The Home Machinist!

BigDumbDinosaur wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 1:32 am

curtis cutter wrote: ↑Sun Feb 14, 2021 8:59 pm

neanderman wrote: ↑Fri Jan 08, 2021 11:00 pm Very cool to have the receipt!

According to https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ the $301.00 in 1925 dollars would be equivalent to $4,500.00 in 2021.

4500 Washingtons for a quality lathe is a good deal, eh?

I thought you said Washingtonians...

Bought this South Bend 9A about 25 years ago from a dealer in Baltimore. It was originally owned by an elderly gentleman who had it in his attic. It had to be removed through an attic window as I understand it. I also used it in an attic for a few years, but took it apart to move it.

Some updated photos of my JET 1236PS installation.

These photos are from last October, right after I had installed the semi-permanent electrical setup (which is "VFD-ready"), and fabricated and installed a collet/tooling tray. There's more work to be done. I need to blast and paint the tooling tray, acquire some more collets, and procure and install a VFD.

Meanwhile, the lathe is not getting rusty from lack of use. Below, a part for my locomotive is being made.


...the finished part.

neanderman wrote:Very cool to have the receipt!

Not just the receipt but the finance contract too! I love how it specifies the the actual denomination of each payment and not much else. Looks like in 1925 the payment denomination was more of a concern than other incidents like defaulting etc..

When last did you see a finance contract that took up only three lines on a page?
Now days its considered short of it is 3 pages long. .

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hi guy's
i'm new here, and joined because i have recently added an old lathe to my workshop....
but i have no idea what make she is.... can annybody help me...? i'l post some pictures below...
if this helps, i'm in belgium, en she has a plate reading "R.S.stokvis & fils bruxelles" i know rs stokvis was a dutch trading company and they had daughter company's in athour contry's , like one in belgium, in brussels... but they imported and sold stuf... i don't think they made lathes themselfs... so i'm thinking this lathe is either german or american...... who knows more or can point me in a good direction?

Doesn't look like any lathe made in America. I would guess it was made in Germany or a neighboring country.

There's some fairly distinctive features on that lathe so that will help Thaulo. That round casting on the head stock is one I've not seen before.About the best web site I know of would be this one for information about machine tools. http://www.lathes.co.uk/page21.html Without any name to really start with it's still going to be tough to find though. It does have the European layout for the carriage hand wheel being on the far right, so I'm almost positive it's not American. My best guess is it was made somewhere in the late 1940's after the war up to possibly into the late 1960's. I also think your correct and that's a tag from the dealer who sold the lathe.

It's also unusual having those two vertical tail stock bed locking bolts. I suspect it might have been made to a tool room lathe standard. Is there any evidence of machined or ground flat areas and threaded bolt holes on the rear of the lathe bed? If so those would have been used for a taper turning attachment. That still doesn't conclusively identify it as a tool room quality lathe, but it's another indicator.

There were MANY machine manufacturers in Europe; my lathe is Polish, my rather heavy drill press is Belgian.
Here in Portugal I see Portuguese made lathes advertised, as well as Italian, German, Spanish...
Transport of that sort of thing used to cost a lot in relation, so they didn't travel as far as they do now. It could well have been made close to home.

I bought my Belgian drill press in Belgium I think, maybe it was southern NL. It's 3-400kg of good old iron. This big wood bandsaw is Belgian too, got it at auction for 60 euros. also heavyish.

Could you mean these?
Also this tool came withe it... the holes seem to match

Follow rest ! Turn it around 180* ,the finger should be on the opposite side of the tool.

Sorry I should have been more specific Thaulo. I meant threaded holes and/or machined and ground flat areas on the outside rear vertical face of the bed casting. Those would be for what's called a taper turning attachment. Most times but not always, tool room designated lathes were designed from the start to mount one even if the machine was bought without it. Again it still not a sure indicator of being built to a higher accuracy standard. But those dual locking bolts on the tail stock are something you just might see on a tool room quality lathe.

A comment, and please accept it in the spirit in which it is offered.
The attached images of the lathe indicate that the slide surfaces are not lubricated. That bodes poorly for the longevity and accuracy of the machine.

Before a machine tool is operated, it should be well wiped, with fresh (proper) oil applied to all slide surfaces. If that isn't routine, extreme wear should be expected, as well as diminished response (moving the slide may or may not be as expected).

If, at any time, the oil on way surfaces is discolored (black, from wear of the machine), it should be wiped and oiled. For a machine that has not received this kind of care, you can expect that discoloration will be rapid. Just keep wiping and oiling. Eventually all of the accumulated crud will be eliminated. At that point the machine slides will move much easier.

H