Show Us Your Lathe

[Twmaster]

Heh. She'll get over it. And if she doesn't the lathe is cheaper to keep than her! (So says the bachelor! )

Yea, I got a great deal on the thing. Came with a 4 jaw independent chuck, 3 jaw scroll with inside and outside jaws, faceplate, drive dogs, dead center, tooling, original manual, the Altas lathe book, fullset of change gears.... Here's the box of accessories...

 

[DavesWimshurst]

twmaster,
My first lathe was/is an Atlas 618, talked my dad into buying it when I was 15. Here's a page from the 1941 Sears Craftsman catalog:

Mine is a 1950's vintage with roller bearings. I have it in my office at the science museum. :
Dave

 

[Twmaster]

Dave, that's a neat photo. You don't happen to have a photo of the opposing page from that catalog do you? It looks like the tailstock end of a model 109 lathe sitting there.

 

[Toyman01]

The lathe. It is a 1940s era South Bend 9A with a 54" bed. It hasn't seen a lot of use, but when I found it it was in a shed covered with dirt and grime. I gave $400 for it. I spent hours trying to get it clean and finally ended up carrying it to the car wash and blasting it. Then I spent several more hours and several cans of lube getting it all oiled.

I added the QC tool post and replaced both the three and four jaw chuck. The originals were in bad shape and would not stay tight. The massive motor that came with it was junk so I converted it to DC drive. Initially I used a tread mill motor and control. They lasted a few weeks and burned up. The first motor was a 1hp, the current motor is a 2.5hp. It and the control were ordered off the internet from Surplus Center. The control came without a box so I made one out of a PVC box. The only thing left off the tread mill is the knob on the rheostat. I kind of liked the big knob. The original drive motor only had one pulley size so I couldn't use the three step pulley to change speeds and the DC motor was way too fast to drive direct, so I also added the drive pulley assembly.

The Taig lathe was my first machine. She has seen a lot of use making model race boat parts. I even turned a set of replacement pins for a backhoe with it. Needless to say those took a while. It is still basically stock. I have most of the tooling Taig makes for it including the milling attachment. It was the only mill I had for a long time. I haven't used it in years, but seeing what some of you guys build with them I'll have to clean it up and put it back in service. It will probably be easier to use with some of these small parts.

South Bend:

Drive motor:

Control:

Taig:

 

[ttrikalin]

Here's my little one. A brass bed Sherline built in 1976 (according to the sticker). I got it used last June. I had to make some tune-ups including dressing the chuck, changing leadscrew nuts and so on... (mounted on it is my stereomicroscope - Joseph's donation to the cause).

I added an indicator led

Which is great

It is larger than it seems, depending on what you put on it (eccentric hole crankshaft bearing for my Tiny 1/4 scale)

And still small enough to tuck away in the closet...

 

[DavesWimshurst]

A couple more pics from the 1941 Sears Craftsman catalog:
Dunlap

Sears best

What I use the most a 1980 South Bend heavy 10:

Overhead drive as described in one of Guy Lautard's Machinist's Bedside Readers.
Dave

 

[Twmaster]

Dave, Thank you for the photos. I have an old Craftsman #109.20630 lathe. While nowhere near the same machine as the Atlas (or that sweet SB 10 you have) they still hold a sweet spot in my view. I also make parts for the old AA/Dunlap machines.

Also, I have just started reading Guy Lautard's 'Machinist's Bedside Reader' (Vol 1)

What a nice book full of great info.

Nice stuff. Thank you.

 

[jabezkin]

I just bought this Hardinge Tool Room Lathe at an auction sale on Thursday. I got it home, wired it up & everything works. These little lathes run as smooth as a Swiss watch. All it needs is a good clean-up & new gray paint job! This was the best deal I ever got on a machine tool! I will post the before & after picture when I get it painted.

Wait till you thread on it the first time............

And put a 10psi airline with an oiler to the base of the tailstock, floats on air and keeps dirt out. Remember to put the hole past centerline, away from the headstock.

 

[Mike N]

I just bought this Hardinge Tool Room Lathe at an auction sale on Thursday. I got it home, wired it up & everything works. These little lathes run as smooth as a Swiss watch. All it needs is a good clean-up & new gray paint job! This was the best deal I ever got on a machine tool! I will post the before & after picture when I get it painted.

I added the after picture, now all I have left is to install the DRO.

I installed the DRO today & now I'm ready to get it dirty!

 

[Deanofid]

Very beautiful, Mike N!

 

[ariz]

what an envy... it's wonderful :bow:

 

[jabezkin]

I added the after picture, now all I have left is to install the DRO.

Maybe set the feed clutches to"Panic Mode". Just for a little while.

 

[don-tucker]

Heres one I had for about 10 years,served me well,no gears so I installed a motor to give me a feed,I believe they were connected to the Allas Co

 

[Quickj]

OK,
I spent the last 4 days Cleaning the Lathe so I could take some pictures of it. Filled 2 40 gallon trash bags with swarf.

This is my 1947 Southbend 9" toolroom lathe with 4' bed. It is a model "A" with quick change gearbox. It has a factory taper attachment, and all of the other bits and pieces that you could get for it, such as Thread dial, Steady Rest, Follow rest (That I got from eBay and is marked MIT Physics Lab) Micrometer carrage stop, 3 Jaw Chuck, 4 Jaw Chuck, Faceplate, Dog drive plate, Full set of SB drive dogs, 3 different toolposts including a lantern, a turret, and a (Semi)Quick change, I have 17 tool holders for the lantern tool post etc. It also came with a Factory 3C collet set when I bought it In the Original Dovetailed wooden box with the SB decal (Very Rare, I have seen the Collet set go for over $600.00 on eBay). I also have a Lever Turret Tailstock for it that I am rebuilding. Maybe I should arrange all of the accessories in front of it and take a pic.

Here are the pics;

 

[1hand]

Quickj;

Sweet lathe. Love the vintage stuff. Very clean. 80gals of swarf? Man use must of been busy!!!!

 

[dsquire]

Quickj

That's a beautiful lathe that you have there. Thanks for taking the time to show it to us. :bow:

Cheers

Don

 

[Twmaster]

Wow what a sweet machine. I love old machines...

I just tonight finished setting my Atlas 618 on the work table. Powered up. All seems good other than the FWD/REV power switch being wired backwards...

Going to give it a thorough check over again tomorrow and perhaps make some parts into scrap!

 

[mu38&Bg#]

I posted this one when I joined here. http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=3912.msg42065#msg42065 This is my Clausing 4900 series 4902 lathe. I have a three jaw and four jaw chuck, a face place, and now a Sjogren 5C collet chuck. I added an import tool post. I'll be making a carriage stop shortly. It's ready to go now.

 

[lathe nut]

Nice looking lathe fellows, makes me want another lathe, my son said the other day why so many lathes, because I want them and then I told him I had a dream that I died and I came back as an Octopus and I was able to run all of them at the same time, he had no more question, think he might wants to put me away now, let's enjoy, Lathe Nut

 

[titex]

Hello all,
I just joined the forum today and I am finding it very interesting although, I must disagree with some opinions in
this thread about Monarch lathes. yes, they are excellent machines but no lathe will ever come close to
any lathe made by Dean Smith and Grace. I will post a few pics of mine when I get a camera. :-[
Best wishes to all,
Titex.