Patternmaker's Lathe? Or just random parts home-built?

[twagler]

Hi all, I'm thinking of purchasing this lathe, for which the seller is asking $150. Seller is describing it as an antique metal-working lathe, but that doesn't seem quite correct based on the pictures. Would this be perhaps a patternmaker's lathe? And is it an actual complete as-manufactured piece of equipment as originally sold by the company? In some ways, it looks like it might be a home-built assembly of different parts from different lathes. Looking for some input from the folks here who are more knowledgeable on this type of equipment than I am. The name cast into the legs is "F. Blemkin", for which I cannot find any information online.

Thanks, Tom

 

[M.B. Naegle]

It's a wood lathe that someone added a stationary cross-slide compound assembly to. Good for very light metal work like truing up a bushing, shortening a bolt, etc.

The legs may have come from something else. The bed and tailstock construction look home-brew to me, but they look old. Hard to tell if the head-stock and tailstock are castings or weldments. Could be someone's well-executed depression era shop project.

 

[rivett608]

I wonder if it was some kind of trade school project? To me it looks shop made but a few parts scavenged from other things.

 

[john.k]

If the 4 jaw chuck is any good,its well worth $150........Id grab it ,and part out the compound slides,legs ,cone pulley ...........keep the two channels for projects ,keep the 4 jaw ,flip the rest.

 

[13engines]

You'll get a lot more out of your $150 taking your wife/girlfriend out to a semi-fancy dinner then you'll ever get out of this. Looks like inadequacy throughout. Doesn't look used much. I imagine that's for a reason.

 

[L Vanice]

That is a lot of iron for the price.

The two vertical pins on the top of the tailstock suggest that the screw feed can be disconnected and a lever attached to make it a lever feed for drilling.

It was fairly common for wood lathes and even early metal lathes to have a bed of two stout wooden planks with cast iron headstock and tailstock. Ernie Conover even sold such lathes with optional cast iron legs back in the 1980's. So the steel channel bed might be a replacement for an old wood bed.

Conover Lathe

Conover Co. - History | VintageMachinery.org

The picture below is from the 1860 Watkins Mill in Missouri and shows a circa 1860 or so wood lathe with wood bed and legs and cast iron working parts. The mill was run with a steam engine salvaged from a river boat. The mill stopped operating in 1898 and all the original equipment remains as it was then.

Watkins Woolen Mill | Missouri State Parks

In 1870, there were more than 2,400 small, local woolen mills in the United States. They were located in every state, including the Deep South. Today, Watkins Mill is the only one remaining with its original machinery still in place. Like the plantation home Watkins built earlier, the mill was...

mostateparks.com

Rockwell, Myford and other wood lathes had optional slide rests for precision turning of wood and even light metalwork.

Larry

 

[rustyironism]

The tool holder looks like the kind the shaper guys covet and always are more than I care to bid on at auctions.

Mike

 

[13engines]

That is one cool old, albeit dusty picture. :-) The OP's lathe might do a number on wood. Just looks like a lot of work putting the power to it and getting it to go. I guess if this is strictly hobby fun time why not? I see that this is the Antique Machinery section. You guys have big hearts for this stuff. Did a full on to a 24" G & E Shaper years back so I'm not immune. Miss that purdy'd up ole beast.

 

[john.k]

If you look at videos of the few remaining bell founders ,the machinist uses a long handle tool on a rest to hand shape the bell..........he can tell from the cutting note that the shape will ring true.

 

[twagler]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I was teetering on the fence, leaning in the direction of making an offer to purchase the lathe, but someone else snagged it first. To be honest I'm not too fussed since I already have too many half-finished projects on the go. So instead, I spent $45 today and purchased this. It was much lighter to carry home.