It hasn't been a very busy week in the shop. Worked all week at the day job and did not really have the energy to spend extra hours working on the lathe, especially since I am on call and therefore don't really want to get too involved in something in case the phone rings. However we did do some work and here's what was done.

I carefully cleaned the change gear label and the sellers label. I managed to track down a company that is supposedly the successor to the original selling company. Unfortunately they did not have much info to pass on . I also found two brochures on EBay from the Hill Clarke company from 1917 however the seller said there was no adverts or talk about Hardinge Cataract Quick Change lathes.
After cleaning both plaques I gave them a light spray of Matt black paint and once dry I carefully sanded with 400 grit to expose the raised surfaces. Once the sanding was done I sprayed a coat of clear coat to protect the surfaces. Although they are not pristine they came out pretty good. The sellers plaque unfortunately was a little more worn down in the centre and therefore did not come out looking as good as it could of. Here is a couple of pictures of the plaques after clear coating.

 I've finished painting the gear door cover and later this week will reattach the plaques to the cover with brass screws for the change gear plaque and either brass screws or brass rivets for the plaque still not sure. The small screws I have seem a little too big for the sellers plaque but are just the right size for the change gear plaque.
I've also started painting the two small cabinets and their doors. I've decided that the insides of the cabinet will have an ivory colour to allow the insides to be a little lighter in colour. As well I also repainted the inside webs of the lathe body with the same colour. I'll have pictures of these two items next week when the cabinets are hopefully finished. Previously I was thinking of carefully filling in all the small holes and marks with Bondo however after trialing a small piece I've decided I'd rather have the antique look with all the marks that came with age and the original casting process. Also over the next week or two I will be painting the two legs and the tray. Here is a picture of one of the legs after it's second coat of paint. The actual colour is a charcoal grey hammer coat and is darker looking in person then the photo. Hopefully some time when the doors are open and I have a lot of natural light I can get a real good picture with a more realistic colour.

Well that's all the work on the lathe this week. In the coming week I hope to get up to Orillia Ontario to pick up a Van Norman #10 Milling machine. Once I get this in the shop I should be able to also work on getting the castings for my steady rest and tray supports machined down to the proper sizing. I look forward to playing around with the "new toy". I'll post some pictures up of course in the upcoming weeks of this machine and the work I'll do on it.
Now if only I could win the lottery and then I could spend all my time on my hobbies as opposed to going to work to make the money to spend on the hobbies.

Till next week

Harold