Western lathe - Any information?

Axismatt

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Hello all, I am looking at, what is described as, a 8" x 40" Western lathe. It is at auction here in Phoenix and I only have a couple hours to decide to bid. I have tried to do some quick research and cannot find any information on this brand. If I had to guess, I would say it's no older than late 70's or possibly 80's vintage. There are no asset tags pictured, just the word "Western" in the casting on the front of the motor compartment door.

Does anyone here have any knowledge of this unit? Much thanks.
 
Probably a Chinese import, hard to say without a picture
-Mark
ps Or Taiwanese - hopefully the latter
 
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While I've never heard of that brand before, I agree that it "sounds" Chinese. They have a habit of using what they think are very "American" terms on products, figuring that makes them more accepted. It apparently still works; just look at all the brand names in Harbor Freight to see that marketing strategy is still alive and well.
 
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Avoid the temptation to bid without really knowing the pedigree, this is a problem with many auctions and this is often intentional
They don't want you to inspect it too closely
 
Thanks for the help. The bidding went way higher than I was willing to pay, so I opted out. I don't believe it was as Asian unit, unless it was older than I originally thought. It just didn't have that "look". By appearance, it looked much too big, beefy, heavy cast, etc... Not what I generally associate with the more contemporary Asian units, but I could be wrong. It was just odd that I couldn't find anything online regarding this brand. Here's a pic.

Oh well, others will come along. Thanks again!western lathe.jpg
 
I think it might have been a Kirloskar “Western” which I’m thinking was Indian manufacture from around the 1970’s? Don’t mind the caption above the photo - they spelled “Kirloskar” wrong but you can see the names on the headstock pedestal.

-frank

96D48DFC-3043-4D5F-AF32-FA609830BB50.png
 
And agree that the picture of the Western doesn't "look" Asian. The give away for me is the odd font that's often used, and this one's different. I think that you did well to avoid it, simply because it would be something of an orphan and troublesome to get parts or even support on this site.
 
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