50's