Finished up a lathe restore

[daddo]

According to the serial number, it was made in the mid to late 40's.
15" swing and 40" bed.
 Still has the original motor which when taken apart was crudded up and full of mud dabber nests. The bearings were fine. I have pics of the motor torn down, but I figured you may not care to see that.  It had a square nail stuck into the motor shaft keyway for a key.

 For being on a farm and in a barn type shop for so long it was actually in good shape. It came with a chuck, two drive centers, a new live center for the tailstock, large and small rests and wrenches and keyless chuck on a straight shaft. The bench was built in the 60's I'm told and was previously a work bench which one can tell from all of the paint spilled on the wood. I used what I could of the old wood to make a better table for the lathe- the table is fastened to the wall to make it more steady.
 The motor was heavy and aligning it underneath on the sliding shafts alone was all but impossible, so I made a wooden curved support on a stick for the purpose of using a bottle jack to lift and hold the motor while installing it, and later for removing the motor or making adjustments.

 I recorded the speeds using the laser rpm tool. The speeds are;
1. 642
2. 1330
3. 2415
4. Hang on to your hats; 4,887  


 I'm thinking going to a 825 rpm motor in place of the 1,725.  

 That would give me about;
1. 320
2. 650
3. 1,200
4. 2440

 The spindle is a 1"x12 tpi with a MT2. Tail stock is also MT2.
 I'll be machining a 1"x 12 to 1"x 8 adapter.

  It runs smooth and quiet.

[nodima]

Beautiful W/T lathe!!

Drool.

Would look great next to my W/T bandsaw of similar vintage.

[Turner52]

That is one terrific looking lathe. Cudo's to you on the restoration.

[shoottmx]

My hat's off to you restorers of old 'arn. great work!

g

[Philip1231]

Great seeing old American machine tools brought back to life for another generation (or two) of use!

[iclark]

Beautiful restoration job. That is a lathe that any of us would be proud to have in our shop.

The swap to the lower RPM motor sounds like a nice idea for doing bowls.

At a 15" swing, unless you already have faceplates and chucks with a 1"x8tpi thread, I would recommend making that adapter for 1-1/4"x8tpi accessories. They cost a bit more initially, but they are worth it when you start doing larger turnings.

[daddo]

Beautiful restoration job. That is a lathe that any of us would be proud to have in our shop.

The swap to the lower RPM motor sounds like a nice idea for doing bowls.

At a 15" swing, unless you already have faceplates and chucks with a 1"x8tpi thread, I would recommend making that adapter for 1-1/4"x8tpi accessories. They cost a bit more initially, but they are worth it when you start doing larger turnings.

Good idea.

[EightFingers]

“Turned” out rather well.
Now turn some green wood and put the rust back on.....

[MichaelMouse]

Beautiful restoration job. That is a lathe that any of us would be proud to have in our shop.

The swap to the lower RPM motor sounds like a nice idea for doing bowls.

At a 15" swing, unless you already have faceplates and chucks with a 1"x8tpi thread, I would recommend making that adapter for 1-1/4"x8tpi accessories. They cost a bit more initially, but they are worth it when you start doing larger turnings.

Countershaft if you think that 650 (verified by sheave ratios?) is too much for faceplate work.  Did a whale load of 12" stuff on Ol' Blue without, but it's the comfort level of the turner rather than the numbers that count.  Use the tailstock until things are rounded the way you want, and you should have no trouble.  FWIW, my Nova 3000 spends 95% of its time at 680.  But I do own a bandsaw now. 

On the subject of - is that a 15 in the gap, with 12 over the ways?  More common a 12/16 for its era.  Rockwell-badged lathes were, after the buyout.

[SceneryMaker]

That looks beautiful The only problem I see is that there are no chips on it!