Watchmakers lathe garage find

[Doozer]

I know, I chuckled before I deleted it. It's not always the post, it's the malarkey the post brings in.

Ok, for the record I am sorry.
But you must understand,
sometimes I just can't help myself!
It is like I have a half gallon of chocolate
ice cream in front of me, and it is going
to melt if I don't eat it ! ! !

--D

[Dan Dubeau]

Bring it Doozer, what did George delete?

[Mcgyver]

I know.. now we're all going wadid I miss?!

[nickel-city-fab]

I know.. now we're all going wadid I miss?!

George said the guy should attach a stepper and use it for a 4th axis on his Tormach.
I figured George was taking the piss -- you can do that when you own the place

Whatever Dooz said must've been pretty good ...

[George Bulliss]

I know.. now we're all going wadid I miss?!

Doozer made a play on the term Magna Visor that someone mentioned.

[nickel-city-fab]

Doozer made a play on the term Magna Visor that someone mentioned.

OK I gotta shut my imagination off for a while...
Seriously though, I think it's a nice little lathe and he should fix it up. It can't be too difficult.

[Dan Dubeau]

Doozer made a play on the term Magna Visor that someone mentioned.

lol, I can only imagine. If it's what I think, a joke like that in today's climate might get somebody cancelled.

[Doozer]

Or elected !

[nickel-city-fab]

Or elected !

Don't you mean "erected"?

[old mart]

The knob is from a Saunders valve, probably diaghragm type with no spindle gland.

[Dan Dubeau]

Ok, bit more of this mystery solved. Don't know how I missed it last night, but it's a Levin B. Barely noticeable on the working end of the headstock so I took some paint off and you can now clearly see the mark. This might change things a bit...


Sorry for the badly focused pic, I couldn't get the camera to focus that well on it. But trust me it does say Levin.

http://usedlathetooling.info/levin-b-jewelers-lathe/

Knowing what it is now will change my course of action for sure. Doozer may still be right, but I'll approach the "restoration" with a softer touch than I was going to. It's actually not as bad as the pics make it looks, everything is free and moving, but still, should not be rusty like that. and that blue paint doesn't belong.....I'm going to bring it to work with me and make it my pet project for the next little while. Ya, it's a shame somebody let a nice tool get in this condition, but it is what it is. I'll see to it that it makes tiny chips/shavings again....someday....

And George, I tried bolting it on the Tormach, but I don't think it's gonna work. Hold down stud is the completely wrong size.....

Don't laugh, but I've made some really small fixture gauge pins before and it would have been awesome to have a small indexing headstock like that to hold the pin shank to do the milling. A mini spindex lol.

[nickel-city-fab]

Ja, those Levins are worth something. I often see parts and accessories for them on eBay, at prices that make me choke.

[Tom S]

A $2 Levin. That’s got to be some sort of record.

[Dan Dubeau]

Ja, those Levins are worth something. I often see parts and accessories for them on eBay, at prices that make me choke.

Ya, I've been doing a bit of choking the last hour looking up info and...pricing on some of these things and accessories. I found a good thread here about the spindle and what I'll need to do there before I get it turning. The rest should be pretty straight forward. And costly.

Side story on how I got this thing...My Dad LOVES yard sales. Auctions, thrift stores, you name it. He's a haggler too, and just loves the thrill of the deal, more than the actual items themselves. He doesn't have any in depth metal machining knowledge, but knows machinery when he sees it, and can usually figure if something is a good deal or not. Sometimes he'll call me or text me pictures. Throughout the summer almost every weekend he'll stop and visit on Saturday or Sunday afternoon after treasure hunting. Usually some files, or a hammer that needs a handle, but occasionally He's got some pretty good gems over the years, from boxes of cutting tools, to a sandblast cabinet for $50, to various other things that look like they might be useful to me like an ohlins motorcycle shock he paid $30 for that I sold for $600US (we split the $$). If it's cheap, and he can get it cheaper, he'll buy it. My friends give him "shopping" lists of stuff to find and he gets them great deals. He just enjoys it. Here's hoping life returns to normal a bit this summer as nobody was having yardsales last year, and he was like a sad puppy all last summer.

A $2 Levin. That’s got to be some sort of record.

There is a piece of tape on the bed of this that says $2.00. Knowing him, he probably only paid a dollar for it. This might be the best deal he's brought back yet if it cleans up ok. When he brought it back a couple years ago I remember giving it a quick glance over and didn't find any makers mark, nor much info on Tony's lathe site. I figured it was just a cheap clone and not worth much, so I stuffed in in a box of misfit tools and figured I'd get around to it someday. I completely forgot about it until I had to move the box on the weekend, and the other thread poked me into posting these pics just for conversation sake.

[nickel-city-fab]

A $2 Levin. That’s got to be some sort of record.

I think it is the biggest "you SUCK!!!" that I've ever seen....