new FE REED lathe with pics

Hi All,

I picked up this 18" FE REED lathe last week but I couldn't find the camera until today. Here are a few pictures of it before it gets too filthy.

Lathe appears to be in good shape for being at least 110 years old. It predates my 16 inch lathe by a few years. There is no compound gear in the tombstone or listing for one on the screw plaque.

Lathe came with all the toys 3+4 jaw chucks, tombstone, full set of change gears, tool post, boaring bar tool post, spare flat belting, bits....yada, yadda, yadda

All the feeds and speeds work, but lathe predates the thread dial.

The finish looks good too.


http://i1107.photobucket.com/albums/h398/morrisonandboyd/100_1131.jpg

http://i1107.photobucket.com/albums/h398/morrisonandboyd/100_1128.jpg

http://i1107.photobucket.com/albums/h398/morrisonandboyd/100_1127.jpg

http://i1107.photobucket.com/albums/h398/morrisonandboyd/100_1132.jpg

http://i1107.photobucket.com/albums/h398/morrisonandboyd/100_1133.jpg

The drive system was well executed but I need to move the drive pullies down the shafe about 1" to get the belt centered a little more on the head stock.

I'm even getting the hang of using the lantern tool post.

Al

She certainly looks clean! Much nicer than my 10" when I got her.

Good Score!


Dave

Hi ajens,

Nice lathe. It appears to be in remarkable condition for its age. Did the manufacturer eventually become Reed-Prentice?

Stan

Great lathe, you always need more than one.

Nice score! looks like it is in good shape, If you knew the TPI on the compound and the cross slide couldn't you make your own dials?

Paul

NJ_Toolnut said:

Hi ajens,

Nice lathe. It appears to be in remarkable condition for its age. Did the manufacturer eventually become Reed-Prentice?

Stan

Click to expand...

Hi Stan,

Yes, FE REED eventually became Reed-Prentice in 1912 or so.

Here is a little history for anyone interested.

History of Worcester and its people - Google Books

It's a fun and useful bit of american iron that should work well doing some prototype and hobby stuff. I'm just tickeled to have power feed and threading available as my other lathe had an accident back in the mid 1980's.

I wish I knew more of the history of this machine because it is in fantastic shape for the age.

I do need to make up some feed dials and a thread gage.

Would it look too silly to mount my spare DRO to a 100+ YO lathe??

Al

Would it look too silly to mount my spare DRO to a 100+ YO lathe??

Click to expand...

Anything that makes it more workable and easy to use makes sense to me.

You are not running a museum of period lathes.

Paul

Ajens,

Great catch, makes me want to find more time to work on mine, which is the next generation of yours.

Did the previous owner convert the tailstock to Morse or is there an adapter converting the Reed taper to a MT that your chuck uses?

You were extra lucky, you have the compound, which I don't have. (anyone know of a spare 18" FE-R cross slide and compound kicking around???)

Have fun and enjoy you beastie, they don't make many like this anymore.

Rich C.

Al ...FWIW .Re : making a thrd index...if the l/screw is a 6 tPI as my 14 in circa 1895 Reed was , a 24 T 20 pitch gear from my surplus gear pile ,works very well for the thrd indexer i made ..not "dead on " , but close ...
Saved having to cut a gear as i did for my Monarch A...(.FWIW , a fly cutter ground using one of the 12pitch change gears for a gage cut a very usable gear for the 4 pitch l/screw......
best wishes
doc

crij said:

Ajens,

Great catch, makes me want to find more time to work on mine, which is the next generation of yours.

Did the previous owner convert the tailstock to Morse or is there an adapter converting the Reed taper to a MT that your chuck uses?

You were extra lucky, you have the compound, which I don't have. (anyone know of a spare 18" FE-R cross slide and compound kicking around???)

Have fun and enjoy you beastie, they don't make many like this anymore.

Rich C.

Click to expand...

Hi Rich,

Do you have pictures of your lathe?

AFAIK the reeds came with morse tapers on the head and tailstock. At least both of my lathes work well with the morse taper, #4 in the 16" and a #5(?) in the 18". (I guess they could have been retrofitted)

Yes the compound is an absolute must have IMHO. I had a Monarch B without a compound that was pretty useless. (and worn out too)

The compound on the 16" must be aftermarket because it has about 2x the travel as the 18" lathe compound (and a degree wheel underneath).

Anyway I had the oportunity to make some parts on the 18" lathe Monday with good results. Tailstock drill worked very well and made short work of center drilling/boring stock.

Feeds worked well generating excellent finishes in aluminum. However I noticed that the four jaw chuck has more wear than I had hoped for. I should switch back over to the 3 jaw for now. (Did I mention that I already switched the chucks once)

Anyone with a spare 4 jaw plain back chuck (8"-12" diameter) for scrap metal price?

Agree nice catch. Large swing and short center-center. A lathe for a homeowner "with ambitions."

The trucks will be pulling in "Hey, I heard you can machine my brake drums."

Joe

Hi
Will other compond rests fit on a Reed? And the same question and a thread dial.
I have two of the with the rise and fall
Thanks
Scott

Rise & fall lathes CAN be problematic because of a loss of swing capacity over the cross-slide. Adding another layer as in a compound CAN chew into this.

But this was actually done "in the day." Many larger lathes that incorporated the rise & fall "T" (not hinged) also included an "accessory" cross slide that could be moved away from the center of the T, out to the branch closer to the headstock. Even on smaller lathes the usual toolpost/lantern could be moved to this right hand location. This was a way for someone to compensate somewhat for the loss of swing at the cross-slide and take advantage of the geometry for turning large diameter items such as pulleys & flywheels held on a faceplate or in a chuck.

Many if not most of these accessory cross slides are now lost. Their use did involve some care lest too large a cut be taken and the opposite edge of the rise & fall lift from its sliders and a loss of bearing (and accuracy) occur.

Below a pix of a Fitchburg lathe that DID still have arrangement for an accessory cross-slide. You can see the dovetail seat closer to the head stock, the plan apparently being to "borrow" the cross slide top and move it to the closer slide.



Joe in NH