Show us your lathe!

[Daddyjack]

Here is my old Monarch. I did a complete restoration about 20 years ago and she serves me well. My shop is in the basement and I brought it down by myself. That was quite a day. Jack

[PixMan]

Nice Monarch! The resto still looks great 20 years after.

This is the Taiwanese "Victor 1640" I got for my retired Dad's home shop a few years ago. It came to him from an appreciative shop owner in Mentor, Ohio who had bought a 2nd new machine from the company I was working for. I had installed the first, and he was so happy with it he bought a 2nd machine a year later. When I got there to install it, he had this lathe, a Bridgeport and a saw in the middle of his floor.

I asked him what was he going to do with that lathe. He told me "I guess I'll throw it on Craigslist." I asked how much, he said "about $500". I was telling him how I'd gotten my dad a BP and was looking for a lathe and that if he would load it onto a truck with his forklift for me, I'd pay him $550. He agreed to that. At the end of my week there, I'd finished the installation and training, and prepared to leave. The owner approached me and told me he was giving me the lathe..."Send the truck." I had to clear it with the owner of the company I worked for, explaining that the owner was giving it to my DAD, not ME. A little shipping damage claim got us free trucking and a new cross-slide screw (that was bad anyhow, but they broke off the handle/end of screw.) It cost us a sum total of $545 to get this machine in his shop.

It came with the Mitsubishi DRO, a 10" 3-jaw chuck (not the one shown), and the Dorian CA QCTP. It even came with a No.2 tool block and a NO.7 cutoff tool block. Last week I had to relocate the Z-axis DRO and put a new reader head on because whoever installed it first missed by 4-1/2". Now we can get right up to the spindle nose when using the collet closer we added (also a freebie.)

[Harold_V]

Here is my old Monarch. I did a complete restoration about 20 years ago and she serves me well.

Very nice for an old machine.
I wonder---have readers noticed the width of the apron? It's no secret why Monarchs were such great machines.

Harold

[Daddyjack]

You are right Harold. The apron spans 23" and the the distance between the main bearings is just over 2'. It was sitting in the back of a shop covered with a thick layer of dried grease for 30 years before I found it. The original scrape marks are still on the ways. The one thing I have never been able to find out is the correct mix of back gears. I have the tag with all the thread combinations on it and two 5 gal. buckets of gears but I have not been able to determine the position each gear should be in to obtain a particular speed. Any help there would be appreciated. Thanks, Jack

[mattgatten]

1942 South Bend Heavy 10R (Small Bore)


Take care,
Matt

[Frank Ford]

Rambold, the small turret lathe:

[Russ Hanscom]

Now that is a nice little toy; well not a toy for many modeling small parts.

[jim rozen]

Frank, somebody stole the right-hand support for your lathe bed!
Should look like this:



Added bonus, these machines can be changed over to look different:



Jim

[Frank Ford]

Frank, somebody stole the right-hand support for your lathe bed!

Yeah, it's barely a six inch swing - just a bit bigger than a jeweler's lathe. Good for the little things I make, though, and the turret holds regular 5/8 shank tools.

[capefarewell]

Hendey lathe:

[kapullen]

Southwest Industries Prototrak 16 x 30 cnc lathe

[Harold_V]

Kap,
Can you provide a little information on the CNC lathe?

I find it interesting that it has handles on the outside that are not mechanically connected to the carriage. A brief description of how it operates would be appreciated.

Harold