Well, I am back with an update.... I have bought the lathe.....
John, your photos and insight made the inspection of the lathe so easy. I knew what I was looking at, especially the headstock, because of it. Thank you, so much
I made the short trip down to Penobsquis New Brunswick from my home, to meet George, at about noon today. Very pretty rolling countryside for the drive. I liked George right from the start, friendly, helpful and kind and honest. He told me that this lathe came out of the Potash mine that closed down a couple of years ago. The mine had purchased the lathe, but it was never used and was sitting idle, when George ended up with it in an auction bid. It was kind of added to the large lot of piping he was bidding on. He thought that he might use it to turn large wooden bowls with, but decided to get some money out of it instead.
So, neither one of us have seen it run. His gamble was next to nothing, monetarily, but mine is great...
I am not at all worried, at this point. I managed to coax 3 out of the 4 cap screws loose, holding the headstock cover on, but the last one was beginning to round over from my effort. George, luckily, had a set of torches at hand, and heated up the area, which freed up the stubborn cap screw. George admitted that this would be the first time the he has seen the inside of the headstock.
The headstock cover was not really as heavy as it looked, as it is curved inside as well as the outside. It might be #100, but it is possible to damage the oil lines, as well as one gear at the rear left corner, if you are not careful to lift it high enough.If you think that you can simply slide it off..... Noooo .... do not !!
With the height and position of the cover, it would be wise to utilize the central anchor point to lift the cover. There was a forged lifting eye bolt in place on the cover, and after climbing onto the ways of the lathe. I was able to lift the cover with a few fingers through it and lower it to George and to the ground.
I feel foolish that I didn't get any pics of inside the headstock. I guess that I was busy inspecting all of the gears and clutches.... But, the insides are pristine, with everything still oily and the gear teeth look like new, with no noticeable wear to my eye. I forgot to bring some oil with me, and didn't try to turn the belts to activate the oil pump, but I am very confident that this lathe is dirty, but looking in real good shape.
George left the lathe as oily and as dirty as he found it, knowing that to store it, that was the best thing to do. He added many cans of Fluid Film to all of the exposed surfaces as well. It was under a generous overhang and covered with a tarp.
Here's a few pics that I took this afternoon..
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I'll post this for now....
Thanks for everyone's help
Brian