Anyone use big Lodge & Shipley lathes?

machinist man · Sep 14, 2008

Just wondering if anyone else uses large L&S lathes. We have one in our shop, 24" swing by about 7ft. between centers. I'm guessing that it's from the 30's. It's a beast, you can really hog the material out with it. I ran it when I was a teenager working for my Dad during summers, it got me hooked on machining! We still use it for our big work. It's a very impressive machine.

johnoder · Sep 14, 2008

I have two 24" X 14 foot (overall bed length) Lodge & Shipleys - one from 1917 and one from 1920. If you say serial (between two rear ways on top at right end) we can date yours. This will be a five digit number - no letters.

John Oder

Mike C. · Sep 14, 2008

Thing to remember about an L&S is that the actual swing is not the rated capaciy of the machine. The machine is rated at the largest faceplate it can swing. My 18" will swing a tad over 20".... same for the 24s. They should actually swing about 27".

machinist man · Sep 15, 2008

johnoder said:
I have two 24" X 14 foot (overall bed length) Lodge & Shipleys - one from 1917 and one from 1920. If you say serial (between two rear ways on top at right end) we can date yours. This will be a five digit number - no letters.

John Oder

Looked at the serial number on the lathe today. The number is 13246, and it says PAT. April 10, 1894, if that help. I would really appreciate it if you could date this for me, just out of curiosity. Thanks.

mulesandheelers · Sep 15, 2008

Might take a little while.
Hopefully nothing is water logged or rusted.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/showthread.php?t=165129

johnoder · Sep 16, 2008

Looked at the serial number on the lathe today. The number is 13246

Funny that you would assume it so modern.

Looking at this list, it was made in 1913:

http://www.machinetoolclearinghouse.com/lodgelat.htm

It could be a Patent Head, A cone head or an early Selective Head (geared head)

See the thread in the Antique section about the old Lodge & Shipley needing saving for Patent Head photos.

John Oder

pipemann · Sep 16, 2008

Speaking of big Lodge and Shipley lathes.
I saw this this one for sale and called the guy for more info
but due to his heavy accent I couldn't find out much about it.
He did say it was a Shipley and it was 24" swing.
So what can anybody tell me by looking at this picture?

Bob

Finegrain · Sep 16, 2008

Patent head.

FG

johnoder · Sep 17, 2008

So what can anybody tell me by looking at this picture?

Pipemann - check the link in "Old Lodge & Shipley needing saving" in the Antique Section for 1910 catalog scan giving extensive coverage on the Patent Head

John Oder

CS223 · Sep 17, 2008

I run a L&S (Large & Shapely) 16" tool room lathe. Especially love the leadscrew reverse feature for threading & the 2000 RPM spindle speed in such a large lathe. 20HP FM motor is the size of a beer keg, made back when men were men and horses were horses.

Mike C. · Sep 18, 2008

I kind of expected that date, John. I figured mine was thirties when I first looked at it, and up until I was working restoring it. L&S made some very advanced machines at that time.

hardtail · Sep 19, 2008

Here was a beauty that a member acquired, big by 2 stall garage standards

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/showthread.php?t=147341

machinist man · Sep 20, 2008

johnoder said:
Funny that you would assume it so modern.

Looking at this list, it was made in 1913:

http://www.machinetoolclearinghouse.com/lodgelat.htm

It could be a Patent Head, A cone head or an early Selective Head (geared head)

See the thread in the Antique section about the old Lodge & Shipley needing saving for Patent Head photos.

John Oder

Thanks for getting back to me with that. Yeah, it's a little older than I thought. I guess that just makes it more impressive. By the way, it is a Patent Head machine. I wouldn't trade it for any of the new hunks of iron they try to pass off as lathes these days.

DaveKamp · Sep 23, 2008

Does this count?

This is a STOIC rescue adoption... a 22" L&S conehead. Making progress here, albeit a little slow with other projects.

Brian Thomas · Jan 4, 2009

hardtail said:
Here was a beauty that a member acquired, big by 2 stall garage standards

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/showthread.php?t=147341

Wow,Thanks for the mention hardtail. HRP.

hardtail · Jan 4, 2009

No problem

I take it it's been getting some regular use, likely got 45 gal drums of chips lined down the outside wall

Andy FitzGibbon · Jan 4, 2009

Mike C. said:
Thing to remember about an L&S is that the actual swing is not the rated capaciy of the machine. The machine is rated at the largest faceplate it can swing. My 18" will swing a tad over 20".... same for the 24s. They should actually swing about 27".

That happened sometime right around 1913. Previous to that, the lathes swung just about what they were rated for. My 1912 18" Patent Head swings 18" exactly, while my 1913 20" Patent Head swings 22".
Here's some photos of my Patent Heads:

1913 20"x186"

1911 14"x36"

1912 18"x72"

Andy

johnoder · Jan 4, 2009

Here are a few more in recent months:

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/showthread.php?t=171806

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/showthread.php?t=171126

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/showthread.php?t=168277

John Oder

Mike C. · Jan 5, 2009

The 1915 and up L&S machines were rated according to the largest faceplate they could swing (and apparently clear the saddle wings). My 1918 18"er actually swings 22 1/4" over the ways.

johnoder · Jan 5, 2009

Maybe Mike meant 20 1/4"?

John Oder

Anyone use big Lodge & Shipley lathes?

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