Featured Technical Picked up a lathe...

Thanks again

 

It's a spring powered motor for an old time phonograph. Before electricity was common you had to wind up the spring to play your records.

 

Amazing. Thank u

 

The OP said he's been running a mill for 20 years, this no doubt he understands, but for those that don't, NEVER LEAVE THE CHUCK WRENCH IN THE CHUCK!!!
Even if you stop to answer the phone, you come back with the phone call on your brain and BAM!

 

Runing the tool holder into the chuck also makes a big bam!

 

Especially when you are threading and your hand slips off the half nut lever!

 

Triple D, i know ur a smart man, but maybe u shd check ur glasses. Show me this wrench in the chuck.
Also the pics are in the previous owners spot with no power... but I'll wait.

And I was lying about 20 years. I just want people to think im cool, or whatevr as i bullshit my way thru this thread

 

Yeezuss man, NOTHING was directed at you, I actually acknowledged you, please look again at what I said, it was a public service announcement for those that don't know this.
Wow!

 

pretty sure he was only being 'proactively safety minded'-no reason to be upset...

 

@dearjose I read it as a general warning for anyone who is considering buying and using a lathe and may read this post, not that you were a newbie and needed your hand held.

As a general rule, if someone takes the time to respond with basic safety info, smile because they care about you.

 

Take the joke boss. Youre an institution around here and I respect u. 1st thing i said was ur a smart man. Waiting on that pic
Edit: I took the profanity out. God I hate texting. All context is lost. I apologize sir

 

Allgood!

 

Things have progressed since this picture was taken. The bottom tray is full of concrete for weight and vibration dampening. I’ve finished the bench setup and sorted through all of the pieces that came with it. It’s an Atlas lathe that is in excellent shape, probably not used much. And there is so much stuff that came with it. 3 and 4 jaw chucks, a monster drill chuck that fits the 1-1/2 threads of the spindle, and other pieces that I am still learning about. I even have a milling attachment for it, but I don’t think I’m going to use it very much. It’s cantilevered up over the cross slide and not that rigid. Oh well, I’ve got it, if I’m ever brave enough to try it.

 

Looks brand new. Get on it.

 

I’m no machinist! I don’t want to hurt me or the lathe…
I’ve been looking into the spindle of the machine. It’s just barely not bored large enough on its id for the tubing I use for things like the radius rod, and suspension links. Like it’s between 3/4 and 7/8 inch diameter. I need just over 7/8 inch bore. And I’m trying to figure out if it can be safely bored to meet my needs. Otherwise I’ll have to continue using the setup on the drill press, awkward and slow!

 

Sorry, you need a bigger lathe. I would not consider trying to bore out the headstock for bigger shaft size.

To be a wise guy, I leave the key in the chuck all the time. But...my Clausing has a clutch lever to stop the spindle while the motor is still running, first thing you do after the last cut is made, so next time your fire it up its in neutral.

 

Yeah, I know… but I don’t think it’s in the cards! We’re starting to plan for senior housing issues. I don’t think there’s any way they would want a lathe in their facilities! Like I said, I’ll probably just continue with the drill press setup, as it works, even if it does take longer! Mainly just have to drill the id for the tap. I use 7/8 X 3/16 wall dom for things like radius rods and tie rods. So tap sizes are 5/8-18 and 11/16-18. When I do have smaller tubing that fits the spindle bore, then Bob’s my uncle and easy peasy.

Oh well, maybe next lifetime. Just hope I’m not reincarnated as a bird, or worse yet, a skunk!

 

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/forum/

There are sub forums by brand and an antique section.

It is like the HAMB, but for machine tools.

-Woog

 

There is alot to like there...like a drill press, MIG, etc...once you've owned one you can't live without one. This is actually my 4th

 

The only photo I can find of the lathe (new) that I bought in the late 80's, was an 18x80, had a 10 hp motor.
Made by American Turnmaster, also had a removable gap (about 21"), and taper attachment, all support tooling made in the USA, all paid for from overtime at work................ A lot of overtime!
It only had a total of 45 billed hours and some misc. personal work.
Life as I knew it changed in a blink when I blew out my shoulder at work (looong story).
I sold it.



Like this one

 

WOW!!! that looks expensive!
Back in Minnesota I would occasionally see big old lathes for very cheap, couple hundred bucks, because most folks don't have room for them

 

still plenty true today!

 

Sure, with A WHOLE BUNCH OF WORK AND MONEY those old lathes can be great, NOTHING built like them now.
I ran a handful of them that had more than one military tag on them.

 

My first lathe was a big Lodge& shipley. 16x...I forget, about 5'. Very cheap for me the poor boy as it had been tipped over in moving. About 1985 or so. Hand wheels had already been crudely fixed. It had lots of brass data plates, and no numbers on the dials, only hash marks. I was told by many people that dated it to pre WW1. Supposedly it was during the first world war that the need for precise standards for global use of ammo etc started the use of "thousands" printed on the dials. I'm no historian, call me out if wrong. So, it was belt drive from an overhead line shaft originally, and I even got the clutches and stepped pulleys and overhead shaft to set it up as original. However, I didn't have a steam engine running out back and a line shaft for power, so I built the "tower of power" , a big tower made of 6x6 I beam to hole the electric motor on the very top, V belt drive to the line shaft with stepped pulley. Bad idea, even though it was heavy I beam it wiggled enough to show in the work.

Accurate? well, thats debatable. The big heavy machines like that are so heavy that even with bad babit in the head stock they can make a nice true light cut. You will never experience chatter. For me it was nice to be able to make drive shafts and cut wheels. Also, it was wore out junk so I could grind or weld parts in the bed, not something you do with a good machine.

Sadly, it was burned in my shop fire in 2010. I saved the main bed to mount all my chop saws and grinders on....
its on the list

 

I recently picked up a 1942 South Bend 9A.

 

When you speak of castings it reminds me of back in the day, I was tasked to buy CNC machining equipment for the manufacture of a rotary vane compressor, Ended up going with Okuma from Japan. Got a high precision lathe with a milling feature (was so precise it saved us from having to grind our compressor shaft), and a massive horizontal milling centre. Learned through all of that process, that in the “old days”, the main castings were “aged” for years and years to “stress” relieve them. IIRC, Okuma was one of the few who still practised that, but it wasn’t more than one year “aged” IIRC.

 

You got a really good deal on the lathe and accessories IMO. Very cool, have fun
Dan

 

About 8 years ago, I bought a new imported Sieg 7X14 mini-lathe. It has turned out to be very useful, and, at 83, it's big enough to handle anything I would want to throw at it. It's done everything I wanted it to and I'm glad I have it. I bought it from a company called "The Little Machine Shop", and I have never had a problem getting parts (which was important to me). The only complaint I have is that it's a little short on power, but that's probably a good thing because it makes me be a little more careful when I do something.

 

short on power is ok for us amateurs, A light cut is easier on everything. Less heat so easy on the tool bit, more accurate and easy on the machine. Just takes a little longer, which to me is a good thing, I love watching the process!

 

Having a lathe is great, but if you're not careful, it might not stop with just one lathe... My Smart & Brown Model 'A' toolroom lathe bought by me at a government surplus auction nearly 50 years ago.


A well equipped and accurate machine, but being only 9" swing, sometimes I just ran out of capacity for larger work. So, better buy a bigger lathe, I bought this Dean, Smith & Grace Type 17 about 5 years ago, 17" swing over the bed 26 ish inches swing in the gap, fitted with a taper turning attachment and has a 10 HP motor so not an underpowered machine.

But then, what about really fine work? making carburettor needles and the like? better get a Smart & Brown Model L instrument lathe then; takes industry standard 5C collets, and has a maximum spindle speed of 3000 RPM, ideal for very small diameter stuff. This is a 1977 machine, it not only looked almost new when I bought it, but it had all the manufacturers accuracy test paperwork with it. Everything I checked was still in 'factory' tolerance. I did have to do some re-wiring work on it, which was 'interesting' as the two speed three phase motor has a small forest of wires coming out of it.