I'm pretty new to machining, and I'm almost ashamed to show my lathe (compared to the rest of the machines on here, that are so clean that they look like they were just uncrated from the factory), but what the heck. I love the old girl.
It's a 1947 South Bend 9" X 54" "C" model. I've acquired a milling attachment for it, made a ball-turning attachment, and it's now sporting a QCTP. The old girl (my wife calls it my mistress) is unrestored - the paint is original. When I got it, it had very little tooling beyond a 3-jaw and 4-jaw, and most of its change gears were missing (I have them all now), but there was absolutely zero measurable spindle runout, and the bed ways were good except for the odd ding near the chuck (closer to the chuck, though, than I'm likely to cut), and most of the scrape marks still clear.
There have been several improvements made since the pictures were taken (stainless steel chip pan now, instead of the Tupperware container lid in the picture, nicer lamp, overhead radiant heater for those cold nights in the shop, Phase II toolpost, etc.)
One day I'll probably restore it...but since I use it pretty much daily, I hate to take it out of service...
It's a 1947 South Bend 9" X 54" "C" model. I've acquired a milling attachment for it, made a ball-turning attachment, and it's now sporting a QCTP. The old girl (my wife calls it my mistress) is unrestored - the paint is original. When I got it, it had very little tooling beyond a 3-jaw and 4-jaw, and most of its change gears were missing (I have them all now), but there was absolutely zero measurable spindle runout, and the bed ways were good except for the odd ding near the chuck (closer to the chuck, though, than I'm likely to cut), and most of the scrape marks still clear.
There have been several improvements made since the pictures were taken (stainless steel chip pan now, instead of the Tupperware container lid in the picture, nicer lamp, overhead radiant heater for those cold nights in the shop, Phase II toolpost, etc.)
One day I'll probably restore it...but since I use it pretty much daily, I hate to take it out of service...