A new toy...

A new toy...

Every so often the time comes to get a new bit of kit in order to keep ‘up-to-date’, and (more importantly) to improve efficiency. Often this is put off because the funds are not available. This is a classic ‘catch 22’ situation – if you had the kit, you could make the money with which to buy it! However, last month I finally got round to buying something I have been hankering after for a good few years. I think it will soon pay for itself!

 

The item in question is a pivot polisher. There are various different designs available, some more expensive than others, and some with advantages over others. I did quite a lot of research before I finally opted for the Rollimat, as the item being polished stays stationary, allowing you to polish things like hammer and anchor pivots without having to bend up the long arms.

Next came the question of a free-standing electrical one, a vice-mounted hand-powered one or a lathe-head version, and where to get it from...

In the end I bought the lathe-mounted version direct from the maker in Austria. Had I bought the free-standing electric one from the UK distributor (which is actually a firm in Switzerland – is there an opening here I wonder?) it would have cost well over twice as much – but this is not an entirely fair comparison, as the unit I bought does not need its own motor and has far less ‘housing’ involved. I could not find the lathe-mounted version on their site for comparison.

Once converted from Euros, the lathe-mounted unit + an extra (course) polishing wheel to go with it (and choosing 4mm wide wheels not the standard 3.5mm ones) cost a total of £1060.44. Without the extra wheel it would have been ~£850. The basic free-standing electric model (with 3.5mm thick polishing wheel) would have been ~ £1746 (inc VAT) from Switzerland, and on top of that there would have been import duty... and that is a discounted rate. The ‘normal’ price is ~£2400! I could also have bought the same kit I now have - but with 3.5mm thick polishing wheels - from the US (had they not been out of stock at present) for ~ £1856 inc VAT (but again, import duty would be payable) – so I think I got quite a bargain! It even came in a nice fitted wooden box, into which I have added a restraint to hold the spare wheel.

One thing which is not ideal, and this may be because, I think, continentals set their lathes up differently (with the headstock on the right, not the left as in the UK), is that the drive-belt has to make a figure of 8 between the motor to the polisher unit if it is mounted in the headstock, because the unit rotates clockwise on its spindle. The alternative is to mount it in a tailstock designed to take collets. This would work perfectly well since the spindle it goes into must be stationary when the unit is in use, but has the disadvantage of reducing the length of lathe bed available once a movable centre has been fitted for the end not being polished. The other possibility is a ‘dedicated’ lathe, set up ‘continental-fashion’ with the headstock on the right – which I could have done as I have a spare one – but then where does it live while not in use? The bench is crowded enough as it is! Currently it is on top of a wall unit in a back room away from the bench, but that is not very convenient if it is wanted with any frequency...

The other thing which could be improved is the translation of the instructions into English. Some of it took quite a while to work out the meaning!

Despite these difficulties, I have to say it is a very nice piece of kit, and I have been thoroughly enjoying playing with my new toy.