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The German Weiler company enjoys an excellent reputation for fine design and precision manufacturing and their Condor and Matador Toolroom lathes (which are still manufactured in a very similar form) are highly sort-after machines on the second-hand market.
Of unusually simple yet elegant lines, and with an excellent grey or green finish, the Condor is a true "toolroom" classic - having a very deep section bed which is twice as wide as the 6.125 inch (155 mm) centre height. Capable of holding 32 inches (800 mm) between centres the lathe has, in the past, been available with two types of transmission system either a variable-speed drive (Model VS) or with a 9-speed car-like pre-selector gearbox (Model W) mounted in the base of the stand with drive to the spindle by twin Vee belts.
The variable-speed unit gave stepless changes (on 50 Hz) from 46 to 1650 rpm or (on 60 Hz) from 56 to 2000 rpm whilst the oil-bath-lubricated gearbox model - in conjunction with backgear - gave 18 spindle speeds of 24, 34, 50, 80, 115, 135, 165, 190, 235, 285, 335, 440, 500, 630, 930, 1330, 1900, and 2800 rpm. Alternatively, special speed ranges could be ordered which, by using a two-speed 3.0/4.0 hp motor, extended the range downwards to as low as 12 rpm whilst leaving the usefully-high top speed unchanged. The variable-speed drive also had the optional of a two-speed motor installation; again, with an unchanged top speed - but with the bottom speed reduced to 23 rpm (50 Hz) or 28 rpm (60 Hz).
The wide Vee-belt speed-variator unit was fastened together its drive motor on a cast-iron base plate and "cushion" mounted within the stand under the headstock. The drive system was of the traditional mechanical "expanding-and-contracting" type where one pulley was actively opened and closed (by a drive carried from the operator's handwheel along a flexible shaft) - with the other spring loaded.
The drive to the headstock was by twin matched Vee belts (unmatched belts can cause unbelievable levels of vibration and noise) to a pulley which ran on its own ball race with the drive transmitted to the spindle though a sliding internal tooth clutch - the spindle was thus relieved of all belt loads and isolated, to a large extent, from vibrations set up within the transmission system.
A 5.7 : 1 backgear was fitted and all the headstock gears were hardened and ran in an oil bath. The spindle, bored through 1.5" (38mm) was made from a manganese-chrome alloy steel forging, completely case hardened (not just the nose) and finish ground along its length. It ran in double-row cylindrical roller bearing at the front and in two adjustable combined thrust and angular-contact bearings at the rear. Three different spindle-nose fittings were offered, all with a No. 5 Morse taper in the spindle: a DIN 800/M 60x4 thread (original equipment on the older Model LZ 330), a D1-4" Camlock to special order and, as standard, a DIN 55 022/5 Bayonet flange.
The screwcutting gear and feedbox could - as on many high-quality lathes - be driven from either the screwcutting gears or through a V-belt arranged to give even finer rates of feed suitable for very-fine finishes at high spindle speeds A single lever selected the desired method of drive.
Of the other Weiler lathes of recent times - the LZ 300 W, LZ 300 V, LZ280 S, LZG 280 N and Matador - the latter was a slightly smaller machine than the Condor with a centre height of 5.87" and a capacity between centres of 20"; unlike the Condor is was not described as suitable for "Toolroom and Production" but simply as a "Toolroom" lathe. The electric motors were generally less powerful in the non variable-speed models and, whilst the general lines of the lathe were very similar, there were numerous significant differences. If any reader has a Weiler catalogues or handbooks for the other models - or owns an example - I would be very interested to hear from them.
Further details of the Condor and its accessories can be found here.
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