Thread: Hendey 9"x 24" tool and gaugemakers' lathe

I've just acquired this lathe and am looking for some guidance. Before attempting to start the unit I'd like to lubricate and clean the surfaces of the machine. It's missing the collet clamping rods and collets. It is also lacking some of the taper attachment. Suggestions as to where I might find an operator's manual and some of the missing parts would be appreciated as well as best print sources for information regarding care and feeding of this type of lathe. The machine serial number is AHL-40074 It has a Barber Coleman nameplate. It also has the US Navy property plate stating that it was built in 1958 and sold for the sum of $9,457.00 It came with the original parts list and diagrams in decent condition. The ways seem to be without any visible wear and the apron moves smoothly.
I'm not a machinest by trade and willingly admit to being quite new to this type of equipment. I bought this lathe for the purpose of repairing candymaking machinery. Mostly it will be turning nylon and delrin rods. I do have one good sized chunk of stainless to cut for a coextruder that needs a few parts duplicated.
I'm located in Rhode Island any constructive suggestions would be helpful.

Hi,

You will get a better response in the American Heavy Iron section of this forum... Cincinnati Milacron, Kearney Trecker, VN, USA Heavy Iron - Practical Machinist - Largest Manufacturing Technology Forum on the Web

That lathe qualifies....

Built like a Swiss tank...

First of all, Welcome!

You'll find that several members here have the same lathe (lucky dogs!) and if you'll be patient Hendeyman and others will probably chime in with some info/advice. From what I know, the T&G lathe was the premiere machine built by Hendey.......you've got a keeper.

That money could have bought three of these,most likely rusted down to nothing by now. Kenny

1958 Ford Thunderbird Images. Photo: 58_Ford_TBird_KM_07_EC_01.jpg

Truffeguy,
Nice lathe!
Matter of fact I think so much of them I just agreed to buy Hendey T&G sn AHL-40056R.
I have to wait a couple of months to pick it up, but I think the wait will be worth it!

With any luck Hendeyman will see your posting and will fill in a little of the history of your machine for you.
Seeing that Barbour Colman only made somewhere close to 84 of these before they ended production, yours is a pretty late one.

What type of drive is installed in your machine? Does it still have the original DC drive of has it been converted to something else?

Please post some pictures!

Pete

Truffeguy:

Since I normally only frequent this forum and not the Heavy Equipment forum, posting
your Hendey questions here will usually attract my attention.

Your Barber Colman built Hendey T&G, serial number AHL - 40074, lot# AA7 was ordered
October 9, 1957. The scheduled completion date was August 1, 1958, but it was actually
completed on July 24, 1958. The original owner was the Receiving Officer, Naval Underwater Ordnance Station, Middletown, Rhode Island. It was wired to operate on
220 volt, 1 phase, 60 cycles, but a note on the order form states "Acceptable for Oper-
ation on 3 Phase Supply". Apparently, the Magnetic Amplifier could be operated on two
legs and a neutral. The coolant pump motor (1/6 hp) was wired for 220/440 single phase
and operated at 1725 rpm.

The original selling price for a T&G lathe in 1957 was $7600. The additional $1857 in the
price you posted is acounted for by a very large amount of accessories and tooling that
was ordered with the lathe. To illustrate the variety of items that some customers required with their T&G lathes, I will list the accessories and tooling that came with your
lathe:

1 - Automatic Stop Rod Assembly
1 - Coolant Attachment
1 - Taper Attachment
1 - 6" - 4 Jaw Independent Chuck
1 - 5" - 3 Jaw Universal Chuck
2 - Round Center (Extra)
1 - #11N Jacobs Drill Chuck
1 - each Collets: 1/8", 3/16", 1/4", 5/16", 3/8", 7/16", 1/2", 9/16", 5/8", 11/16", 3/4",
13/16", 7/8", 15/16" and 1"
1 - Set of Metric Transposing Gears
1 - Tail Center Base (Modify)
2 - Wiper (Extra)
1 - Wiper Blade (Modify)
1 - Half Center (#2 Morse)
1 - #OK Armstrong Knurling Tool Holder
1 - #9 Armstrong Boring Tool Holder
1 - #31L Armstrong L.H. Cut-Off Tool Holder
1 - #31R Armstrong R.H. Cut-Off Tool Holder
1 - #1L Armstrong L.H. Turning Tool Holder
1 - #1R Armstrong R.H. Turning Tool Holder
1 - #4H Armstrong Lathe Dog Bent Tail
1 - #8H Armstrong Lathe Dog Bent Tail
1 - #10H Armstrong Lathe Dog Bent Tail
1 - #12H Armstrong Lathe Dog Bent Tail
1 - Hardinge Sjogren #5 Collet Chuck
1 - Navy Dept. - Bureau of Ordnance (Tag.)
1 - P.E.C. 3416 3245 4601 (Tag.)

"This Machine to be fitted with direct reading cross feed screw and dial, and com-
pound rest screw and dial this information will be supplied later"

1 - AHLF 202-1 Cross Feed Screw Nut
1 - AHLF 206-1 Cross Feed Screw
1 - AHLF 207-1 Compound Rest Index Dial
1 - AHLF 220 Index Dial

Credit: AHLF 202, 206 and 267

Barber Colman issued only one Operator's Manual and Parts Book that I am aware of, I
keep copies of both in stock. I have all of the original drawings for the Barber Colman
Hendey T&G lathe, as well as all of the surviving B-C repair parts. This is not a large
inventory, but was designed to cover the most requested parts. Many of the patterns
have survived. My schedule is a bit erratic these days, if I can be of further help, PM
me and I will answer you as soon as possible.

Hendeyman

Naval Underwater Ordnance Station was the new name (1951) for the Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, RI. They needed the best machine tools they could get, I'm sure.

Larry

that is one well equipped lathe.

Glad to see another member join the Hendey T&G family. (My machine - AHL 40041 was delivered in Dec 1956.)

In additional to all those items which Hendeyman listed as options, there should also be a steady rest and micrometer carriage. Hendeyman didn't mentioned these two items since they were standard equipment for the T&G lathe.

Sounds like a very nice lathe! If you don't mind, what did a machine like this cost you?
Eric

I'll bet it was still pristine when I was a 16.6 miles away at NAS Quonset Point 12/60 - 8/63.

John Oder

Welcome to the club.



--Doozer

Aside from a bit of light surface rust and some peeling paint it appears to be in nice shape. I got the DC drive to work after tightening two set screws and adjusting the autotransformers to allow the gears to mesh properly. There are several belts that will need to be replaced but can probably wait for a few months. I paid about $400.00 for this lathe. It also came with 14 Lyndex BT 50 taper collet holders new in the boxes covered in layers of dust. I missed the steadyrest but did get three rotary tables and six vises too. Anyone need a vise, or some Lyndex parts?

You did extremely well for yourself.
A note regarding your photographs - while it is always appreciated when photographs are kept small in terms of bandwidth, yours, at least on my machine, are really too small to see details. A bit larger, and more of them, would suit.

Originally Posted by Marty Feldman

A bit larger, and more of them, would suit.

What he said.