Reed Prentice engine lathe purchase - new member

I've been lurking on this forum for several years now, but have decided to join after buying a Reed-Prentice engine lathe that my current employer had up for auction. It seems to be in decent condition despite being used by several departments over the years.

Unfortunately the machine has been stored (indoors) for the last 10-ish years with poor protection. I've cleaned up surface rust on the V-ways near the tailstock where the tarp had blown off using CRC brake-clean and fine steel wool. Dust and subsequent moisture from weather blowing through the old clap-board siding of the out-building has been a little stubborn.



The machine has been moved to a friend's shop that he operates an excavation company from. They will use the lathe for driveshaft work and basic turning/facing operations on equipment repair projects. A lot of tooling was included...

The machine is capable of swinging 18" over the bed, but I understand Reed-Prentice measured swing over the carriage??? It's approx. 72" between centers, although the ancient 3-jaw chuck hasn't been removed in ages so I'm doing a little eye-balling for that measurement. There are no measurements or model numbers on the ID plate.

So how do I get an accurate identification of what size swing this lathe is? What age is this thing (photo above shows s/n 15138). Thanks for you help.

-Jake

Welcome to Forum. 15138 was made in the first few days of 1936.

The early thirties brochures say 14, 16 and 20" were being built, and they relate that to swing over bed

This is somewhat complicated by the fact that during these years industry standards were being adopted by makers. For instance, the brochures from early thirties show the swing as actual, the 16 swinging only a smidgen more than that. Only a few years later, most USA lathes that were cataloged as size 16" were actually capable of swinging 18 1/2. Lodge & Shipley started this in the teens, more or less causing the competition to follow suit.

If you find a large notched draw back nut between chuck and head stock, it will have the L style standardized spindle

No presence of this item just says it is still the threaded spindle nose variety as shown in the early thirties brochures

The ID plates on the machine should say what size it is. 16X80 was a popular size for R-P. That's likely what it is. The swing is not over the carriage, just a realistic number of what you can chuck and turn with the machine.

The chip tray looks homemade. The legs on it look really early. By the late 30's the outboard leg was a cabinet with a door on it. The 30's R-P's did not have an offset handle on the compound, they did not have external locking detents on the headstock gear shifters. The detents were spring loaded inside the headstock. My guess is mid 30's from your pictures.

EDIT: John Oder beat me. Looks like I was close on my guess.

Nice size old RP. Looks like you got a MultiFix tool post with it. Hope you got the tool holders to go with it.

Yup, there are a number of toolholders and some tooling to go with them. I've also included a picture of the swing size. I think John Oder and Garwood are correct that the swing is likely 16", not 18" which is clearly shown in my photo below.



Interestingly enough, the ID plate definitely does not include the model or size. It's also the only one I can find photos of that lists these speed ranges.



-Jake

That's interesting. Top speed was usually under 600 RPM.

Take a peak at the gears. Both of the R-P's I owned had gear troubles. I combined two to make one.

Here's the machine in its new home. Knowing the age I'm not surprised to see that it has a threaded spindle.


The ways are in pretty decent shape considering the machine's history. The gearbox on this machine is a little noisy, but talking with past operators confirms it's always been that way. I'm not sure I'll pull the cover because of all the electrical components attached to the top cover fasteners. If there's an issue I will, but otherwise it will likely stay on.


I'm still exploring/identifying some add-on electrical components. When we get power to the machine, I'll probably post again with more information. It looks like DC motor drive arrangement, probably for welding driveshafts in the lathe... It isn't a big surprise though, considering the company was known for driveshaft repairs and fabrication for many years.