Restoring An Old 1992 Standard Modern 1034

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I take exception to something from 1992 being called “old”. My first lathe was from 1946. It’d have to be prehistoric by this standard.

The answer to your question is more about your personal interest, ability,available time, available disposable income, and purpose in owning a machine tool. Btw, my 1946 lathe got disassembled and sold in pieces after I figured out my own answers to this very same question. Then I bought a 3 year old barely used machine and have been quite happy.

Disclaimer: I’m very very new around here and to machining in general.

I think in this case "old" is a relative term. Given that these machines are for sale by Government Liquidators means they were more than likely from a military installation. The military (at least in the past) believed that very few pieces of equipment should be retained beyond half their expected service life. This was to insure that in the case of a national emergency all equipment would be capable of performing for extended time periods at full operating capacity. This philosophy may have changed in recent years given budget problems, but it was the standard for decades.

Many government entities operate on budget that includes replacement of capital equipment and perishable tooling on a scheduled basis. When a piece of equipment has reached the age where it is deemed cost effective to replace it, the machine is replaced regardless of its condition. It's another of those Catch 22 situations. If you don't spend the money in the year it's budgeted for it won't transfer to the next budget cycle. The money is "lost", and the next annual operating budget is reduced by that amount. So now the money is no longer available the piece of equipment may or may not last until the next budget cycle. Rather than take a chance that the machinery will make it to the next budget cycle the common practice is to CYA and replace it as scheduled, period. In many cases machines are left unprotected outside to further justify that they are indeed in poor condition and warrant replacement.

Most commercial operations would not consider machines of this age "old". They would be in the prime of their productive life, and expected to produce for another 15 years or longer. Frankly these machines are newer than all the machinery in my shop. The oldest machines in my shop date to the early 1900's. Several others are from the late 1930's to the late 1940's. With the newest machines ranging from the 1960's to the late 1980's.
 
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As someone mentioned above, I took a chance on one of those lathes a few years ago and I am well satisfied with the machine. Check the "Crying Shame" post where I go into some details on the one I bought. I considered the purchase to be a gamble, but I figured that if the lathe was a bust, I could recoup half my money on selling the accessories.

The gamble paid off for me and I now have a North American made, fully functional, fully equipped, and very tight machine at less than 2/3rds the cost of a new Chinese import (which is what I likely would have bought if the SM hadn't worked out).
 
Shame it’s setting outside getting rusty ,if you search buying a lathe should give you an idea of what to lookout for.
projectnut: Thank you for the suggestion. I’ve been trying to gather information on the different metal lathes and this forum is great!
 
I'll throw my 2 cents in, not an expert in this. It looks like it has been cannibalized to fix other lathes. If you can't make the missing parts you might have more just in parts then the lathe is worth. Plus why was this one designated to donate parts rather than be repaired? A lot of people claim it"s just surface rust but in my opinion the rust pits the surface and creates a nice surface to sand sown the soft part, the saddle and the tail stock. So the lifespan will seriously shortened unless reground or scraped ways. If they gave it to you and paid for delivery it might be salvaged, too bad I hate to see machinery treated that way.
This is actually a gov’t auction where there are 9 of these Standard Moderns up for sale. Right now, the the are ranging from $45 - $410. The bidding is over on Monday. Thank you for your 2 cents!
 
If I could get one of those for 500 bucks I wouldn't care about the rust much LOL
Notice also that most of them have the carriage parked near the headstock so at least that area of the ways should be decent
Mark
 
If you can get one in the $500 range, and have a lot of time (and like using elbow grease) a SM lathe will last you a good many years. I am concerned about the rust, yes, but at that price it is worth a gamble. [Especially if it includes at least one chuck] :encourage:
 
Funny, how must people would rather buy old American iron instead of the cheap imports and a lot of the comments in this topic were “don’t buy it”. ;)
 
Funny, how must people would rather buy old American iron instead of the cheap imports and a lot of the comments in this topic were “don’t buy it”. ;)
Those who prefer Old American Iron" usually have the chance to inspect the machine and actually see it run. With this style auction there is virtually no way to see it run, or anyone there that knows anything about the history of the machines. It's essentially "a pig in a poke". There is the possibility you can get a good machine, but an even greater possibility that you'll get a piece of junk. Some are willing to take the chance if the price is right. If you do end up with a great machine more power to you, if you don't it could cost more to refurbish it (if it even can be refurbished) than it would cost to buy new.
 
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