War time lathe

[abunaitoo]

A while ago I saved a lathe from being thrown away.
Old Sheldon
Had to take it all apart to bring it home.
It's still in in pieces.
Today I was moving stuff around and noticed the gear cover.
Label says it's a War Time Finish.
I was told it came from Pearl Harbor.
264532

[DougGuy]

I have seen that tag on WWII era machinery. The Sheldons are really nice machines, they can still be found with the marks where they stoned the ways.

[Winger Ed.]

[QUOTE=abunaitoo;4937488]

Cool.

They probably tagged it like that to denote it was made quickly for wartime production,
and wasn't all polished and spit shined so they could get more of them out the door faster,
but it was still within specifications and tolerances for use.

[Alstep]

Many years ago I worked in a shop that had several Sheldons. A really nice solid machine. Wish I had one. The shop also had 12" & 18" Sheldon shapers. Seldom hear about those anymore. They were left over surplus machines used for war production contracts.

[samari46]

Company I worked for had bought an old railroad repair shop. Both horizontal planers/shapers and standard shapers. I spent my lunch hour there one day just watching them plane/shape steel parts. Ship I was on used to have a crew come in once a year to scrape the bedways on lathes and practically rebuild milling machines and one huge shaper. Those machines would be running sometimes 16 to 24 hours a day. every so often they would send a crew from Jacksonville Fla,to I think Philadelphia Naval shipyard to scrounge parts off the USS Franklin the carrier that got badly damaged and went there basically get rebuilt. Boiler feed pumps shafts weren't an on the shelf item. So they went to the local railroad and brought back a flatbed trailer of box car axles to be machined into new boiler feed pump shafts. That was the job of one machinist who did nothing but turn down the axles, cut keyways and cut threads. He had a blueprint of the feed pump shaft taped next to the lathe and took successive cuts then when he got close to the specified dimensions made up a rig to fit on the compound to hold strips of aluminum oxide paper to get down to the final dimensions. Frank

[bedbugbilly]

When I was in college 50 years ago, I majored in Industrial Education with emphasis on machining. All of the lathes, mills, etc. were from WWII and were from the U.S. "Lend/Lease" program. At that time, they would have been between 25 and 30 years old - pneumatic NC was just coming in and we had a mill hooked up to it but for the most part, we weren't exposed to it very much. I have good memories of those old machines as they had label plates on them as well and several of our professors made it a point to point them out and talk about the program during the War. For me, it was a thrill to work ln them and know that they had produced material to win the war. The were all built heavy and solid and I'm sure most are still going strong today. Enoy that lathe as I'm sure it will serve you well and it's a great piece of history. If I had it, I think I would proudly hang a framed small U.S. Flag over it! Enjoy and thanks for the post!

[country gent]

To this day every new ( industrial style) machine comes with a simple self addressed card to be sent in by the owner to the defense department so if in time of need it can be called up for service.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

Many years ago the Sheldon was called the gunsmiths lathe. When I was working one I had repair duty on a Saturday weekend. I stopped by a school district auction. They had stopped teaching all manual arts classes. There were 14 lathes up for sale. Seven were Sheldon. I wanted to bid on a 10 inch South Bend but got called away for a problem. The lathe had everything including a collet closer, three jaw Buck chuck, quick change tool holder. I went back to the auction but the lathe had sold. It brought $650.

[justashooter]

i have a 28" between centers logan that is 1942. runs fine. just wish the pass thru was bigger.

[smithnframe]

Any chance of posting more pictures of the machine?

[abunaitoo]

The lathe is still all in parts.
I saved two lathes.
Other one was a Logan.
Put that one back together and sold it.
264579
Sheldon lathe with some parts taken off.
I forgot to take a picture of it before I started.
264584
I do have majority of the parts for it.

[Ole Joe Clarke]

I remember back in the day running a Sheldon lathe, along with South Bends and such. The nicest one that I still lust after is a Hardinge tool room lathe with a collet attachment.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

[Scrounge]

My first lathe, after the 1973 high school machine shop South Bends (9" I think) was a Harbor Freight 7x10 in 2008. Used it to make new blade guides for my Craftsman bandsaw, but not much else, as I had forgotten about everything, and had troubles doing much of anything else. Eventually found out it wasn't the lathe giving me problems, it was "screw loose in stick actuator" problems, or what you could reasonably call "headspace" errors. ;) After I started the new class, found a Craigslist Atlas TH42, vintage 1946. It works well, once I got it a 4-jaw 6" chuck. Needs more hole through the spindle, though, same as the HF. Mostly I've been using the school's Clausing Colchesters. They have a 13" lathe that's close to the size of the TH42, except it weighs about 10 times as much. Atlas is about 267#, the CC 13" is 2700#, and they have 15" CC's that weigh in at 3800lbs. Found a CC13" on one of the machinery sites about the time I got the Atlas. Vintage 1969, and listed for $6900. I was happy with the Atlas until a friend saw my post on one of the metalworking boards, probably Atlas-Craftsman, that I dreamed of a South Bend. He texted that he thought he could make my dream come true. So I called him, and we were talking about his South Bend Heavy 10L, that had been sitting in his barn for 5 years. He'd decided he was never going to get it restored, was asking $950 for it, and at that point SWMBO said "Give me the phone." Then she said "He can't buy it. I want to buy it for him for Christmas." So she did. I am very slowly working on it, as time and money allow. 1-3/8" through hole in the spindle, taper attachment, and a spare turret tailstock. It has a 4.5' bed, was shipped to the Ruritan, NJ Arsenal in 1941 as a toolroom lathe. 264627Not much to look at now, but lots of potential!

So if you have the right friends, get lucky, or have some spare money and look long and hard enough, you can find what you want. I'd been looking since 1973. Guess it helps to know where to look, too. I didn't live all that far from Burbank in 1973, were lots of lathes out there, at Boeing. Ebay has a bunch of Hardinge lathes from not much more than I paid for my Heavy 10L, and on up like a skyrocket. Craigslist frequently has lathes somewhere... If you really want one, it is possible. One thing I've learned, my HF 7x10 is not a bad lathe. It's not great, either, but for $700 or less, it is a LATHE! You can make stuff with it! Fix stuff with it!

One of the things that messed me up with mine was that I got some of their cheap brazed carbide tooling right off. It can work but you need to regrind the carbide inserts. Supposedly needs Green silicon carbide wheels, but I was able to do it with grey Alox wheels. There is a bunch of HSS and carbide tooling from China that is better than the stuff HF sells, and the HSS from the US isn't all that much more expensive, and works better on the little lathes like mine. To get fully tooled up, expect to spend the cost of the lathe again, or more, depending on what YOU mean by "fully tooled up." I'm ambitious, and maybe got eyes bigger than my whatever. Ego, maybe. ;)264627

[smithnframe]

Good lookin vintage lathe!

[farmbif]

I have a south bend 15" and a 9" from the 40's, they are still pretty close to what they were when they were built, a little more slop in 1/2 nuts than when new but still can churn out whatever crude stuff I'm capable of making, sold off my war era mill and surface grinder. I know the mill went to a good home and is still in use today.
It cost a lot of money to buy a new machine of that quality today.

[country gent]

Those old machines were meant for HSS cobalt or HSS tooling the spindles and bearings arnt normally up to the rigidity to use carbide. They are what they are. A good machine that will make parts slow but sure.

Carbide cemented or inserts dont take vibrations or chatter well. HSS or HSS cobalt will run on these machines and do a fine job.

On these old machines just finding the right tooling for them can be tricky as it is getting old and there is a group looking for it. the new tooling may be available but is expensive. Making your own is a big option that may be easiest.

[popper]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=264579&d=1594167537 Looks like the one I used in auto shop class.

[Elkins45]

I bought a 9” South Bend made sometime in the 30s from a guy off Craigslist a few years ago. I’ve watched a few videos and read some books, but mostly have learned by trial and (a lot of) error. Slow speed and a lantern tool post don’t really lend themselves to fast production but I have managed to make some stuff like top punches, silencer baffles, and push-thru sizers. Now that I’m retired I would love to take a class at a technical college, but I think the virus has put that on hold.

[country gent]

Both my junior and senior instructors told s the same thing the first day, The knowledge is here free for the taking you bring the container. Both Had many years and experience behind them and were excellent teachers.

A lot of schools are dropping the trade classes and shops for other subjects. About the only left at the trade school I attended are automotive related. The welding,Machine shop, electrical and building are gone. I do believe its a mistake and wrong.

In this area machinists tool makers diecast diemakers with cards are in big demand along with electricians millwrights and pipefitters. The demand from retirements and other losses isnt being meet.

In roughly 35 years in the trade I had 7 apprentices. Seen a lot in that time span. The last shop I worked we had 4-5 apprentices in the tool room all the time and still hired from the out side.

Another way to learn if your retired or willing to work an off shift. is to trade time for training at a local shop. They may have you sweeping and painting to start but as you advance you will move up to production work assembly then actual machining. But you will also be seeing whats done and the set ups to do it as you go.

I started in my first job shop at 15, cleaning and odd jobs, after 3 weeks I was running production machines, at 6-8 weeks I was doing small walk in jobs with help. You may end up on a saw cutting pieces for trades men or other work but its a start. In one shop we had a cut man you took your cut list to him and he cut it while you worked on another job. You made the cut list while taking a break or on long cuts while the machine ran.

[Three44s]

In my State you can not allow someone younger than 18 YO run a weed eater if they are an employee.

We are a mess! Our younger folks are not learning to be productive citizens any longer! Just the way the Left likes it! A bunch of clueless people who believe you should start as a “boss”!

Three44s

[blackthorn]

In my State you can not allow someone younger than 18 YO run a weed eater if they are an employee.

We are a mess! Our younger folks are not learning to be productive citizens any longer! Just the way the Left likes it! A bunch of clueless people who believe you should start as a “boss”!

Three44s

My opinion---Anyone wanting to be a boss should have to successfully run a volunteer organization. It will teach them how to treat people to get the best effort from them.

[country gent]

When I started in this little 2 man job shop by Ohios laws I was allowed to clean paint empty chip pans and that type of work. But I can never remember an inspector or officer checking us so I advanced to running the cutoff saw to a production mill and then the other machines. I do understand the reasons for these laws and what younger workers are allowed to do. This is dangerous equipment and a moments inattention can cost pieces parts of the body. Om not sure a 12 yr old cpuld work a bale wagon now by the laws, definitely not the elevator or tractors.