My turn to get lathed!

[DSW]

I took a machining class last turn to learn the basics of a lathe. I figured I get it in before the tech school dumped their machining program this summer. I'd have loved to have picked up one of the lathes they were dumping, but they wanted to let them all go to one person rather than piece meal them, and the only location I have that's really suitable for a lathe right now would be a nightmare to move a semi decent sized lathe. The guy I was sharing a machine with is a local cop and he spotted this lathe sitting in the driveway of a local house and stopped and talked to the owner. He'd just picked up a new lathe and was going to list this on on CL. I talked to him and he said he dig up all the parts and let me know when I could see it run.

Finally managed to match schedules this weekend, so I've got my own lathe now! It's an older Clausing, 10" or 12" x 36". I would have liked a 13" x 40" to have a bigger thru hole in the head stock, but the ones I looked at were too much for the budget, or too heavy to move without a lot more hassle. Unit seems tight, there's a bit of wear near the chuck as usual, Need to clean up the cross slide a bit, it's got one small tight spot. I'm thinking it's a nick or ding in the dovetail from the feel.

We removed the legs at the owners home and managed to muscle it onto a SS flat cart I've got and push it up the 11' ramp into the back of the F550 to take it home. Up across the lawn with the truck so we only had to go cross country about 40' to get it around the back of the house and in the ground floor back door.

3 jaw, 4 jaw, steady rest, follower rest, threading dial, old style tool post holder, spare gears and some assorted parts...$400. Next thing I need to do is find where the original base is for my quick change tool post holder is so I can mount it on this machine. I've got a few things planned to do with this over the up coming weekend if I get it all set up and have the time to play.

Next I need to locate some cheap DRO scales for the machine. The old owner had a set he showed me on one of his other units that he picked up cheap ( under $250-300 IIRC). The dials on this are a bit hard to read, so as soon as I locate a suitable set and have the free cash, that will probably be my 1st investment for this.

[Hammack_Welding]

That will be a fine machine. You will be surprised just how many things you will find to do with it. I have done a lot of work off of a lathe that size over the years.

[J-W]

You'll have a blast with it once you get it up and running. I acquired an old Southbend circa 1937 that has quite a bit of wear in the headstock bushings but use it all the time. Check out this forum for lathe info. Lots of good info.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/

[kazlx]

Definitely one of the machines you don't know how you lived without until you own one...

[larphead]

Good score

Of course now you will need to stock up on round stock of various sizes/materials

[killdozerd11]

That was a great find

You will love it

[forhire]

Congratulations!

I've thought about putting some cheap scales on my ancient leblond. The dials on my lathe are hard to read and I have a mile of backlash... at times they'd be darn handy. That said I crank out plenty of work on the old lathe without anything fancy. I have a friend that simply mounted cheap calipers to his lathe and I've thought about that. I've seen some import DRO systems for really inexpensive. Post up some links to the system your looking at... I'd be interested in looking at a few options.

[SWells]

In a years time, you'll never know how you survived without it.....let the tooling collecting begin!

[PapaLion]

It took MarkBall took about 3 months to get his really running smoothly, maybe a bit more. Now, the only problem is everytime I go over to see him he's got a new sumthin' for it... and friend none of those things look cheap. So just figure it is like a sailboat, a place where you drop money in for awhile. The good news is Mark has added the mill and got it really crankin' I've done very little on the project. I helped unload the lathe, and I happened to have a piece of heavy square tubing welded up which could be modded to a stand for mill. I don't think that gives me much of amy "borrowing" time on it.
but he just loves the thing and I'm hoping you will become engrossed in yours soon and we can see some new kool items emerge.

[el bob]

Congratulations DSW. With all the comprehensive replies and hard-earned advice you give on this forum, you deserve it.

[LarryO]

Nice score DSW.

I used to use the exact same lathe 12 odd years ago when i was machining starter motor nose cones from rough Alu cast.
I always wanted that lathe when he upgraded. He still had it when i left.
Then he shut the shop and took that lathe to the scrap metal joint.

Found out too late to go to collect it.

[dunemetal]

http://www.lathes.co.uk/

Good reference for your particular model. Clausing made some nice machines. I picked up a 6329 a while back. Your is a bit older, maybe a model 100/200...I didn't really look that closely.

Tell us how it runs

[killdozerd11]

Now you will hanging around the practical machinist website a bunch

They speak lathe over there lots of great stuff on there site

[Lutadam]

I understand a lathe machine is the only machine capable of manufacturing itself. I have never had a chance of seeing one physically at work. Here in Uganda, the owners hide them behind doors, you only instruct them from the front to do for you a certain job. Incredible stuff!!

[Matt_Maguire]

Outstanding DSW! That's a 12" & were pretty common in the midwest for automotive electric shops with a shorter bed. You'll be busy for awile.

@Lutadam, the arguement was it was easier to cut a flat with a lathe with some fixtures than it was to cut a screw with a mill. I never ends... You need both!

Matt

[rabidchimp]

Excellent! I year or so ago, I traded a running, rideable 1990 CR500 for a Hardinge Turret Lathe. Was just sitting in his dad's shop, and his dad got it from a Buddy, and said he could trade it for the bike he'd been after. Guy drove it down on a trailer from 2.5 hours away. I had an electrician friend of mine rewire it to work with it's new home's electrical system, and everything worked just fine. I've got my own shop now, and the lathe is still sitting there. Gotta bring it home one day. It needs to get used! Have fun with your new machine.
-Aaron