Picked this up about a month ago…..10″ swing and a 4′ bed……..vintage 1953. So now between this and the bridgeport no part should ever be “unobtainium”…………I’ll just make it.
*Decent lathes seem to be a dime a dozen on Craigs, the South Bend 9″ lathes, just a bit smaller than this one, are very plentiful. If you’ve been on the fence about getting one, jump off the fence………this is a VERY handy machine. They are easy to move, no where near the pain in the ass that a Bridgeport is to move, it only takes about fifteen minutes to disassemble a lathe this size into about six major components for transport. And now that I’ve made a few parts I would strongly recommend finding a machine with a quick change gearbox…….it just makes things far quicker, especially threading. A fantastic resource / reference for purchasing and operating a lathe is a gent on YouTube called
“mrpete222”, nicknamed Tubalcain. Mr Pete is a retired shop teacher and produces great machine work videos, keeps them short and to the point, just a wealth of information on all things machining.
Just need to wire up with a VFD……no more phase converter noise.
Purchased from a retired Naval Engineer, it’s in amazing shape. We disassembled it to get it out of his basement………..everything but the large base went into the back seat of the zombie-killer.
Quick change gear box and lead screw.
Carriage.
And the bed.
Ok this is fucking strange just bought a ’53 10′ Southbend today took it apart in the guys barn put in my Land Rover drove home put it back together to see what I got and Googled it and out of the 1531 photos clicked on yours. Thought I was looking in my garage! Besides buying the same lathe I brought it home in my 2001 Discovery. Also have a 2002 Freelander G4 addition of course in orange with snorkel all factory, 1993 LWB Range Rover and 1971 Series 3 in red plus a 1969 BMW 750R. You must be my lost brother.
Too funny! You bought a great lathe, and with all of those vintage Rovers you better learn to make parts quick! Thanks for the note!
love to find one to restore
Keep watching Craigslist, not sure where you are in the country, they show up petty regularly up here in the northeast.
For twenty years I spent in the US Coast Guard, I had to rebuild and rework six Southbend Lathes for use on Cutters (ships). Some of the best time and nerve-wracking time spent. Then put many hour repairing equipment parts were to hard to find.