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Heavy 10 in boxes

Titaniumboy

Plastic
Joined
Mar 27, 2010
Location
Northern California
There is a Heavy 10 for sale near me that has been completely disassembled for paint and reconditioning by the seller. I have not seen it yet except for pictures.

- 1-3/8"spindle bore
- 48" bed (30" between centers)
- single tumbler quick change gear box
- says bedways are in good condition, but has some wear on the cross slide screw and nut
- says he believes lathe was on a Navy ship, but appears to have relatively low hours.
- says lathe is complete and original
- pics show a taper attachment, but I'm not sure if it is complete.
- pics show a rebuild manual and a new felt kit
- pics don't show, but seller says it has the chip tray and stand (probably the welded steel bench with drawers).
- 5" 3 jaw Skinner chuck

The lathe is located on the west coast where South Bend prices, especially for Heavy 10's, always seem to be astronomical. I know I will never stumble across a Heavy 10 for $800 and negotiate the seller down to $450 like Brad Jacobs.

The seller is asking $1200, which is completely crazy to me considering this thing is in boxes. He says that he would rather see it find a good home instead of parting it out.

Please give me reasons to walk away from this. I already have too many projects, plus not enough room for the rebuild phase.

On the other hand, a Heavy 10 would be a great reason to get rid of my Grizzly 10x22 G0602.

Thanks for any help.
 
Mine was complete for 750, but mine is the 3 1/2 foot bed with 24" between centers. Double tumbler wide ratio box too, with a taper attachment, 3 jaw, steady rest, follow rest, on the cabinet with the drawers and hoop legs.

I ended up taking it apart pretty much immediately, but the problem with taking up someone else's project is you don't know what parts may have been lost, and you don't have the experience of taking it apart to know how it should go back together. Sure you can do it from manuals and such, but personally I find it much easier to put a thing back together if I took it apart.

If you don't mind a project, see if he'll go for 500.
 
I saw this listed on craigslist this morning.

Could be a decent deal, but it is essentially boxes of parts. He's including the ilion manual, but keep in mind that the manual is for 10"-16", so some is generic and not specific to the 10L. All the models assemble/disassemble the same. There is also a felt kit and wicks...

He started to clean it up.

It's a $1200 project, essentially.

My $0.02, it's a lot of money for a project like that considering you can find 10Ls for around $2000, even in this area. However, the front portion of the spindle shows the bearing boss and the front looks pretty clean. It's usually the front bearing that gets scored for some reason. The bearing cap base he cleaned up looks nice. Hard to see anything on the ways, I can't make out flaking in the pic posted as it's too far away.

I bought a similar 10L a couple years ago for $200 which had more tooling. I disassembled the large pieces, cleaned the bed and getting around to cleaning it all and putting it back together.There's quite a difference between $200 and $1200, but all of our mileage varies. Mine was assembled, but the belt was cut as it had been moved in pieces.

I agree that machines go for more out west, but not all are through the stratosphere. You will put quite a bit of time in that 10L before you get it running, and if you have not run a lathe before, it might be good to pass, IMO...but it depends on how your mileage varies...;)

For various reasons, people like the South Bends. They are pretty easy to work on (when you need to make parts to repair them) and assemble fairly easily, have small enough motors to run in home shops, etc...it all adds up to more demand than supply and why the prices hold well on them. $1200 for some boxes of parts that someone says is what forms a lathe is reflective.

One comment in his ad is spot on:

"If you don't know anything about machines of this nature, this probably is not a good fit for you."

Lastly, if you don't believe you'll find a lathe for cheap, then you won't. If you want to you will follow craigslist religiously throughout the day until that diamond in the rough pops up. As I mentioned, I bought an entire 10L on the same craigslist you're watching, for $200. I got a taper attachment, steady, follower, collet handwheel, and cabinet and lathe, etc...I was firing up my flat bed about 10 minutes after I saw the add pop up, just happened I wasn't working at the time so maybe God was rewarding me. ;) It has a brand spanking new 1-1/2 HP Marathon single phase motor that was purchased from Grainger. I'm pulling it out and replacing it with a 3 phase and VFD. It's like an $800 motor at Grainger. :rolleyes5:

I ended up taking it apart pretty much immediately, but the problem with taking up someone else's project is you don't know what parts may have been lost, and you don't have the experience of taking it apart to know how it should go back together. Sure you can do it from manuals and such, but personally I find it much easier to put a thing back together if I took it apart.

If you don't mind a project, see if he'll go for 500.

I totally agree, like where are the shims? Are all the screws and nuts there? Did the seller break anything and/or toss it out by accident...but even with that said, I doubt the guy will take $500. I think it might be tough to get him down to $1000. I think it will sell, but it needs a motivated buyer. ;)
 
I'm pretty sure I have seen this ad off and on for at least a month. While prices are higher out here than other parts of the country we also have plenty of lathes floating around. I think if I was in the market I'd show up planning to dicker pretty hard and be prepared to walk away.
 
Now I will play Devil's Advocate with you.

This lathe would be a way to get into a South Bend 10L for $1200 (although I would negotiate down if at all possible) and it would be a good lathe, once the time was invested in putting it back together. Very hard to find anything South Bend that's decent. Despite my story above, there are many more heartbreaks on craigslist. Either someone else responds before you, or the seller doesn't contact you first, or you drive for 3 hours to find out it isn't what was listed in the ad...or you drive an hour and someone showed up and bought it 10 minutes ago...$#!T like that happens all the time...:D

What most people don't realize is that it really doesn't matter if you pay $200 or $1200 for the lathe. You will certainly be spending more money to put it back together. Buying new half nuts, new crossfeed nut, compound nut, QCTP, tooling, measuring tools, etc...some parts you can make, some you will buy...it's all relative to time and skill.

Also, there are certainly $1200 worth of parts, if you wanted to part it out, work in itself. It is pretty rare to find a SB 10L for $1200, although some assembly required. If you're mechanical that would be a huge plus.

As I said, it's really irrelevant if you pay $200 or $1200 as the time alone will add up to more than that amount in either case.

Either way, good luck with your decision. I once bought a SB 9A that I still have, for $500. In the end I added much more into it by adding tooling, as it came with almost NOTHING...of course it's kind of sentimental, so I don't want to get rid of it...I also have another lathe I paid $5k for, then sold $2k of tooling I got with it and use it all the time. It's all relative. That one does look like the spindle could be in pretty nice shape, you would need to look at everything for yourself. And it's also important what type of work you will do. The 10L is a sweet spot for the home shop, IMO. Big bang for the buck in space it takes up vs. work it can do, and has a 1-3/8" spindle, so it's used a lot for gunsmith work as well. And the sellers often know this and another reason they are priced high typically...the tell tale is what they actually sell for and they do typically sell for a bit more than some of the other brands...

EDIT: one thing is strange on that lathe. The tail stock is blue, but the rest of the lathe was painted green, and doesn't look like it was in great shape, but hard to tell if that is because he was removing the old paint. If he painted the tailstock, maybe that is right. Looks like he has the apron in a box by itself, and must have the saddle as well.
 
Would be interesting to know why the seller stopped ; why take everything apart at once then quit .
In the ad he offers to help reassemble . Why not put it together and sell it for more money ?
Maybe start by putting that gearbox back together .
Text copied and pasted from ad :
South Bend Heavy 10 lathe. 1 3/8" spindle bore. 48" bed length (about 30" between centers). It has a single tumbler quick change gear box, Bed ways are in good condition. With the exception of some ware on the cross slide screw and nut, the machine functioned very well. This machine, I believe, was originally on a Navy ship (maybe 1942), but appears to be a restively low-hour machine. The first picture is not of my machine, but rather an example of my machine. I disassembled the machine to paint and recondition it. I can include a copy of an illustrated lathe manual to assist in the reassemble. This machine is complete and original. The only tooling included is a 5" 3 jaw Skinner chuck and the original lantern tool post with some tool holders. I would like to see it get a good home, rather than parting it out on eBay. I will entertain serious questions through a call or text. If you don't know anything about machines of this nature, this probably is not a good fit for you. I will not respond to questions like "is it still available". If you can read the ad, it is available.

The listing is two weeks old so here's a link : South Bend Lathe Heavy 1� (1�L) - tools - by owner - sale
Edit : I read that wrong ; he does not offer to help with assembly , but offers a copy of manual to help with assembly .

If you want to learn about South Bend 10L , here's your chance . Wouldn't expect to get an education for free .
 
The bay is "just over there" from the valley...

We got our 14.5 with lots of optional things for about 200 or so but it was estate sale.

Small lathes go fast for good price but this one way too much.

It is single tumbler with cast bushings and being all apart you have no way of realistic inspection.

A neighbor up the road picked up a 10EE Monarch for 500 at an auction.

Suggest go look at it and inspect all of the parts so you can see what is there and maybe see how low they will go.

If overpriced it will not go anywhere.

SF bay folks have a very high cost of living and as such prices on everything is inflated so hold off and look in other markets.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337Z using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for everyone's input. As has been surmised, this Heavy 10 has been listed on the San Francisco Bay Area Craigslist for 14 days.

While not an expert, I have used lathes for about the last decade or so, ranging from my Grizzly 10x22 G0602 to import 14x40's to Harding HLV's. I've never torn a lathe apart and put it back.

I would love to take on this project, but as pointed out, it would have been easier during the rebuilding if I had taken it apart (and taken photos) myself. At the end of the day this is a little too much money and risk during a time when I already have a few too many projects.

If anyone here ends up with this lathe I would love to hear how it works out for you.
 
At this point it may be more valuable selling the bits on ebay.

Indeed!

This is one of those moments when you realize you should have kept the lathe in one piece...but even so it's a PITA to part something out unless you have time. Well, he must have time given the amount he's waited trying to sell the boxes of parts. Irony is that it looks like a pretty good lathe if someone knew what they were doing and cleaned it up...
 








 
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