hope you will bear with me or an odd question

[Ernest]

An acquaintance of mine is selling his some of his Dad's accumulations over many years. In the piles of stuff is an old lathe that his Dad bought at surplus auction here in Texas. The story is that it came from a decommissioned battle ship. It is a South Bend.

Now here is the question. What kind of electrical power would this lathe be set up for? What current would be available on a WWII Battle ship? Would it be AC or DC current?

I have not seen the lathe and he said that it is partially disassembled. Is it worth pursuing any further or do you think that because of electrical issues it is going to be more trouble than it is worth.

Thanks for any input.

[Johnch]

Just look at the motor
It should say

Normaly there is a plate with all the data
Like HP , Amps , RPM ect

John

[Ernest]

Thanks I'll go and look at it

[454PB]

The motor could be changed to suit whatever you wanted. Those old South Bend lathes are dandies.

[Ernest]

Thanks I'm going to go look at it. Since it has been taken apart I don't know if I will ever get it back together but as soon as I can I"ll look at it. For $400.00 I don't have that much to lose and it will be a fun project.

[fishhawk]

for only $400.00 if i was closer i would grab it!

[EMC45]

We had a lathe in the machine shop I worked in that said "Property of U.S. Navy" on it. It was from the late 30s. It came off a ship.

[mold maker]

During that period, the Gov didn't buy less than the best they could find. With proper care it should outlast your great great great grand kids.

[badgeredd]

A South Bend lathe is one of the sought after hobbyist lathes. Well made and repairable with many parts still available, both new and used.

As to power set-up. likely 110 or 220 single phase or less likely 220 three phase. Any of the three will be usable directly or with a reasonably priced solid state converter. Another option is to replace the motor or have it rewound for your needs. The advantage of three phase is one can reverse direction without waiting for the motor to stop rotation. At $400 one would be doing well with the purchase...but may want to haggle if the motor isn't fit or inoperable/unusable as is.

As said above, the government didn't scrimp on the quality of the machinery they bought during and before WW II. We have a drill press at the shop I work in now that was a Navy tool and was purchased by a former employer in 1958. I used said machine during my apprenticeship and am now using it in my retirement at my part-time job. Well built to say the least. :bigsmyl2:

Edd

[Ernest]

Thanks for the replies. As soon as he gets the barn cleaned up enough to get in there we'll look and see if we can find all the parts.

[Marvin S]

Don't know about the Navy but most all Air Force stuff is 208V 3ph which is common in most all shops. I have a new HAAS TM-1P mill due to arrive next week and it will be wired for this as well.

My home machines are 3ph but with a VFD they run well from 220V 1ph. Give us some pics if you can.

[nanuk]

you are a Lucky fellow.

[Ernest]

all depends on how worn it is , if we can find all the parts and if I can figure out how to put it together and get it set up so that it will work reasonably well. It will be probably a couple months till we can get to it and I will post some pictures. I'm excited about it as a project.

[badgeredd]

all depends on how worn it is , if we can find all the parts and if I can figure out how to put it together and get it set up so that it will work reasonably well. It will be probably a couple months till we can get to it and I will post some pictures. I'm excited about it as a project.

If it is worn or has parts missing this may be of some help.

http://www.southbendlathe.com/serial_numbers.aspx

An internet search will net you quite a bit of information and ebay is a source of parts...although I'd be inclined to try to find a machine tool repair company that could help. You might want to contact the South Bend company to find out what parts they have available also.

ALSO one should be able to find a parts/owners manual. Actually there are fellows here that have SB Lathes that should be of some real help. Lathes aren't that complicated if you have a little information on your particular model. I Have been getting my Logan back up to snuff and have found a lot of information on Logans across the net..

Edd

[Ernest]

I have heard that SB is easier to get parts for than a lot of other older lathes. Thanks a lot lot for that link

[mroliver77]

You might want to "study" up on ebay about SB parts and values. Even if it is a basket case it might be a money maker. $400. would be steep for a basket case with no accesories but if there are lots of extras it could be a sweet deal. Tooling and accesorising are the biggest cost on a lathe, more than the basic machine itself.
Jay

[Ernest]

The motor plate says 440 v ? The mystery continues. I still haven't seen it but I'm getting feed back that more parts are showing up.

[theperfessor]

A lot of motors are set up to be easily rewired to two different voltages. If that machine was set up for 220VAC 3ph/440VAC 3ph (or even 1ph) then you might be good to go. I have reset the jumper wires on the motors of several machines I have to make them run on 220VAC 1ph or 220VAC 3ph from my Roto Phase convertor.

I know nothing about the electrical system on a US Navy vessel. I would bet that even if the motor was built to some weird electrical standard the motor mount was probably a regular civilian spec item. If you got a good lathe with no motor for $400 would you be willing to spend the money on a new motor? That's kind of the worst case cost scenario here. If a new motor cost $150-$250, think about how much a $550 - $650 lathe is worth to you.

If the lathe was in good shape, maybe had some tooling and/or toolholders, and was of mid level home shop size range (which I consider lathes in the 9" to 12" swing category) I would probably buy it for $600. If it was all pitted and ate up or rusted over where it counts I would pass. Your criteria may be different, only you can determine what something is worth to you.

[454PB]

I'm betting 440 volt 3 phase.

[SPRINGFIELDM141972]

440V 3Ph is the common shipboard current for small electric motors. I would be surprised that someone would have run 440 3ph to a barn. More than likely, as stated before, the motor is probably a wired 440/220 motor and is probably configured for the 220v.

Make sure and share some pictures.

Regards,
Everett

[Charlie Sometimes]

When I was in the Marine Corps in the early 80's (Electrical Equipment Repairman- 1142) generator sets were our specialty, mostly. The military standard power requirements were to supply 60 hz, 120v/208v or 240v/416v 3 phase power. 120/208 being the low side, 240/416 being the high side, of the wye connection/configuration. That is what the Mobile Electric Power Generation Set (MEPGS) were designed to supply.

If your lathe motor is wired 440v 3 phase (high side), it would be cheaper on your electric bill than any of the lower voltage ratings if you could use that. I don't think it would have been wired for 220, too. Reason being " back in the day", that motor was dedicated to that piece of equipment specifically, and they had an electrical shop on board that could repair or rewind a motor. Unlike today, they would probably stock a motor that would fit multiple applications, due to the change from "repair component" to "replace component" mentality for costs savings that has permeated industrial thinking.

If there is no 220v option, you can have the motor rewound for 240 single phase (home current) and save yourself the added expense of getting 480 to your home (which is what it would be supplied at today). Expensive, maybe, but not so much as compared to the power upgrade/installation.

[Ernest]

Thanks for the input the saga continues as soon as I can see the lathe I'll post pictures. I has not been run at all since bought at auction about 25 years ago.