Husband passed away and looking for value of South Bend Lathe

[pjnelson]

According to Anvils in America, they started using that design in the late 1930's and went out of business in 1953. On the front on the foot below the horn that's currently covered by the base it's on you should find a serial number. If you can get that, I can tell you the year it was made. If it is 500 pounds, in that condition it would likely go for more than $2000 out here in California. Prices vary a lot region to region though, they don't ship cheaply.

Thank you so much for the information. I will see if I can find someone to jack up that portion of the anvil

 

[packrat2]

I priced a 14 inch SBL once, it went for $1500.00..If I was looking for a lathe, would not want anyone to try and clean it up,
{possessable do more damage than good} most buyers want unmolested machinery...

 

[pjnelson]

Suggest nothing more than a general ordering and removal of unrelated debris.

You definitely dont want to get into anything that could affect its accuracy or be interpreted as doing so. That lathe, prettied up, will likely not appreciate much (its not a collectable old style south bend).

otoh if you're going for selling it as per ebay sell prices vs sold prices, I think it may take a while to sell.

Guess one could put add on the Facebook marketplace.
Lathe and grinder stuff.
Will pay a machine tech/clean up type person to hone surface rust and appraise machine values. $20 per hour/ must bring own tools for the work.
* if I saw this ad on Facebook and it was not too far away, I would go to have a look and take the necessary tools and expect to put 4 hours into the job. ( fine flat file, flat hones, oil, solvent, wire brush, some picks to clean chips, couple of buckets, sack of rags, some laytex gloves. a couple of garbage bags, a wrench set, screwdrivers, an Allen wrench set, flashlight.. X you don't allow power wire brushing hand wheel dials, mostly power wire brushing is a no, no.
"You might ask such a person What tools or equipment would you bring for the work?
-> skip someone who does not know what tools.
One way to clean surface rust is to oil hone the surface (very fast and easy).
Someone that could be helpful should at least know that.
If you have a young person that doesn't mind a little elbow grease, I could give instruction. You don't want a teenager or younger around machines that don't have the power source turned off.
Buy a few fine-side hones and a quart of non-detergent oil (lowest price Auto store oil is fine for this).. and some quality latex gloves. Wet a flat surface with a little oil and with carefully figure 8 motion hone all you can. wipe off all the oil and abrasive grit and then travel a machine movement to the next area to be honed. Flat things like angle plates often come out very good. You want to use new condition hones, not ones that have been abused like for knife sharpening.
A little rust is often the excuse to lowball a price, and machine flippers want to buy everything for scrap price or less.
The lathe will sell much better if it is under power-> but a lathe is dangerous so f you know little about a lathe you should not even try to start it.
2000 to $3500 for the lathe seems in the right ballpark for the lathe
cleaned up perhaps $4500..
But bigger lathes are not easy to sell because often they only sell to a machine shop. Likely your Husband's tools have some flat hones, so you might try the figure 8 oil honing on some of the angle plates. If they are not rust pitted it may take 10 minutes each....and yes there are rust removal chemicals with vinegar being one..But the oil honing is the quick, accurate, proper fix for minor surface rust.

Quick question for anyone... how would I describe it in an ad? Is it 3 phase?

 

[Greg Menke]

likely is, if you can look inside the base and get a pic if the motor placard we can likely figure it iut fir you. will be helpful to state the motor horsepower and voltage also...

 

[pjnelson]

These are the pictures of the only faceplates or writing I could find... hope it is one of these!!!!!

 

[Greg Menke]

Not of the motor, but helpful nevertheless Its good to have the red plate photographed, shows some of the range of the machine's function. I found a picture of what might be inside your machine, sorry its rotated to the left- but you can see the motor down there at the bottom inside its house. Probably not worth digging further than perhaps to see if there is a motor in there, its certainly a 3 phase machine;

I know this is certainly being a fussy project.. it might be worth some effort to look in the end, as in the pic above. If that stuff is missing it will reduce the machines value radically. Given the appearance of the machine otherwise I would not expect stuff to be missing in there but you never know.

 

[pjnelson]

What do I open to view this part of the motor? It is hard for me to picture where this is located on the lathe... sorry I am such a newbie

 

[JohnEvans]

Well if your Husband used it ,it must have motor ! A friend of mine has had that exact machine for 40+ years in fairly regular use. I have used it and thought it was a dang good machine.

 

[Shipp]

What do I open to view this part of the motor? It is hard for me to picture where this is located on the lathe... sorry I am such a newbie

That's the the far left side of the machine. The seam of the machine directly to the left of the nice red faceplate you got a picture of is the edge of the door you see in the picture. It looks like the latch to open it is directly to the left of theat red faceplate on the side of the machine.

 

[packrat2]

Inside the back panel {as per photo} looks clean and motor is there belt is there, this model has a variable speed drive
and three phase motor, a lot of high school shops had this model.

 

[Greg Menke]

Inside the back panel {as per photo} looks clean and motor is there belt is there, this model has a variable speed drive
and three phase motor, a lot of high school shops had this model.

Note my sideways pic above is a stock photo from google images, not of the machine being discussed here.

 

[packrat2]

 

[pan60]

I posted some pic and all the info I am familiar with...Thanks

pluss one on that.

 

[pjnelson]

That's the the far left side of the machine. The seam of the machine directly to the left of the nice red faceplate you got a picture of is the edge of the door you see in the picture. It looks like the latch to open it is directly to the left of theat red faceplate on the side of the machine.

I will check tomorrow. Thanks

 

[pjnelson]

Inside the back panel {as per photo} looks clean and motor is there belt is there, this model has a variable speed drive
and three phase motor, a lot of high school shops had this model.

Thanks... yes, he bought it from a school.

 

[pjnelson]

Well if your Husband used it ,it must have motor ! A friend of mine has had that exact machine for 40+ years in fairly regular use. I have used it and thought it was a dang good machine.

Soooo true

 

[Rob F.]

My clean up project today. I know it's not perfect but I am exhausted!!! Only real rust is on the front of the frame at the very bottom. All the rest seems to clean up well... surface rust and gunk.

Note: Someone said that all of the tools in front do not belong to the lathe. I have removed the drive shaft etc... oops

In your pic #4165 in post #55 the small box has some pipe looking things with a hole drilled in each end, these are pins that connect scaffolding together when stacking levels to make it tall. Not part of the lathe and needed for the rest of the scaffold.
edit: I quoted the post 55 but pics did not come over in the quote??

 

[pjnelson]

In your pic #4165 in post #55 the small box has some pipe looking things with a hole drilled in each end, these are pins that connect scaffolding together when stacking levels to make it tall. Not part of the lathe and needed for the rest of the scaffold.
edit: I quoted the post 55 but pics did not come over in the quote??

Thank you!!! I will label it as scaffolding... the whole barn is like "where is waldo"

 

[michiganbuck]

Your time may be considered and so you might call a local machine dealer and ask that an appraiser might come for a look to make an offer on the whole kit and kabodal. Likely a sharp machine guy could rough estimate everything in an hour or so.

I thought Big B was going to come to have a look.

 

[pjnelson]

I have a call into a local guy to evaluate the equipment... If that doesn't work out, I will see if Big B is still willing to come over. Thanks