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North Freedom Engineering, LLC

JohnnyJohnsoninWI

Hot Rolled
Joined
Dec 9, 2003
Location
North Freedom, WI, USA
My wife said if I bought one more machine, I could just sleep out in the shop. It's a good thing my new lathe has a "king" sized bed.

sleepingbeauty.jpg


Seriously, some of you replied to my recent postings in the Monarch forum and asked for more photos.

I purchased this Monarch Model 1610x78 Series 50 lathe and the Cincinnati model 307-14MI horizontal mill from a government arsenal here in Wisconsin a couple years ago. Both were purchased by the arsenal in 1973, which is the same year they shut down, never to resume production.

Here are a couple pictures of the lathe taken during initial inspection. Someone made a work of art out of applying cosmoline to all the bare metal surfaces. Notice all the attachments including tailstock are still lying in the bed. The crepe paper in the bed is dated 8/73. I believe this machine never made a chip at the arsenal. There wasn't a single chip in the bed. It's sister, one serial number apart, was sitting alongside; it had a few chips in the bed and had obviously been run, very little.

monarchfrontinspect.jpg


Monarchasinspected.jpg


Here's a shot after it's been all cleaned up. There wasn't even as much as a light burnish mark on the ways. Attachments include a 12" face plate, dog driver plate, 12" Cushman 4-Jaw, steady rest, and follow rest. According to Monarch, there should have been a 3-jaw, but it grew legs sometime during the last three decades. The 3-jaw I got with it is worn out.

MonarchRS_1.jpg


The mill was also new in 1973 and it had 42 hours on the meter when I got it. I don't use it much, but I think it's cool. The cabinet alongside has two arbor supports, the dividing head tailstock and rest, plus the complete gear box and gears to run the dividing head off the table. Here is a shot with cosmoline and two taken after cleaning.

cinciinspect.jpg


CinciLS_1.jpg


CinciFront_1.jpg


And for the last picture it's "First Call!". Hey, as long as I can amuse myself, that's all that matters. Right?

FirstCall_1.jpg


I hope you enjoyed the tour.

Take care,
John
 
Hi John. Nice pics.I am courious as to the year of my series 50.The gear box shifting is different as is the speed control dials.I have almost the same mill also.Mine has the powered overarm.I like it.
 
That's truly impressive, basically brand-new machines from the golden era.

I know relatively little about the Series 50 lathe, I thought someone mentioned somewhere it was a DC driven machine (??) Also curious if it has hydraulic shifting in the headstock?

I spied what I think is a Farmall cub or A in back of the lathe there. Nice!
 
Hy Guys,
Thanks for your compliments.

J King, the machine blue prints I have are not for my lathe, they appear to be an older style. I can check the drawing dates if that is helpful to you.

Matt, you are correct. it's a Cub. My Grandfather had one and 35 years ago I remember thinking it was a pretty neat tractor. I don't have my Grandfather's, but I finally bought one like it.

Oh yes, the motor is a 10hp DC, the lathe, not the tractor.

Take care,
John
 
Talk about a once in a lifetime find, and you got it twice! Hope you bought a lottery ticket on the way home.

Get a good price on the stuff?
 
Hi Guys,
Thanks for your comments.
In my book anyone who has an avatar like yours, Chevy, has to be a good judge of humor. ;)

MitsTech, the equipment was sold "sealed bid". I usually approach these with a "bid to steal" or "bid to win" mentality, depending on how bad I want it. I bid to win. When I attended the bid opening; lets just say, I cleared the bar by a fair margin.

Take care,
John
 
Johnny, it's just good to see the huge government investment finally made it to a good home, and didn't get put out in a parking lot to rust for 30 years like 95% of the machines on the Govsurplus site. I could only imagine what Uncle Sam shelled out for these 33 years ago ;)
 








 
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