Bought a South Bend Lathe

[Fluxion]

I have been without a metal lathe for four years now. I had an Atlas 618 that I restored and it was ok just too small. I have been wanting another metal lathe lately and happened to see a couple at an auction today. I managed to win the lathe pictured below including the tooling in the other two pics. $95, yep, $95 for all that stuff! In all my excitement I never looked to see what model this lathe is and I can't pick it up until Monday either when they will have a forklift available. What can you guys tell me about this lathe from these crappy pics? I do know that the spindle thread is 2-1/4"-8 since I have the chucks here at home. It looks like a heavy 10 to me and in the pic of the lathe it looks like a"10" right before "South Bend" on the lathe bed.

 

[larry_g]

I'd say that you've done well on your purchase. Even if the lathe is shot it will part out well.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[LXCam]

Looks like you got a smoking deal bud, major congrats!. She looks to be in pretty good shape, hopefully that's the case.

 

[royesses]

$95.00? First to say YOU **** while drooling and heavy breathing. Well Done!

 

[The Cobbler]

total suckage
scrap would bring more than that !

 

[zkling]

If that thing is not clapped out, you got one hell of a deal.

 

[nickelTwin]

It looks like a heavy 10 by the picture.
You did well

 

[Fluxion]

What ***** is I possibly could have bought another at the same auction but it didn't look as nice to me and went for $125. I was too excited and quit bidding after I won this one. There was a nice looking Kearney and Trecker No. 2, a cute little Rockwell vertical mill and an really nice looking small vertical/horizontal mill but I don't remember what make. I did buy 10 Wilton wood working vises for $5 each right before the lathe. I am keeping 2, my Dad wants a couple and I guess I'll eBay the rest. One small caveat with the lathe, it's 3-phase I'll either put a new motor on it or get a VFD, I haven't decided but I'm leaning towards the VFD.

 

[woody 73]

You **** so bad that Hurricane Katrina was a small little tropic shower compared to your major suckage, why General George Armstrong Custer only had a small skirmish with a few scratches and he only needed a few band aids... Wow never in my part of the woods would I see that kind of price!

 

[Steve from Socal]

Great score,

Put a VFD on the current motor, you wont like it with a single phase motor and, for that size motor they are really cheap.

Steve

 

[CT14]

You stole that lathe, the chucks alone are worth more than you paid.

I would leave the 3ph motor on there and get a VFD. I installed a TECO/Westinghouse drive on my 16" South Bend with remote fwd/off/rev, e-stop and speed controls mounted by the headstock. The control pendant is on a magnet so if I'm running a large drill or tap it can moved down by the tailstock so the e-stop is close just in case something happens.

This system works so well I'm going to get another for a 13" South Bend turret lathe that will be moving into my shop in a month or two.

 

[CNGsaves]

+1 on "steal" of a lifetime !!!

Where can you possibly have chance to win 2 lathes that cheap ??

Was this state surplus auction, bankruptcy or what ??

Oh yeah . . YOU **** !!!

 

[Fluxion]

This was from a school district surplus auction. It sure didn't look like the lathes I've seen at school auctions, I don't remember noticing the cross slide being all chewed up. I think this may have been in a maintenance shop instead of an industrial arts classroom. I'll know more tomorrow when I get it home. As far as the price, I am still shocked. Around here South bend's are fairly uncommon, usually they bring $2000+ on craigslist. Hell, even a worn out atlas 6x18 with no tooling will usually bring $500-600. I sold mine, somewhat restored with a nice stand and some tooling for $1500. Don't even get me started on a totally clapped out Bridgeport mill.

 

[Fluxion]

I got the lathe home last week and into my garage. I managed to get a couple hours during the week to clean it up a bit with some purple power. It took off some of the paint, looks like **** now. I ordered a Teco VFD that came in on Thursday but I couldn't get out to the garage until Sunday.

On Sunday, I moved the lathe into my shop area and wired up the VFD and cleaned it up some more. It's worn a little more than I thought now that I have it cleaned up and in good light, I think it is still usable for me.

Right now the drum forward/reverse drum switch is wired to the VFD for direction control but I don't know if I will keep it that way. I am not crazy about reaching over the work to get to the switch. Also, I need to add in a power switch so maybe a control panel will be added. I am thinking a power switch, direction switch. jog, run and stop, any suggestions here? I was thinking of adding a Tachulator but now thinking of one of those Android based DRO's that kkroger posted about now that they have added the tachometer feature.

Tachulator information here: http://mkctools.com/tachulator.htm
Android DRO thread: http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=295610
Android DRO website: http://www.yuriystoys.com/p/android-dro.html

I am planning on adding a back splash of sorts to keep oil off the slatwall (when I get around to finishing it) and to keep swarf out of the electrical outlets. I still haven't made a cut yet, work is crazy right now and I'm working 60+ hours a week.