I've found a 14x54 Pacemaker in very nice condition for a very good price. From what I've read these are great machines. This one has the middle set of speeds. 25-1500,7.5 HP motor, 3 jaw chuck where each jaw is independably adjustable but all the turn with the key. Everything I can see has almost no wear & it's built like a tank, all 6800#. Has anyone used onee or have first hand knowledge of these? I have an earlier American 14x40 but it's not this heavy duty. Is there any problems I should be aware of or check. It exactly like's on Tony's UK lathe site. Thanks again for your help & advice!
American Pacemaker lathe
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Grab it fast, and by that I mean yesterday. Those are fantastic machines. We had some 16" and 24" Pacemakers on the USS Samuel Gompers AD-37 when I served on her. They were 10 years old and well maintained, but had been subjected to twisting & turning from the ship's movement. We could still hold +/- .0002" on bearing diameters of 30" long pump shafts made from monel & Kmonel.
Some of the best manual lathes ever built.
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Sounds like you found one of the smaller models. My brother has a 14x90? (paid ~$4k) and Ive had privelege to use several others. Definitely awesome machines and well worth every penny spent. One of the smoothest, most well thought out lathes built IMO. Sorry I cant help with any specific checks outside of the standard fair, but one thing I have heard but not confirmed, is that the early Pacemakers didnt have hardened ways like the later ones. Not much, but something to think about."I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer -- born under the second law of thermodynamics, steeped in the steam tables, in love with free-body diagrams, transformed by Laplace, and propelled by compressible flow."
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It's 120"+ overall so it may be a liitle bigger than 54" between centers, I'll double check as I know back then some went by total bed length & some between centers. Also it measures 16" swing but is called a 14"? The Boye & Emmes is just too much for me to handle. The B&E tail stock doesn't have a crank like this American & I have trouble pushing it because of my back surgery so this will replace it. I love the stying as well as "all the beef".
They ways are very nice so I don't think I'll wear them out. You guys take all this for granted & I'm having a ball, cause it's all new to me & I love learning about it.Last edited by flylo; 06-14-2012, 04:48 PM.
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Grab it. even wore out and someone taking a 4 inch grinder to the bed, those things were built so heavy you can always rebuild them. and as stated already, superior in quality to anything available today.Why buy one for $300 when i can BUILD one for $25 in materials, (and $1000 in tools)
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Originally posted by Dr StanWe had some 16" and 24" Pacemakers on the USS Samuel Gompers AD-37 when I served on her. They were 10 years old and well maintained, but had been subjected to twisting & turning from the ship's movement. We could still hold +/- .0002" on bearing diameters of 30" long pump shafts made from monel & Kmonel.
Some of the best manual lathes ever built.
KrutchKrutch
Mentally confused and prone to wandering!
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Originally posted by krutchSure hope those lathes aren't on the bottom of the Atlantic with the Sammy G!
Krutch
The designers did not do a very good job on that class of AD's. There was the fore mentioned heavy fab shop above the main machine shop and the deck below us contained the foundry. Every once in awhile we would get a big blast of smoke into the machine shop from the foundry. She was scheduled for a yard period after I was discharged and they were working on plans to move the foundry to the small hanger bay on the main deck just forward of the stern. I do not know if they ever followed through on this idea.
In addition all ships that are sunk to make reefs must be thoroughly cleaned to avoid environmental contamination. That would have included all the fuel bunkers and removal of all the asbestosis.
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Restarted this old thread to say a friend has a 32x108" American Pacemaker with hardly a scratch on it. I love it! 25 HP motor, built-in taper att, steady rest... only thing keeping me from grabbing it is, well, how I'd explain it to wife. "Honey it followed me home!" If I didn't get permission first I think it would cause serious domestic damage. Anyway I've never been more attracted to a machine, the thing is truly a monument to American industry. Does anyone have a good weight estimate for this machine? I'm going to get a rigging/shipping estimate even though I doubt I'll be able to resolve the domestic issues to clear the way to get it. I don't even really need this monster lathe, but it is such a beautiful piece of work it's really hard to resist!
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Originally posted by boslab View PostYou really need good riggers with a beast like that, it would be a shame to bust her up.
Mark
Last edited by Cannonmn; 11-21-2016, 07:09 PM.
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