Post by twomoons on Jul 30, 2013 10:00:11 GMT -5
I am an old fashioned guy and like to work with old tools when working on old guns. My lathe in the shop is an old (1949) South bend. Here CNC means I've lost something and I have to see and see to find it! But the South Bend actually threads better than the new Chink o Matic that i had the misfortune to buy at one time.
Well about a week ago while I was on patrol in Verdigre I saw an old lathe on the back of a fellows truck. I looked and it was a South Bend bench top 9C change gear lathe, so I asked about it... It came from a auction of a 92 year old man's stuff and the fellow who bought it wanted $300 for the lathe and assorted tooling and gears. The bed looked to be in great shape and I wanted another lathe for the house so i brought it home. What I ended up with is a South Bend Workshop lathe made in 1934-5 and it's a first model. It cleaned up with little work and is tight and straight and holds less than 1/2 a thou run out over the length of the bed and the headstock is under the 1 thou specified by the factory. The lathe only has 18" between centers but should be fine for small work. It came with a nice bench so all I need is some tooling to be up and running as I am too lazy to still use the rocker tool posts even though they are sometimes the only way to get the job done. Best of all the chucks and most parts are usable on my work lathe too.
Well about a week ago while I was on patrol in Verdigre I saw an old lathe on the back of a fellows truck. I looked and it was a South Bend bench top 9C change gear lathe, so I asked about it... It came from a auction of a 92 year old man's stuff and the fellow who bought it wanted $300 for the lathe and assorted tooling and gears. The bed looked to be in great shape and I wanted another lathe for the house so i brought it home. What I ended up with is a South Bend Workshop lathe made in 1934-5 and it's a first model. It cleaned up with little work and is tight and straight and holds less than 1/2 a thou run out over the length of the bed and the headstock is under the 1 thou specified by the factory. The lathe only has 18" between centers but should be fine for small work. It came with a nice bench so all I need is some tooling to be up and running as I am too lazy to still use the rocker tool posts even though they are sometimes the only way to get the job done. Best of all the chucks and most parts are usable on my work lathe too.