Help with a Boley Leiden 8mm WW lathe

[ScrewDropper]

I’ve acquired a 8mm Boley Leiden WW Lathe . I’ve been slowly working through cleaning it up and it seems to be in a decent state overall. The bed is true and free of dinks etc and, working with a T rest, I’ve made some good progress with it.  The questions I have are with regard to the tailstock and cross slide.  As you can see the tailstock has a runner with a micrometer and would be ideal for drilling a pivot but, apart from the male and female centres that came with it, I can’t find anything to fit. The taper is 5.6mm at the widest point (.22”). I’ve seen some tapered chucks and 8mm collet adapters, which would have been prefect and claimed to be Boley WW but they seem to be all at around 3.5mm (this is not exact but I didn’t register the actual size as they are clearly too small).  I’ve seen alternative tailstock (which are very expensive) with sliding runners but, again, no chuck or collet adapter and I could just end up in the same boat. Boley seem to still be making parts but they only seem to sell to commercial customers and seem completely disinterested in replying to emails regarding resellers. The cross (as you could see if the photo uploaded. I’ll try and remedy this) has no tool post and I am having trouble finding something to fit. The T slot is about 10mm+ wide. I can supply other dimensions if this would help. One additional thing about the tailstock is, as expected, if I remove the runner and locking grommets, I can insert a 8mm collet runner
 

So, in summary, I have a lathe that works nicely but I am stuck with the sourcing of accessories. Any help you could give me would be most welcome

[tomh207]

I see on Boley.de they have this tailstock and there is a chuck and chuck adapter for it. I think that they will only deal with business accounts unfortunately, I haven’t tried them personally but I have heard in our hobbyist world that most of the places like this in the EU are the same. It might be worth asking a material house like cousins UK or you local one if they can buy from Boley and resell to you. I would not be surprised if they asked for cash with order though.

 

Tom

[ScrewDropper]

 @tomh207 that’s a really good call. I have an account with CousinsUK. I could try them. I am pretty sure they only deal with the Bergeron lathes though

[tomh207]

I would think they would still maintain contact with a lot of manufacturers and do some one off sourcing for an existing customer if they can.

 

Tom

[praezis]

Confusing - but Boley.de is not at all the maker of lathes. They are wholesalers like Cousins.

Successor of Leinen is Prätecma (Praetecma), not far from Boley.de in Germany.

Frank

[ScrewDropper]

On 6/8/2024 at 2:45 PM, praezis said:

Confusing - but Boley.de is not at all the maker of lathes. They are wholesalers like Cousins.

Successor of Leinen is Prätecma (Praetecma), not far from Boley.de in Germany.

Frank

This is excellent, thank you.

[nickelsilver]

You have a WW style Leinen, which is a good thing! This is the larger width Webster Whitcomb type bed, they also made a model called Reform with the same shape but narrower. It's been my experience that tailstocks for these are completely standardized and one will fit any lathe and line up correctly with the head. This isn't necessarily the case for other makers. A collet holding tailstock is worth looking for, even at the prices they command. The one thing to check is that the locking lever is straight and black, like yours. Earlier Leinens had a slightly different bed dimension, a little larger in width I think?, but those tailstocks won't work. They can be identified by their locking lever, which is bulbous in the middle, and chromed.

 

The tapers in watchmaker lathe tailstocks are a bit all over the place; I haven't found a reliable source of the actual specs for different makers.

 

Do you have the shoe for the slide? This is what fits it to the bed; it slides into the recess in the bottom of the slide.

 

For tool posts, a quick-change is the most useful. Tripan makes an excellent one, at a Swiss price. There is a new maker of high quality watchmaker lathes in China, but they don't have a website- you have to contact them over Instagram. Their handle is watchmakerlathe there. A friend has one of their machines and it's very nice, and their tool post is also very nice and I think less than half the price of Tripan.

[tomh207]

@nickelsilver would that be the Micheal Cheung CZ50 lathe you are thinking of?

 

Tom

[nickelsilver]

17 minutes ago, tomh207 said:

@nickelsilver would that be the Micheal Cheung CZ50 lathe you are thinking of?

 

Tom

Yes! Couldn't think of his name. From what I understand he sells the tool posts to anyone, but not sure if he provides a nut for the slot in the slide. His slides have tapped holes that the post screws directly into. I imagine it would be hard to make a universal nut given all the different slides out there.

[tomh207]

2 hours ago, nickelsilver said:

Yes! Couldn't think of his name. From what I understand he sells the tool posts to anyone, but not sure if he provides a nut for the slot in the slide. His slides have tapped holes that the post screws directly into. I imagine it would be hard to make a universal nut given all the different slides out there.

Thanks @nickelsilver ,thankfully a square nut shouldn’t be too difficult to make.

 

Tom

[rjenkinsgb]

On 6/8/2024 at 1:37 PM, tomh207 said:

I see on Boley.de they have this tailstock and there is a chuck and chuck adapter for it. I think that they will only deal with business accounts unfortunately,

My company (JRW) now has a trade account with Boley.

The chuck adapter, on its own, looks like it would cost around £170 after taxes and shipping; ouch..

 

[ScrewDropper]

On 6/10/2024 at 10:12 AM, nickelsilver said:

You have a WW style Leinen, which is a good thing! This is the larger width Webster Whitcomb type bed, they also made a model called Reform with the same shape but narrower. It's been my experience that tailstocks for these are completely standardized and one will fit any lathe and line up correctly with the head. This isn't necessarily the case for other makers. A collet holding tailstock is worth looking for, even at the prices they command. The one thing to check is that the locking lever is straight and black, like yours. Earlier Leinens had a slightly different bed dimension, a little larger in width I think?, but those tailstocks won't work. They can be identified by their locking lever, which is bulbous in the middle, and chromed.

 

The tapers in watchmaker lathe tailstocks are a bit all over the place; I haven't found a reliable source of the actual specs for different makers.

 

Do you have the shoe for the slide? This is what fits it to the bed; it slides into the recess in the bottom of the slide.

 

For tool posts, a quick-change is the most useful. Tripan makes an excellent one, at a Swiss price. There is a new maker of high quality watchmaker lathes in China, but they don't have a website- you have to contact them over Instagram. Their handle is watchmakerlathe there. A friend has one of their machines and it's very nice, and their tool post is also very nice and I think less than half the price of Tripan.

 

[Jon]

It's always worth investing in a tailstock that takes collets. I've got several tailstocks based on these two designs. One with collets and one with runners.

The students last night were using them on a few WW bed Boley Leinen lathes to straighten pivots after removing the arbor and pinion from the wheel.

They held a brass taper pin in a collet in the tailstock to have a guide to straighten the pivot/arbor in line with, as you can see in the first photo.

The runout of the headstock is about 0.005 mm, which is pretty darn good for this old girl. I use airline oil to lubricate it, which is ISO 22. You can buy it from Amazon or many other places (Toolstation). Great for honing screwdrivers and tweezers as well. https://www.amazon.co.uk/SILVERHOOK-SHAL1-ISO-Airline-Liter/dp/B00H8OJ228/ref=asc_df_B00H8OJ228/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310737079185&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8446584936607870183&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045907&hvtargid=pla-565058627185&psc=1&mcid=c78243a34ad337cba6caab83f5da302c

 

[ScrewDropper]

On 6/11/2024 at 8:28 AM, rjenkinsgb said:

My company (JRW) now has a trade account with Boley.

The chuck adapter, on its own, looks like it would cost around £170 after taxes and shipping; ouch..

 

@rjenkinsgb Not sure if you get in trouble for for directly advertising but I would be happy for you to either DM me or we can work out another way of contacting you to get parts

@Jon the problem I am having is finding anything like you mention to fit my lathe. I've been scouring eBay, which is the only place I can find that has anything that I can actually buy. I've contacted foley.de and been ignored, Prätecma GmbH, who were very friendly but only deal with specialist companies and don't sell to the UK anyway and the pointed me to a reseller, Rudolf Flume Technik GmbH who politely but firmly told me to Foxtrot Oscar (for similar reasons to Prätecma) 

 

On 6/10/2024 at 10:12 AM, nickelsilver said:

The tapers in watchmaker lathe tailstocks are a bit all over the place; I haven't found a reliable source of the actual specs for different makers.

Yes, I've noticed this. The taper on the end of my tailstock is really weird, with a max  diameter of about 5.4mm min of about 5.2mm. I have a couple of centres, convex and concave, whose tapers are from 5.6mm to 5.2mm. I cannot find anything matching that taper anywhere. I have even been considering making my own sleeve adapter but, you know, you need to drill holes for that

Do you have the shoe for the slide? This is what fits it to the bed; it slides into the recess in the bottom of the slide.

Yes, I have a shoe for the tailstock and the clamping arm Is the thin, black one

For tool posts, a quick-change is the most useful. Tripan makes an excellent one, at a Swiss price. There is a new maker of high quality watchmaker lathes in China, but they don't have a website- you have to contact them over Instagram. Their handle is watchmakerlathe there. A friend has one of their machines and it's very nice, and their tool post is also very nice and I think less than half the price of Tripan.

Thanks for the reply. I have made some comments inline with your post. 

I have been looking at these quick change posts but the concern is the shoe. The T slot in the cross-slide is only 10mm+ wide where the shoe slides in. I bought a lantern on the off-chance, which has a shoe that is too wide by a millimetre or so (it's also a bit crappy(It is a Chinese knock off) so I am worried about that and not many sellers show the shoe size. I guess I could turn one (need to add a decent tap and die set to my shopping list) 

[Jon]

2 hours ago, ScrewDropper said:

I have been looking at these quick change posts but the concern is the shoe

I contacted an eBay seller selling the quick change posts for about £100 as advertised for watchmakers lathes and the 'T' foot is 12 mm and it was too thick as well so like you couldn't fit my cross-slide, unless you start hacking it down, which I really didn't want to do.

 

On 6/11/2024 at 8:28 AM, rjenkinsgb said:

My company (JRW) now has a trade account with Boley.

That's handy! I thought they only sell to suppliers etc, rather than trade. What does your company do, JRW?

 

On 6/10/2024 at 11:22 AM, tomh207 said:

would that be the Micheal Cheung CZ50 lathe you are thinking of?

I'm saving up to buy one of Michael's lathes. I was thinking of a Schaublin 70 for about £5000, but that is going to be shot and will need some work on the headstock first, I should imagine and Michaels's CZ50 is in the same ball park price, so hey. 

On 6/10/2024 at 10:12 AM, nickelsilver said:

For tool posts, a quick-change is the most useful. Tripan makes an excellent one, at a Swiss price.

Yeah, they certainly are at Swiss prices, but everyone that uses them doesn't complain, as they are that good

[rjenkinsgb]

12 minutes ago, Jon said:

That's handy! I thought they only sell to suppliers etc, rather than trade. What does your company do, JRW?

Industrial electronics, programming  and machine tool repairs, primarily - but we have customers that work in such as miniature precision instrumentation & gearboxes etc. (as well as very large scale), so it is a legitimate resale situation if any of those need such tooling. 

The watch tool side is also of curiosity as well, though out of my personal budget! 

(I'm not giving the full company name etc. as this not intended to advertise anything).

 

[RichardHarris123]

I don't think any forum rules have been broken yet and I really do think that @rjenkinsgbintentions are good but if you need to discuss buying from a member, please do it by PM. Having someone on here who can access tools that others can't is a bonus.  You could PM Mark and explain the situation, he might give you permission or add you to the resource section. 

[ScrewDropper]

On 6/12/2024 at 7:53 PM, RichardHarris123 said:

I don't think any forum rules have been broken yet and I really do think that @rjenkinsgbintentions are good but if you need to discuss buying from a member, please do it by PM. Having someone on here who can access tools that others can't is a bonus.  You could PM Mark and explain the situation, he might give you permission or add you to the resource section. 

Oh, I’m sure his intentions are good. I just didn’t want him to get in trouble for trying to be helpful. 

[RichardHarris123]

I'm convinced his intentions are good, but needs Mark's permission to advertise his company.