# old lathe



## greenkarson (May 30, 2010)

bought this old lathe yesterday. I'm not a machinist by any means just looking to do some basic turnings. Just curious what others thought of this machine. its a C.A Mann LTD 12x30 can't find a date but I'd guess in the late 1800s or early 1900s paid 500$ for it and a bunch of cutters and misc pieces also came with 13 gears to change for different threading speeds. Every thing is very tight no play on anything every thing glides smooth. The thing must weight at least 650lbs plus. Any thought or info you can provide would be appreciated.


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## tmuir (May 30, 2010)

Wow!
Just love all those exposed belts and gears!
This was obviously made in a time when OHS was not really considered.

Sorry I can't help with any information on this lathe, but it does look really cool.
I've seen photos of similar looking lathes that were pedal driven.
I wonder if this is how yours started its life and then was later converted to electric motor driven.

Hows the ways on the bed, do they have much wear or slop?
That would be my main concern with a lathe that old.


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## greenkarson (May 31, 2010)

ever thing is tight as can be. Like i said I'm no machinist but everything seems very tight


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## tel (May 31, 2010)

Looks t'me like you got a good buy - lovely ol' hunk of iron there.


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## Deanofid (May 31, 2010)

Hey, Tony Griffiths has your lathe!
And I do mean, _your_ lathe.  ;D
http://www.lathes.co.uk/mann/
Not a lot more about it on his site. I think you got a nice one!

Dean


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## steamer (May 31, 2010)

It's probably pre-1900, as it has a rise and fall cross slide.

Looks a lot like my 10" F.E. Reed of similar vintage.

Dave


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## greenkarson (May 31, 2010)

isnt that the weirdest thing. That is my lathe. Pics are in the guys garage where i bought it same as the pics i posted. But we are in Canada and the site and email address on the site is in the UK. Maybe the guy before me was looking for info on it or something. Weird


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## zeeprogrammer (May 31, 2010)

Welcome to the forum greenkarson.
How about post in the welcome thread and tell us a little about yourself?
Then show us what you do with that lathe. ;D


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## lathe nut (May 31, 2010)

Love that old Iron, it looks great, been tinkering on my Old Sidney and got all of that parts moveing, maybe a paint job might be in order some day, let's keep them alive and maybe the next owner will do the same, Lathe Nut


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## AR1911 (Jun 1, 2010)

Tony gets his pics and information from people like us the world over.
One of my lathes is pictured in the AA section.

Nice lathe ya got there. Looks like something for the corner of the den.


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## Cheshire Steve (Jun 1, 2010)

Too right about Tony, a lot of the info he has comes from us all (including pictures of my Cromwell lathe), and a decent chap. He has created a one-man virtual museum by collating a lot of info together.

But one thing I must say about this specimen - there was no sky blue paint back then ! I reckon it would be so much nicer in a decent coat of black paint, or maybe a dark green - just imagine if you applied that sort of paint colour to anything else that old, like a 1900 steam railway locomotive - it would be called vandalism !

Steve


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## greenkarson (Jun 1, 2010)

considering the age of the lathe is it something that should be used. Or sold to a collector. I bought it to use never really guessed the age of it.


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## barney_leadhead (Jun 2, 2010)

greenkarson  said:
			
		

> considering the age of the lathe is it something that should be used. Or sold to a collector. I bought it to use never really guessed the age of it.


I would say use it - it is what it was made for _unless_ it is extremely valuable and/or especially rare then possibly sell to a collector and use the proceeds to finance another machine.
If treated with respect then hobby use certainly won't harm it.
I think that there is something very rewarding about using a machine that has several (or more) decades of history behind it and these things were built to last unlike so many other things in today's 'throwaway' society.

Enjoy your lathe


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## greenkarson (Jun 2, 2010)

has me curious now. When i bought it never really gave much thought to the age. Was just thinking it was made in the 40s or 50s. But even if it was the very last lathe C.A Mann built . It would be well over a century old. I paid $500 for it. Anybody know if this is a fair price for it considering its age?
thanks


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## tmuir (Jun 3, 2010)

greenkarson  said:
			
		

> has me curious now. When i bought it never really gave much thought to the age. Was just thinking it was made in the 40s or 50s. But even if it was the very last lathe C.A Mann built . It would be well over a century old. I paid $500 for it. Anybody know if this is a fair price for it considering its age?
> thanks



If the beds aren't worn and it turns true its a great price.
I paid nearly twice that for my smaller, crappier Chinese lathe


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## Cheshire Steve (Jun 3, 2010)

If it is in decent nick - then the big question is can you turn out work on it as good as the guys did when it was new. The reason I got into modelling is that I inherited my grandfathers 1930s Zyto lathe. It turns out this was a big improvement on the Myford he had before, with which he made a model that won the Grand ME Prize in the UK in 1937 for a 5ft dockyard crane.

So rather than start with modern lathes or even CNC tools, I thought it better to start with a 1930s lathe and find just how good these guys were given the tools available - knowing that at any time I could always update and life would get easier. I am still using a 1930s lathe, albeit a better one than the Zyto or Myford, and I love all the exposed gears - and I am still learning to get the best from it, and getting pretty good precision IMHO.

So I would say, check it over, and if it is usable, then use it. However if the bearings are one-sided split clamps, and they are a bit sloppy, be aware that they only adjust so far and then the clamp breaks and the lathe is scrap (the original intention is that they should have new bearings before then). But otherwise give it a go, and marvel just how good the old time engineers and modellers were, many of whom would have used foot power to drive it - as small scale electric motors were rare back then - as was electricity.

Steve


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## ieezitin (Jun 3, 2010)

I will go on a limb and say this.

There are people on this forum who I consider machining artists, and then there are novices. Ok great. They all come to this table for many reasons. 

Greenkarson, your machine is what you bought. Your machine is as good as you the operator. If your are a novice, fine your machine will offer you an experience; if you are competent machinist your machine will offer you the opportunity to express yourself.

Enjoy your machine, learn a lot from it and log it. Give your experience to the next person.

Anthony.


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