what do you guys think of this lathe?

[Cane_man]

off craigslist, waste of time for $600? needs some repairs

http://fresno.craigslist.org/tls/4277598013.html

14.5" South Bend Lathe with some damage. This lathe works good except for damage caused by movers. I'm including a couple chucks as well. I have all the broken parts if you want to braze them. I also have another cross feed handle to replace the broken one. Please call me or email with any questions.


http://images.craigslist.org/00A0A_gYjmeeDvrsw_600x450.jpg

[JSnover]

Are the ways straight? If the bed isn't twisted beyond hope I'd try to salvage it. It doesn't look too badly beaten. The broken foot and handles aren't a big deal, they can be repaired or replaced. Are the cross slide and the compound rest tight?

[454PB]

A couple of chucks are worth that much.

[marvelshooter]

Unless I could get it for little more than it's value as scrap I would pass. It needs quite a bit of work and what scares me the most is the broken gear change lever. It is quite a complicated part that I would be leery of brazing. My two cents.

[HeavyMetal]

If you have time parts can be located, make sure you can power this thing before you buy it might be 440 but it is going to be 220 3 ph minimum.

If I had the time and a place to keep it I'd offer 400 and see if they go for it

[WallyM3]

For $600 you could part it out at a good profit, but I've resurrected worse.

[Reg]

Do check the motor. No doubt it will be 3 phase. Some motors are wired so as they can be changed from 440 3 ph to 220 3 ph just by switching a few wires. Some are not and these are generally 440 3 ph and on these you will need a 220/440 transformer. A bigger transformer such as you might need could easily cost several times the price of the machine.
Broken parts on the machine itself are generally all very fixable.
If it's a single phase machine, I would grab it in a heart beat !!!

[2AMMD]

The quick change tool post holder on this lathe would cost around 4-5 hundred and any cutting tools, centers etc, and the chucks,,,,a lot more. You could part it out if there was too much damage and probably make some money. There are a lot of South Bend's out there. My .02
ADDED - If the lathe is 3 phase, you could still use it. We don't have 3 phase available where we are but just put a 3 phase milling machine and metal bandsaw in our shop. The guy who helped us get them used an old three phase motor and made a phase converter from single phase 220 to 3 phase 220. I don't know how, but it can be done cheaply. There are also phase converters you can buy (they are not cheap). Just do a search for phase converters.
2AMMD

[Cane_man]

the seller gave me this info:

"I don't know the model number off the top of my head. It's a 14.5" x 36" lathe. It's a serious industrial duty lathe with all of the auto feed functions and quick change gearing. It weighs 2000 lbs so it needs to be moved by tow truck or something and it runs on 3 phase power so you need a VFD to run it on household 220V single phase. Thank you."

LOL, a little bit larger than I was looking for and i would like 110v... but the kind of deal i am waiting for, just need to keep looking and stay patient... thanks for you input!

[customcutter]

Cane, I was wondering how your lathe search was going. Been checking from time to time to see if you had posted anything. It would be great if it hadn't been dropped and damaged. It might be OK, but like someone said it's possible it got twisted. The broken parts can be fixed, read more dollars unless you know how to repair/replace them yourself. The quick change tool post is a good feature, but tool holders will run $20-30 each minimum depending on size and quality. Like someone else mentioned you can make a rotary phase converter if you can get a used 3 phase motor cheap that's at least 30% bigger than the one you are trying to drive. Variable frequency drives are also an option and one would run $200-300 to run a 3 HP motor. I didn't see any tooling with the deal other than he said 2 chucks. Can't tell how much wear it has on the ways, but it probably came out of a production shop, so could have lots of use, or could be a back up machine, that saw little use. With all the damage, I would pass unless he's got a ton of tooling to offer with it. Sounds like that is the direction you are headed. Learn from other peoples mistakes, don't drop your lathe. It never ends well. Hopefully no one was under or near it when it fell.

[Cane_man]

thanks cc, didnt even think about those things... probably an old overused lathe that a machine shop was getting rid of... the guy selling it was from a fabrication shop...

[WallyM3]

Most likely, it's had several homes. Wear in a bed does not necessarily translate into "unusable". If it has "X" type webbing in the bed (rather than transverse support castings), it's likely flame hardened. Checking the serial number against the various on-line sources would reveal this. The wear would be in the saddle in that case and wouldn't be a bother at all. In any event, anything short of 0.0020" wear would still constitute a serviceable lathe.

Still, it has "issues" that would involve you in a good deal of work and some not inconsiderable searching for parts.

Edit:

This lathe began as a 1943 "Heavy 10" and, as you see it now, was built from at least 4 lathes with parts from 1943 to the late 70s or early 80s. The webbing in the bed is characteristic of a "flame hardened" bed. I don't have a pic of the old bed handy.

94622

94623

[Nickle]

My big lathe is quite similar to this, and we've built a fair amount of competitive bench rest competition guns on it. Even turned stainless barrel blanks down to proper taper.

Of course, mine is in pretty decent shape, but if the main parts are true, this one should be able to be rebuilt to quality condition.