Tool Frenzy! (Gloat)

[gunbuilder]

People who say a small lathe won't cut steel don't know how to properly sharpen tooling and setup a job. A big lathe sometimes makes it easier, but a small lathe just makes you pay attention to the details a little more.

I will second MickeyD on what he said, not that I am all that good at it. But he makes sense to me.

Thanks,
Paul

[JoeFin]

I beg to differ, Monarch 10EE has a 12.5" swing and will cut darn near anything...

R

The Rivett 1020 & 1030's are also should be mentioned in the same breath as the 10EE's

Joe, my Porter Cable is 12" and weighs in close to a ton, flexible it is not, very rigid.
James

I was waiting for some one to mention the Monarcs

I stand corrected - There are some lathes of less then 13" swing that will take stout cuts of hard metals.

My point being the South Bend 9" is no more Flexible then most other 9" lathes.

[MickeyD]

People who say a small lathe won't cut steel don't know how to properly sharpen tooling and setup a job. A big lathe sometimes makes it easier, but a small lathe just makes you pay attention to the details a little more.

[J. Randall]

Joe, my Porter Cable is 12" and weighs in close to a ton, flexible it is not, very rigid.
James

[Hal]

The Rivett 1020 & 1030's are also should be mentioned in the same breath as the 10EE's

Hal

[G1K]

ALL Lathes under 13" are to flexible to take stout cuts of steel and hardened metals, I don't care who made the machine

I beg to differ, Monarch 10EE has a 12.5" swing and will cut darn near anything...

R

[JoeFin]

Also,though I've never run a SB 9", I have heard that their beds are too flexible for any serious cutting passes..

ALL Lathes under 13" are to flexible to take stout cuts of steel and hardened metals, I don't care who made the machine

[Herb W]

SB 9 - never going to be a hogging animal... not what it's for, but attaching it to a good solid heavy base makes a big difference. They have a nice light, sensitive feel for making small delicate parts.
Fwiw - I say keep em all, try em all, decide later.


Btw toolmaker 76 - since it's not been done yet, I think you qualify for a big ol'
YOU SUCK!!!

[gwilson]

If the South Bend has no quick change gear box,better keep the Sheldon. Also,though I've never run a SB 9", I have heard that their beds are too flexible for any serious cutting passes. The Sheldon is probably much the better lathe.

[toolmaker76]

Fortunately one of my sons has worked in a machine shop and knows what this stuff is and about what its worth. I told my wife to have him help her with the auction!

[mototed]

Hate the idea that this is someone's lifelong hobby that was interupted for whatever reason- especially when the machinery has been so well taken care of; but then again someone has to buy it! It will be put to good use!

My son is going to hate me when I croak, All my stuff is in the basement. It will be a pain to move out.
Congrats on the good find. Enjoy

[toolmaker76]

Pictures- will have to get back on that. Realize I had to do some disassembly to get the two lathes home; will try to figure how to do that shortly.

Prices- now that I am leaning on keeping the whole shebang, I guess its not too much of a stretch to let everybody in on what was paid.

The Grizzly mill/drill and the Central lathe were listed on CL at $300 each, but $550 if you took both, which I did. The lathe did not have the 4 jaw chuck with it, or a drill chuck, but did have the quick change tool post, along with the original. I was told it had never been used to cut steel, and I believe it! The fellow had had them in storage while overseas in the military (got a little rusty in storage), and was getting ready to go overseas again. I thought the price more than fair and did not haggle at all. Oh, live center, toolbits, a complete set of radius cutters for the mill went with the deal as well.

The Sheldon L-44 lathe- saw one similar go at auction last fall for $700. I got this one for $500. There was another one sitting next to it, on a factory cabinet (the one I bought was on a wooden platform), but did not have a chuck on it. It went for $225- and the cabinet under it was full of tooling as well! The South Bend 9" lathe didn't get any bids- so I bid $100, finally bought it at $200! Tooling in the drawers- Centech digital calipers, Federal indicator, B & S surface gage, Jacobs drill chuck, two full sets of Vermont American drills, a letter and a 64th set, neither of which looked like any of the drills had been used, a complete set of Forstner bits, lots of misc. drills and toolbits. There is one little gizmo that I haven't figured out yet, was told it may be a milling attachment for one of the lathes. Oh, also a complete set of change gears.

There was another Grizzly mill drill that went at the auction, it had the Grizzly stand and was a little larger than the one I have. It went for $575, looked practically new, and the fellow that bought it found a rotary phase converter stored in the cabinet! There was also a Burke #4 horizontal mill that only brought $100- again, looked to be in great shape, was just concerned that I wouldn't be able to haul it; also, the cutters for it were all in a box and they sold before the machines did. There was a box of chucks that sold at the same time. I think the auctioneer probably should have done the machines first and then the tooling!

Looks like the Sheldon chuck is threaded 1 3/4 - 8, which doesn't seem to be all that common. It seems from what I can research is that metric change gears came with the Sheldon- they were probably stored in the other Sheldon.

The South Bend looks to be a C model- and the chuck is threaded 1 1/2-8, which seems to be pretty common. I don't have a four jaw for it yet, but it won't be any trouble to get one.

This was an personal estate auction. The fellow must have used the equipment to fix up old tractors and motors (antiques), which were the focus of the auction. Somewhere there was another lathe with an 8' bed, which I never did get around to seeing. Once I won the lathes, I set about getting them disassembled so that I could get them loaded on my F150.

Was at a similar auction last spring, only this one the machinery I thought went high, but bought all kinds of tooling relatively cheap. Hate the idea that this is someone's lifelong hobby that was interupted for whatever reason- especially when the machinery has been so well taken care of; but then again someone has to buy it! It will be put to good use!

[Black_Moons]

Reading gloats is boring. I much perfer the pictures too!
Besides, a picture is worth a thousand gloating words

[davidh]

yea.
Your story is a total lie until you post pics.
Not an obligatory fuzzy CL ad picture either - it has to be several - the lathes, tooling in the drawers, a closeup of particularly cool items, etc.
Also, not a requirement and some people just feel better about keeping it to themselves which is fine, but otherwise it's kind of helpful for following value trends if you post how much you snagged the stuff for. Basically, you got totally ripped off unless you tell us how much you paid

thats right !

[tyrone shewlaces]

yea.
Your story is a total lie until you post pics.
Not an obligatory fuzzy CL ad picture either - it has to be several - the lathes, tooling in the drawers, a closeup of particularly cool items, etc.
Also, not a requirement and some people just feel better about keeping it to themselves which is fine, but otherwise it's kind of helpful for following value trends if you post how much you snagged the stuff for. Basically, you got totally ripped off unless you tell us how much you paid