Bought my first lathe

Ah those French, always doing things differently. Good score.
 
I operated a CAZENEUVE many years ago in a little tool and die shop in Riverside California, best machine ever.
 
$500 is a very good price. 16" of swing is a heavy duty lathe.
Congratulations.
Any tooling?
Unfortunately no tooling and only a single 3 jaw chuck. The other not so fun part is this thing uses a proprietary backplate. I'll probably have to get one made if I want a 4 jaw chuck or a collet chuck.

The place selling the lathe didn't even have guys working at the shop anymore that knew how to operate manual machines. They are all using CNC. They may have more stuff for the lathe but no one knows what would have gone with it or where it is.
 
Ah those French, always doing things differently.

I would suggest cruising Craigslist for a Peugeot car, of similar vintage. Buy the car, fix ITS issues, and revel in the engineering revealed. Perhaps that will prepare you for your journey in this lathe adventure. It is good that you are in it at a very low investment, and I wish you all the best in your endeavours. :big grin:
 
Yeah, Peugeot and Citroen- lift the hood and watch the mechanic's jaw drop
I worked for a French engineer, they love complexity
LOL
now all you need is a Huron mill
 
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8mpg, if they are welcoming people, keep going back a couple of times a year, so that if they find the 4 jaw and other tooling, they can let you know. Otherwise the are likely to forget you and throw them out (horrors!!!)
 
Dabbler, Im was going to email them and see if they would let me take a look around. They have a lot of old machines they dont use anymore. They were happy to get rid of this lathe for the real estate. Thanks for the advice.
 
Congratulations!

I learn something new every time I log in here. What a machine! I also worked for a French company for 5yrs and was always amazed with the stuff that would show up from the parent company. Some of it we had a problem with but all of it was ingenious. I guess you could only expect a lathe this intricate from the country who first perfected the metal lathe.

Good luck and keep us posted. For me it's a really daunting beast with incredible potential.
 
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