Going to bid on another lathe this week end

Technical Ted said:
It looks like the worst of it extends to the inside edge of the chuck and then stops. The carriage might not go this far while using the 3 jaw chuck, but when you remove it to use a collet or face plate you will be going much farther towards the spindle. So, yes, I would say that machine has been heavily used up by the spindle, lack of lubrication, or both. But, depending on what type of work you want to do with it and the price you can get if for it might still be worth checking out.

Ted
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Looks like some heavy wear in front of the tailstock, also.
 
Well, a bit of good news. Just talked with my brother so I get to go over Friday and have a closer look.
A few things that concern me now, as said earlier in the thread lubrication, broken teeth. If previous owners did not take the time to lubricate the ways then what else got missed along the way. Spindle, gear box, lead screws? Could really be a disaster.

What really attracted me to this one is the accessories like stop, taper attachment and a 4 jaw chuck (outside the picture), And the thought it is only 25 minutes away.

I am still going to bid on it, but at a much lower price. I turned a smaller SB down 2 weeks ago that was going for $500. Was 2 hours away. Not in a hurry to buy one as I have a new mini lathe that does pretty much what I need in the electronic shop restoring vintage radio. Just love to have a bigger vintage lathe.
 

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The path to get a really good one of these is to reject a bunch of them. But it takes a lot of willpower to walk away. Rather than talking yourself into it you should be doing the opposite. But it's hard. Many a good man has fallen by the wayside. Sorry, bad pun
-M
 
markba633csi said:
The path to get a really good one of these is to reject a bunch of them. But it takes a lot of willpower to walk away. Rather than talking yourself into it you should be doing the opposite. But it's hard. Many a good man has fallen by the wayside. Sorry, bad pun
-M
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Sounds like words of wisdom!
So far I have walked away from 3 of what was said to be "good deals". I did not see the deal in them. And really do not want to buy one just to say I did. I just talked with my brother again and he is going to bid 250 max on it. Could make a decent parts lathe. Or not....

BTW, great pun!
 
theradioshop said:
Sounds like words of wisdom!
So far I have walked away from 3 of what was said to be "good deals". I did not see the deal in them. And really do not want to buy one just to say I did. I just talked with my brother again and he is going to bid 250 max on it. Could make a decent parts lathe. Or not....

BTW, great pun!
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Absolutely!
 
hard to tell much from pics, that line could simply be old dried oil. Only way to know for sure is to hold a ruler or straight edge against the side of the V and see how much of a gap there is. Even if there is some wear, it's still considerably more of a lathe than a minilathe (with no offense intended). Back gears, QCGB, taper attachment (on its own worth $250-400) and alot more room to work with.

to riff off of Mark's saying, a good way to not get a decent lathe is to turn down every lathe you see waiting for the perfect one to show up :)
 
The older South Bends don’t have hardened ways.
Personally, I would pass, many have expressed the same conce.
Walk away man
 
I would walk away.
I looked at some tired machines in my search and I’m glad that members here cautioned me and I didn’t jump.
Patience is your friend.
Your situation is almost exactly like mine.
I had a mini lathe but was looking for something larger.
I looked at about four machines before I stood down and concentrated on my mini lathe.
And then my cream puff, barely used South Bend 10K popped up. And I paid the same price as I was willing to pay for an much older, more tired machine.
Pass on this one friend.
 
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First thanks to all that has offered words of wisdom. Much appreciated.

Second, I will not be getting this lathe. As noted before there is way too much wear in the ways. Don't think I ever seen something worn this bad. If it was laying on the floor you could trip over it!

I went by there late yesterday and the owner had pulled it from the auction and decided not to sale it. Thought that was strange as he left all the tooling in two big tool boxes mixed with hand tools. Mostly just HSS and tool holders Looks like no one will get taken this time...

So back to looking. There is one out there, just have to be patient.
 
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