Hendey Lathe, what year?

Years ago a guy I used to work with named "Hammer" told me he had a lathe in his garage I could have. So my buddy and me tooled over to his house and I was in shock at how old it was... I almost didn't take it but I would have felt bad if I didn't. He loaded it with a chain fall in his garage and I thought he was going to snap the rafters in the building! We took it home in the back of a cheesey trailer behind a Nissan pick-up truck... the front wheels were nearly coming off the ground as we drove home from all the weight.

Since then I've been using it to make motorcycle parts, machine parts for work, and whatever else I needed... everything from headlights, hubs, spacers, axles, shafts, fittings for the bathroom sink, you name it. I've probably made 3-400 or so parts with it. I'm so used to having it I probably couldn't live without it! (and my $100 Enco mill, that's another post)

It wasn't until about three months ago when a neighbor finally walked over and asked what I was doing in the garage all the time... we started looking at the lathe and trying to figure out how old it was... it wasn't until then that I realized it was a Hendey lathe. When I had nothing to do today I googled Hendey and came up with this site.

Question is, what year is it? The serial number is 8590. It has a flat belt with a decent electric motor conversion, has the 3x12 gearbox, back-gear, the cast-in crossover above the belts, I think it's a 14" swing. It doesn't have the name Hendey cast in the front or the size either...

Anything anyone knows about this old work-horse please let me know... I'd like to find some parts as well. thanks!

Marty:

There is not a lot of information in the of-
ficial records about your lathe, but here is what
I can tell you. Your Hendey Lathe # 8590 was ship
ped from Torrington on June 19, 1906. Its size is
14 x 6, meaning a 14 inch swing and a 6 foot bed
length. The original owner was Kaiser Cargo Inc.,
Fleetwings Division, Bristol, Pennsylvania. The
patterns and castings no longer exist, but I have
a complete set of drawings. These can be use to
make patterns for any part you may need. Parts,
that do not require castings, can be made to order
If the cost of supplying a part is to expensive, I
can sell you a print and you can make your own
part. I have reprinted both the 1904 parts list
and the 1918 owner's book. Should you want to or-
der an item, you may contact me at: [email protected] . May I suggest that you
direct any further questions you have regarding
your Hendey or any other machine tool to this
forum. An open discussion is a benefit to every-
one. You will find a lot of knowledgeable people
here, who are always willing to help.

Hendeyman

Marty:

You will be amazed about the amount of information and knowledge you will get off this site.

Where else could you get this kind of info on a 100 year old machine; and it is a machine that is still productive!!!!!!!!! Try that with anything else.

FYI; I have a "new" Hendey (1915) that runs great.

Keep the old classics running.

Pete

Wow! 1906, I never thought it was that old! To tell you the truth this baby almost got scrapped a couple of times while I've had it. As I mentioned, I would have never bought it home if it weren't for courtesy. After I got it home I put it in my dad's building and didn't touch it for about two years, disgusted that I even bothered with it.

Then I changed jobs and lost my machine shop, next thing you know I dusted it off and fixed it up to make one little part I needed and it started from there. For the longest time, it was like I will just make one more part with it and then off to the scrap heap with it! Eventually I worked it in and got used to the (many) quirks.

The other thing was that my dad used to be VERY temperamental, but surviving prostate cancer and retirement has lightened him up from grizzly-bear to teddy-bear and he is much more tolerant... my mom even says he likes having the old girl (lathe, not mom!) around but he woudn't tell me that. During a couple of his "fits" before retirement, I was ready to call the scrapper and a couple of times I was convinced that I would come home and he would have called the scrapper for me... later on he was more tolerant, he used to pick up tooling for me from the Philadelphia Navy yard when they were closing down.

These days everybody loves it... I'm addicted to the hum of the motor and the way the levers clatter when she's working. My skills with it over the last ten years are such that people can't believe some of the parts I've pulled out of the chuck. I wouldn't be afraid to try anything on it, but you have to have a little nerve and you have to REALLY know how to grind a tool with the flat belt.

I think for her 100th birthday I'm going to give her a good wedge-type quick change tool post and try to tighten the small cross-slide, it's got a little more back & forth than I'd like.

I thought you guys would love to hear my story about an old dog like this still paying her dues... here's to a 100 more!

Marty:

It is obvious you are in love with the "old girl" !! Keep her clean and well oiled and she will last another hundred !

Jim C.

All the hands at Torrington from those days in their peaceful slumber are smiling at these words.

John

Hi everybody,

For some reason I thought of this post tonight and dug it up, and just happened to guess my password to log back in. Just want to let everyone know that my old 1906 Hendey Lathe S/N 8590 is still around and operational, although it hasn't been used in a few years... Hard to believe it's over 111 years old now!!! I also came across a Bridgeport mill that is stashed in my garage so I'm looking forward to my retirement in a few more years and getting into some hobby machining.

Thanks again Hendeyman for the info back in 2005!

Marty

Nice one Marty, .......there's an old saying that's very applicable to keeping old machine tools etc ''Does it eat anything?, if it doesn't - keep it.''