HUGE boye & emmes lathe

TheJellyman · Jul 23, 2019

Hi everybody, First thread so excuse if I've confused any of the rules as far as titles and tags. So a buddy of mine at work recently told me about a shop that had been closed down 20+ years loaded full of equipment. The land has been sold and this coming weekend will be when I plan to grab a lathe that I believe is a boye & emmes 24". The challenge I'm having as far as info is it's not just got a 4 jaw 24" chuck but its 264"(22') LONG! This thing is massive, and still runs so I plan to take possession in a few days. My buddy has been scrubbing it down the last 2 months and is the one who wired it up and actually brought it back to life but it's just to big to be at his shop and I think it's in way to good of shape to be sent to the scrap yard. From what I have been told it was not originally electric which kinda has me lost on a manufacturing date. Google, the search engine here and a few other places have shown me SIMILAR lathes but nothing this size. Any info at all id appreciate. TIA

Rob F. · Jul 23, 2019

Read this thread and there are links to others in there as well:
Moving a 12,000 lbs. Lathe

TheJellyman · Jul 23, 2019

Awesome, thanks, I hope it's no more then 12k lbs!lol

johnoder · Jul 23, 2019

"Cone head" they are called - step pulley with flat belt drive

They made TWO 24" models - I will suppose you have the heavier. (with 2" lead screw and 3 3/8" tail stock barrel)

Evolved from Schumacher Boye / Schumaker Boye and Emmes. Emmes was the gear box patent holder - one of the first of the CLOSED style thread and feed gear boxes.

6700 Lbs for the 10 foot bed (that is overall) and 500 for each additional 2 feet will give an idea of weight

I'll see if I can scan a page or two and edit them in here

Four page scan - undated, so I will guess early to mid thirties

L Vanice · Jul 23, 2019

johnoder said:
"Cone head" they are called - step pulley with flat belt drive

Evolved from Schumacher Boye / Schumaker Boye and Emmes. Emmes was the gear box patent holder - one of the first of the CLOSED style thread and feed gear boxes.

6700 Lbs for the 10 foot bed (that is overall) and 500 for each additional 2 feet will give an idea of weight

I'll see if I can scan a page or two and edit them in here

To help date it, Cope says the Boye & Emmes Machine Tool Co. name was first used in 1912.

Larry

TheJellyman · Jul 23, 2019

And they made those in a 22ft version? It wouldnt make any difference with the legs on this one having small doors would it?

johnoder · Jul 23, 2019

TheJellyman said:
And they made those in a 22ft version? It wouldnt make any difference with the legs on this one having small doors would it?

Maybe the smaller one - it has doors. I supposed heavy because there was plenty of room for what you say is a 24" chuck - the smaller one barely does swing 24". Is that actually a 24" chuck?

Mebfab · Jul 23, 2019

What else they selling/scraping/etc?

TheJellyman · Jul 23, 2019

Yes sir 24" OD. Its definitely different from the other photos I've seen. This 1 almost has like 4 set of legs/supports. 1 at the rear, another 5ft down the ways, then another 5ft there is another set, then 1 more at the front. I found a old ebay post on here that referenced a 24"x288 (24') but couldnt get get it to open. This thing is every bit of 22'

Jim Christie · Jul 23, 2019

If you can remove overhead drive transmission it will make the lathe much less prone to upsetting especially if you are using skates under it rather than rollers under a wide wooden base or bases as shown in the thread posted by Rob F. above
The set up shown in this thread may not be viable for a lathe as long and heavy as yours but it is wide enough and strong enough to roll it on pipe or shafting rollers with little danger of it upsetting .
https://www.practicalmachinist.com/...e-241651/?highlight=London+Machine+Tool+Lathe

TheJellyman · Jul 23, 2019

I actually was hoping to find some advice on that as well Jim. I have a 28ft roll back with a 14k winch coming to get it (hopefully). Should I put the tool post and tail stock at the rear and keep the other 18' as light as possible to make the transition from concrete to roll back or run them to the other end and keep the middle light but some weight spread on both ends? Roll back will be able to tilt the trailer about 4 ft from where it sits, never going into the grass or dirt

thermite · Jul 23, 2019

TheJellyman said:
I actually was hoping to find some advice on that as well Jim. I have a 28ft roll back with a 14k winch coming to get it (hopefully). Should I put the tool post and tail stock at the rear and keep the other 18' as light as possible to make the transition from concrete to roll back or run them to the other end and keep the middle light but some weight spread on both ends? Roll back will be able to tilt the trailer about 4 ft from where it sits, never going into the grass or dirt

Get carriage as close to rear legs as you can. TS OFF if it helps (it should not..).

Per the London lathe thread linked.. I suggest you wanta much wider stance on outriggers, this puppy.

Keep the crossbars atop so skates or rollers or simply dragging on deck or ground gets a clean run, end to end on the long-axis of the skids - no toe-stubbing and dig-in gotcha's. ANGLE CUT the extreme ends. Especially for coming OFF a tilt-deck/rollback.

TheJellyman · Jul 23, 2019

I can already tell, this is going to be one long, hot Saturday and gonna take some thinking and then more thinking along with being ready to get the hell out of the way if things go wrong

Rob F. · Jul 23, 2019

Just put the skid with outriggers under it as suggested per the london thread and it should be easy. Hardest thing will be lifting it for the skid, depending on what you have to do it with.

Jim Christie · Jul 23, 2019

I agree with Thermite that you should make the base proportionally wider than the London lathe if possible .
I just posted the link because it was an example that I knew of but there are others that have been shown on this forum in the past but as I remember they were for lathes smaller than yours.
I have never moved a lathe that large but I have found that on smaller machines the skates or Hillman style rollers need a clean and level floor to work well on .
Unless you have a way to hold them captive under the machine or someone to guide each skate they can come out from under the machine being moved if there is a dip or rise in the floor and the weight gets transferred off of one of them, you can suddenly end up with one unsupported corner .
It is rather unsettling when it happens for the first time.
Fortunately I never had one tip over and I was able to get the skate back underneath in time .
Regards,
Jim

TheJellyman · Jul 24, 2019

Jim Christie said:
I agree with Thermite that you should make the base proportionally wider than the London lathe if possible .
I just posted the link because it was an example that I knew of but there are others that have been shown on this forum in the past but as I remember they were for lathes smaller than yours.
I have never moved a lathe that large but I have found that on smaller machines the skates or Hillman style rollers need a clean and level floor to work well on .
Unless you have a way to hold them captive under the machine or someone to guide each skate they can come out from under the machine being moved if there is a dip or rise in the floor and the weight gets transferred off of one of them, you can suddenly end up with one unsupported corner .
It is rather unsettling when it happens for the first time.
Fortunately I never had one tip over and I was able to get the skate back underneath in time .
Regards,
Jim

lucky for me whenever the lathe was brought to this shop they blocked it all up so its actually sitting about 3" off the ground on some wooden blocks. No clue if they had planned to drag it out years ago or if they just knew it was a royal pain getting it off the ground originally. Ill work on a base as well as try and get some better photos for you guys to ID this thing farther if possible. I'm not sure if making a steady rest will be easier than buying one. I imagine finding one and being able to buy one is gonna be a pretty penny.

Rob F. · Jul 24, 2019

TheJellyman said:
lucky for me whenever the lathe was brought to this shop they blocked it all up so its actually sitting about 3" off the ground on some wooden blocks. No clue if they had planned to drag it out years ago or if they just knew it was a royal pain getting it off the ground originally. Ill work on a base as well as try and get some better photos for you guys to ID this thing farther if possible. I'm not sure if making a steady rest will be easier than buying one. I imagine finding one and being able to buy one is gonna be a pretty penny.

Might need more than one steady for that long bed.
Can you bolt outriggers to the existing wood blocks? Are they still securely bolted to machine?

thermite · Jul 24, 2019

TheJellyman said:
lucky for me whenever the lathe was brought to this shop they blocked it all up so its actually sitting about 3" off the ground on some wooden blocks. No clue if they had planned to drag it out years ago or if they just knew it was a royal pain getting it off the ground originally. Ill work on a base as well as try and get some better photos for you guys to ID this thing farther if possible. I'm not sure if making a steady rest will be easier than buying one. I imagine finding one and being able to buy one is gonna be a pretty penny.

Bed that long is scarce enough it MAY actually attract speciality turning & repair jobs. Don't need one every day or even every week to pay-off decently.

I'd want three steady rests, at which point, may as well set up to make them yerself. Cut material for three, do one, adjust, finish-up the other two as time permits.

2CW

9100 · Jul 24, 2019

I don't know if it has been said, but just in case, lash the tailstock down. I have known one to rattle off on the road.

Bill

TheJellyman · Jul 24, 2019

Main reason I jumped on the deal is I wont have more than $700 in it including transport. Ive got a 4x8 cnc table along with a wells index 847 mill in the shop so burning out some 1/2 framework and making my own steady rest and other odd parts I may need. By no means will this big boy run more than 5 maybe 7 times a month depending on customer demands. As far as the wood blocks Rob the lathe itself is actually just sitting ontop of them. In Some of the photos you can see the holes in the legs are vacant so I may try and attach the outrigger frame to those. Biggest enemy right now is time to get all of that rigged up

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