Speedex metal lathe or wood lathe?

[Grootendorst]

Saw this on Craigslist, advertised as a metal lathe. I did a quick Google search and couldn't find anything about it. Is it a metal lathe or a wood lathe. And what is the long tailstock for?

 

[JohnEvans]

Wood lathe or possibly a metal spinning lathe. Weird TS who knows?? I'm sure there was some reason for it though.

 

[CalG]

With that tail stock. It is a metal SPINNING lathe.

Or a specialty wood turning machine, but I can not imagine what type of production turning would require that TS.

On the other hand, a spinning lath would need to accommodate a variety of forums, but always require a firm pinch of the sheet stock by the tail center.

I've got a smaller spinning lathe by another maker. It comes in hand at times, but not so much for spinning sheet metal. I should give it a go !

 

[Grootendorst]

Thanks, I'd never heard of a metal spinning lathe before.

 

[DDoug]

Could be that someone hung a speedex tractor badge on it.

Seen it done before, a good friend ran a very nice bridgeport series 2 that he hung
a "Yamaha" badge on it, fit nicely, looked good.

 

[Scruffy887]

For sure used as a metal spinning lathe. Row of holes on the steady rest and the leverage pin appears to be taped to the steady rest.

 

[elitts]

With that tail stock. It is a metal SPINNING lathe.

Or a specialty wood turning machine, but I can not imagine what type of production turning would require that TS.

On the other hand, a spinning lath would need to accommodate a variety of forums, but always require a firm pinch of the sheet stock by the tail center.

I've got a smaller spinning lathe by another maker. It comes in hand at times, but not so much for spinning sheet metal. I should give it a go !

Not just the tailstock, that steel on that bed and rest is FAR heavier than anything you'd see from a similar vintage wood lathe. The only wood lathes I've seen with steel that heavy are the ones designed for turning huge/unbalanced chunks of wood and those require a lot more height than that appears to have.