W. P. Davis Lathe

[oldboy1950]

this has been sitting in a storage trailer for a few years and has surface rust but is not heavily rusted.
i have first chance on purchasing this lathe .
the spindle has lots of play when i lift the chuck.
the fellow selling the lathe says he has another bucket of tooling at home that goes along with the tooling in the buckets and tray in one of the photos, the steady rest is almost off camera in the same photo.
there is also another chuck off camera which brings the total to 4 that i could see.
he is asking $200.
what do you guys think ...
Dan

 

[Bob Korves]

No motor?

 

[francist]

I'm not nearly as experienced as lots of folks here, but for two hundred bucks I'd probably buy that. Maybe not as my first and only lathe, but from what what I can see it's got the makings for a nice project that could turn out really well. And if not, surely I'd get two hundred dollars worth of use from the chucks and tooling.

Just my thinkin'.

-frank

 

[brino]

Setting expectations is the first step.
I think it comes down to what you're after: a project to work on or a tool to immediately work on other things.
...and of course in the real-world it's usually not one or the other but somewhere on the spectrum between.

As a tool:
-ideally you would get something that is immediately useful as a lathe to work on other things.

As a project:
Getting into a project lathe is more about what your starting with and what pieces you can rebuild/remake, those determine the ultimate capabilities.
The project lathe turns into a tool after hundred to thousands of hours work. But during it you gain extremely valuable experience about all workings and functions of the lathe.
An active, open user community is a big plus, hopefully someone has rebuilt that model before and is willing to share their experience.

the spindle has lots of play when i lift the chuck.

That may be fixed with new bearings/shims, but will take some effort, time and perhaps some money, depending on how far gone they are.

My favourite test for an old lathe is with the carriage near the headstock and half-nuts open, tighten the carriage lock so you can just move the carriage, then try to crank it towards the tailstock and see if it gets tight. Usually most way wear happens near the headstock and this give an quick, no-tool indication of wear. However, that surface rust would likely interfere with this test on this lathe.

There seem to be many parts included......is there a full set of change gears?
$200 for that condition including all the chucks, legs etc. is not unreasonable.
I would want to add a quick-change tool post for convenience.

You should look for a sale on evapo-rust too .

The above is all my experience/opinion.
I am certain others will feel very different.

-brino

 

[timvercoe]

I'm a sucker for a project, so, I'm in! Seriously, I'd have to echo brino has said above, lots of good advise there. Tim

 

[Silverbullet]

Just think how you will feel when in a few months ,or whatever time frame you can devote to the lathe ,how it will look all clean and painted , shiny as a new penny. Its amazing the difference that you have to make it beautiful .no matter what you can proud of the job .plus you will no the machine part by part, if it makes a little jiggle you will no why and what to do to remedy the problem. I know this from doing the same thing on lots of tools and machinery.

 

[Kernbigo]

If the bed is any good you can't go wrong, put a treadmill motor on for variable speed

 

[oldboy1950]

thanks guys, with your encouragement i have decided to pull the trigger on this one and will post photos of the move and rebuild process .
i have also committed to purchase an antique barnes lathe previous to the davis.
i will be picking up the barnes tomorrow in Conn. and will post photos of it.
thanks again for your help, i am happy to be a member of this site.
Dan
also thank you to the candy cane elf !

 

[brino]

i have also committed to purchase an antique barnes lathe previous to the davis.
i will be picking up the barnes tomorrow in Conn. and will post photos of it.

Neat! I have a 4-1/2" Barnes; dual lead screw, most of the change gears, unfortunately the legs and pedals(!) were gone before I got it.
I may have some documentation for it too....let me know if you want me to dig for it.
-brino

 

[oldboy1950]

hey Brino;
this is a barnes 4 1/2 that i purchased from a friend several months ago and have since taken it apart, cleaned, oiled and fit with an electric motor.
the barnes that i am picking up tomorrow has change gears, steady rest, a boring bar setup, big face plate and a three jaw chuck all pieces that i am missing from my lathe.
it doesn't have legs...dang!
i have a new reprint of an old barnes catalog and info in my american lathe builders by kenneth cope.
do you have more info besides this ?
Dan