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George Swift 9A lathe info?

That Swift is a pretty solid looking lathe,the bed would be twice as deep as my Taiwanese lathe of similar size. I like the round hole in one side of the tool post, good for drilling big holes. I have never seen a monarch CY, but it would have to be a pretty solid machine to beat that Swift. Price is pretty reasonable too.
 
" Swift " made very good lathes. That one is at the small end of their range but it looks of reasonably recent design IE mid 1960's to early 1970's. It looks like it may have had a hard life but if it's anything like in good condition you've got a real lathe there.

Regards Tyrone.
 
I have a Swift ,a bit bigger,but looks similar mechanically.Good points would be taper bearings (Gamet?),taper turning ,simple (only one clutch,external to head.)No advanced features,mine has 800 rpm top speed,despite claimed being made for carbide tooling.Mechanically,it wont be a patch on a Monarch,with very few "features".Simple ,basic lathe,in other words.They do have very heavy head gears,bull gear like a tractor.Could also have changegears/.Added...No pressure oiling anywhere ,all splash or wick.
 
I think the 9A was the smallest model in the line up ,I've never seen one as recent as that one. As others have said ,it should be a good one.
 
OK, thanks for all that. It's not far from me so I'll arrange to take a look.

The Monarch weighs 2.6 tonnes so it's no lightweight. I can still do good work with it, it has a brilliant taper attachment that I use for turning prop shaft tapers. Just the cross slide & compound are badly worn and there's a ton of backlash in the cross slide screw, and the gibs are maxed out with still too much cross slide slop.

I can fix the cross slide & compound but it's a lot of work as anyone who's re-scraped stuff will know. But there's nothing at all that I can do about the headstock spindle bore at a pathetic 1.5". The Swift at 2.5" is much more like it for decent shaft work. I don't really have the space for 2 big lathes though (well, I do, but I don't want to give up that much floor space).

OTOH the Monarch has the single tooth dog clutch and a comprehensive QCGB and if the Swift has neither - hmmm.

PDW
 
RC99 said:
Looks to have some unusual spindle nose. At 67mm spindle bore it is small for the 8" series spindle nose and too big for the 6" series.
Click to expand...

Yeah I noticed that. I'm pretty sure it won't be camlock and if it isn't some other form of positive lock, I won't want to know. I'm over dealing with proprietary chuck mounts and it's not like I actually need to buy another machine now, the Monarch works.

I'll see what's what next week.

PDW
 
PDW said:
Yeah I noticed that. I'm pretty sure it won't be camlock and if it isn't some other form of positive lock, I won't want to know. I'm over dealing with proprietary chuck mounts
PDW
Click to expand...

From the pics - hard to see, apart from the American A series short taper spindle nose, it could like (if not the same) as the Ward & Herbert flanges (like here http://www.lathes.co.uk/ward-lathes-late-1960s-onwards/ )

The same pattern was often used by other large lathe builders because many works already had ''lot's of stuff'' that could be used, ........and while cumbersome and slow to change, is a rock solid chuck to spindle mount.
 
The A B C and 1 2 3 position labels on the two levers at lower front suggests it has the standard limited range feed / threading box. 9 English TPI, 9 Metric Pitches and 9 Feeds. Norton box with 54 (I think) threads was optional extra.

Clive
 
I've worked a couple of good sized 1950s Swift lathes,about 12"centre height both lovely machines,just about silent. Bomb-proof. Also a Swift-Sentinel belonging to a friend,but somewhat noisier! Oh,and also a smaller one "made for Alfred Herbert by George Swift,Halifax"
 
Clive603 said:
The A B C and 1 2 3 position labels on the two levers at lower front suggests it has the standard limited range feed / threading box. 9 English TPI, 9 Metric Pitches and 9 Feeds. Norton box with 54 (I think) threads was optional extra.

Clive
Click to expand...

OK, that's not encouraging either. Assuming it was built in the late 1950's or later, why would they do that? Got to be penny-pinching on a machine like that.

PDW
 
PDW said:
OK, that's not encouraging either. Assuming it was built in the late 1950's or later, why would they do that? Got to be penny-pinching on a machine like that.

PDW
Click to expand...

Or specially built for a job or certain range of work - the old firms didn't spend brass when they didn't have to.
 
Limy Sami said:
Or specially built for a job or certain range of work - the old firms didn't spend brass when they didn't have to.
Click to expand...

Yes, quite possible. The current owners are a propellor/shaft shop so probably don't do a lot of threading anyway.

I think that I'd actually be better off with a CNC lathe as they seem to have bigger bores as a rule and tapers/threads become a non-issue. Finding one in good working order at a price I'm prepared to pay is the catch. Everything needs to be freighted in and that adds another $2K easily.

I'll give them a ring in the next couple days and go take a look. Got a good idea of the things I need to check out now, besides general wear. I'm in no hurry so if this machine doesn't tick all the important boxes, I'll pass. I'm hanging out for a DS&G 17 with taper attachment but they're so rare as to be ridiculous. I actually let one go by some years ago, been kicking myself ever since.

PDW
 
PDW said:
Yes, quite possible. The current owners are a propellor/shaft shop so probably don't do a lot of threading anyway.

I think that I'd actually be better off with a CNC lathe as they seem to have bigger bores as a rule and tapers/threads become a non-issue. Finding one in good working order at a price I'm prepared to pay is the catch. Everything needs to be freighted in and that adds another $2K easily.

I'll give them a ring in the next couple days and go take a look. Got a good idea of the things I need to check out now, besides general wear. I'm in no hurry so if this machine doesn't tick all the important boxes, I'll pass. I'm hanging out for a DS&G 17 with taper attachment but they're so rare as to be ridiculous. I actually let one go by some years ago, been kicking myself ever since.

PDW
Click to expand...

In my working experience DSG's with taper attachments are quite hard to fine.. I'd say only maybe between 1 in 5 and 1 in 10 lathes had them over here. Normally you just got the standard lathe, only people who needed to use a taper attachment on a regular basis bought them.

As Sami says lots of owners were pretty thrifty in the old days and only bought the machine equipped what they were going to get their money's worth from. Most of the time the people who " got the cat a sardine " and bought every possible extra were the ones who were spending other people's money. IE Universities, Government establishments etc.

Regards Tyrone.
 
".....As Sami says lots of owners were pretty thrifty in the old days and only bought the machine equipped what they were going to get their money's worth from. Most of the time the people who " got the cat a sardine " and bought every possible extra were the ones who were spending other people's money. IE Universities, Government establishments etc....."
Spot on: I remember a tender sale, decades ago in Sheffield, at what used to be called "Safety in Mines" - now the massive Heath & Safety Executive (don't you just love the word "Executive") - where a Deckel FP1 was on offer. There it was, complete with every extra - and I mean everything, including a long-reach vertical head, dividing units, rotary tables, collets, collet chucks, etc. absolutely everything needed and a good few of which(and this is hard to believe but true)were still in their unopened, wooden packing crates. Now - and this will inflame the taxpayers amongst us - next to the old machine was a newly-delivered FP1, again with all the extras, these duplicating those with the original example. Asked why accessories had been ordered which they already had, the storeman's reply - of course - was, "Well, the budget had to be spent otherwise next year it'd be cut." The fact that they didn't need such a large budget in the first place appeared to have been lost on them - but, as Tyrone said, it's wasn't their money, so let's just be careless with it.
 
tonylathes said:
".....As Sami says lots of owners were pretty thrifty in the old days and only bought the machine equipped what they were going to get their money's worth from. Most of the time the people who " got the cat a sardine " and bought every possible extra were the ones who were spending other people's money. IE Universities, Government establishments etc....."
Spot on: I remember a tender sale, decades ago in Sheffield, at what used to be called "Safety in Mines" - now the massive Heath & Safety Executive (don't you just love the word "Executive") - where a Deckel FP1 was on offer. There it was, complete with every extra - and I mean everything, including a long-reach vertical head, dividing units, rotary tables, collets, collet chucks, etc. absolutely everything needed and a good few of which(and this is hard to believe but true)were still in their unopened, wooden packing crates. Now - and this will inflame the taxpayers amongst us - next to the old machine was a newly-delivered FP1, again with all the extras, these duplicating those with the original example. Asked why accessories had been ordered which they already had, the storeman's reply - of course - was, "Well, the budget had to be spent otherwise next year it'd be cut." The fact that they didn't need such a large budget in the first place appeared to have been lost on them - but, as Tyrone said, it's wasn't their money, so let's just be careless with it.
Click to expand...

Yeah I recognise that. I worked in a school at the end of my career and we had to spend our budget or it would be cut. I don't recall the current staff being wasteful in my time but there was evidence of previous regimes spending the max when money was more plentiful.

In my little stores I'd enough " Junior " hacksaw blades, " Abrafiles " etc to equip British industry for a year or two. We had a saying in the old days " It's good for business " . I suppose " Eclipse " thought so anyway.

Regards Tyrone.
 
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