Lathes!! I love lathes!!
It started out innocently enough … an old farm tractor brought back from the fence row. Then another … and another. Then, a few machine tools to make the restoration work more interesting … and, towards that end, I’ve ended up with two lathes and several other machine tools. The current flagship of my small fleet is a Hendey General Purpose No. 1 x 30 (12” x 30” btc) lathe.
This lathe was built in 1954 and originally sold to the Babcock & Wilcox company in Barberton, Oh. It has a 12” swing and is 30” between centers. This thing is a beast! It is incredibly heavy and smooth as silk to run. The following photos were taken the day it arrived in my garage and it looks rough, but is really in very good mechanical condition. I paid $800 for it and that included a 3-jaw chuck and a Sjorgren collet chuck with collets. I use it to make the odd bushing now and then, bore out miscellaneous gears, pulleys, etc., and make miscellaneous parts for whatever project needs a unique piece or two.
Could I get along without it? Sure, but my projects would be a whole lot less fun!
All went well with this Hendey until I stumbled onto another lathe that was one day from the scrapper! And although I’ve never come even close to reaching the capacity of the Hendey lathe, I suffer from “iron disease” and lusted after a bigger machine to “save”.
Through an odd series of “lucky” circumstances I ended up buying (for what I thought was a reasonable $900 price) a 17” x 8’ bed LeBlond Regal (slightly over 18” actual swing and about 56” btc). The lathe was in nice condition and came with some extras ... taper attachment, steady rest, micrometer stop, Aloris tool post, 3-jaw chuck, spindle clutch and a 5 drawer tool cabinet full of stuff. Ways looked good and carriage feeds are snug. Again, pics were taken the day it arrived “home”.
This LeBlond is currently sitting along the wall of the workshop and has not yet been set up … another project for another day!
I guess that I’ve gone a long way to say that a lathe is a great tool to have and if you enjoy machine work you will never regret buying one ... and if you pay a reasonable price you can easily resell it later. The important thing to note … as you can see from my two purchases … is to shop around!! In the Northeast old lathes are plentiful and relatively inexpensive, but out West, I’ll bet they are scarce and expensive. MOST IMPORTANT, make sure you educate yourself on how to evaluate an old lathe before making a purchase … many of them are worn out and are JUNK.
The small South Bends, and comparable Logans, are usually in high demand because their smaller size is great for a home shop. But if you have the space, the larger lathes are often a much better deal (but usually have 3-phase motors). And don’t overlook the cost of tooling … this can add up real fast! So, if you can find a lathe with lots of tooling and accessories it will be far more desirable than just a bare machine … and this can, of course, significantly impact cost.
