email: tony@lathes.co.uk
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B.S.W. Lathe

Discovered amongst the library of material once stored by the original Myford Engineering Company of Beeston, Nottinghamshire, this simple, singled-sided sales sheet for the "B.S.W." lathe must have been retained either as a reference for what the competition was offering during the late 1920s to late 1930s or, possibly, sold by Myford themselves during their first year or two in business. The latter supposition is reinforced by the fact that amongst the stored photographs was a high-quality publicity one of a long-bed Randa Model B - though that for the sort bed Model A used in the flyer was missing (probably kept by the printer).
Also found in the files was another previously unknown branding of a lathe as the "Lincoln" - this being made in Sheffield by Portass who marketed the lathe using the name "Junior" - again, a top-quality publicity photograph of this lathe as also found.
Another lathe from that incestuous relationship between the English makers of small lathes during from the 1920s until the early 1950s, the "B.S.W" was almost identical to the well-known Randa (Ross & Alexander) Type B and available (as was the Randa) with 12 or 20 inches between centres, the option of either a snap-in-and-out single leadscrew clasp nut or a double type engaged by a snail cam - and a range of drive systems from proper remote powered countershafts to treadle-powered "foot-wheels" for mounting under the owner's bench.
Could the B.S.W. do a decent job? The following is an account from the owner of the same lathe sold as a Randa: 
When bought the Randa Type A long-bed was rusty all over - although oil had helped in some places to keep areas of paintwork un-touched and original. The headstock backgears, for example, have been refinished in a shade of red that matches that when factory fresh.
When stripped to its component parts, the lathe was found to be in remarkably good mechanical condition with little wear evident on bed or slides. Even the leadscrew, its clasp nut and the cross and top screws were in remarkably good order. The main iron castings all proved to be sound - and of better quality, the owners reports, than one of his more recent Far Eastern lathes. A few simple replacements were undertaken: the slotted gib-strip adjustment screws replaced with 3/16" BSF Allen grub screws; headstock bearing drip-feed  oilers were fitted - the holes found to be already tapped out BSP -  and a clamp handle made to speed adjustment of the changewheel bracket.
Fitted with a 1/3 h.p. motor and a home-made countershaft (incorporating a cleverly-made belt-tension adjustment jockey wheel) the lathe has been put to good use and proves to have excellent torque, better even than the owner's Warco WM180 which almost stalls when trying to turn a 7-inch diameter flywheel - the Randa has no such trouble, and powers through the same job..

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Found in the Myford Archive - the maker's professionally-taken publicity photograph of a long-bed Randa Model B - this discovery helping to confirm that Myford must indeed have sold the lathe in the early 1930s using the branding "B.S.W."

Devoid of any name, but clearly the cheaper, short-bed Randa
with a single leadscrew clasp nut with snap-in-and-out control

The cleaned-up, art-worked drawing used by Randa in the publicity pictures of their Type B


lathes.co.uk
B.S.W. Lathe

email: tony@lathes.co.uk
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