Thread: Niles 180 inch lathe

I posted pics of this machine several years ago, but would like to share a recent photo of the machine. Mr. Ford sold this lathe to Mr. Westinghouse sometime after WWII. The bed was cut down to its current length of about 40 feet to fit in its current location.



I apologize about the poor picture quality. It was taken with my Blackberry. I did not want to bring a camera inside, due to some of the work going on inside the facility.

I will try to get some photos of the machine in operation. There was a 180,000 shaft being turned this week.

Now that is a piece of equipment.

You know it's big when you have stair steps on the steady rests to reach the jaws!

There used to be a Niles almost that size, 144", located down here in Victoria, TX not too many years ago. Sold at auction in 2003. Don't know where it went. I worked with one of the machinist that used to run the lathe. They used to climb up in the bore of the part to measure it while it was cutting!