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1975 16" Reed Prentice a bit too new?

Garwood

Diamond
Joined
Oct 10, 2009
Location
Oregon
I committed to buying a 16X80 RP today and was curious if anyone could confirm this machine was built in 1975. This Lathe looks 40's or 50's, but clear as day it has 1975 stamped into it's headstock ID plate for the build date. Is there anyway to verify the age- Serial numbers or specific features? When did Reed Prentice stop producing machines?

Thanks for any help.
 
Serial Number Reference Book For Metalworking Machinery states discontinued in 1966.

Latest serial in this book is 501230 for 1965.

John Oder
 
I got the RP home late last night and this morning had the chance to go over the finer details of the lathe. I found a few small federal government looking stamps on the end of the ways and several small riveted plaques in the motor cabinet under the headstock that read "property of the US government Kaiser corporation Portland Oregon"

These plaques seam to indicate the lathe was used by the Kaiser shipyards here in Portland during WWII. The shipyards were closed after the war. The headstock ID plate is clearly stamped 1975 for date of manufacture, but this must be a restamping from an overhaul. The machine serial number is 23187.

All in all I'm happy with the condition of the ways and mechanicals. Two cushman chucks came with the Lathe which appear to be 1975 Vintage and were probably replacements during an overhaul.

This lathe has several layers of paint, the newest brite green, then dark gray with the original appearing as light gray. Would light gray be the appropriate color for this machine?
 
A few questions while most of the lathe is soaking in a hot tank-

1) Can anyone narrow down what year this Reed Prentice was actually made by it's serial number (23187)? I would like to remove the "1975" that's been stamped into the headstock ID plate and re stamp it with the right year.

2) I need to make new crosslide nuts- What material would be best to use for these?

3) This lathe is supposed to have two gibbs and a clamp under the carraige to hold the carraige to the ways (these parts are located between the ways on the operator side). These parts are all gone. Any theories on why these pieces wouldn't be re-installed? I think they've been gone since the lathe had it's ways ground in 1975.

Thanks for any help you guys can offer. I wasn't planning on this lathe being such a project to get it ready to work, but it's great to have a place I can get answers from.
 
#3. hold down clamps holding the carriage to the bed. A number of lathes i have seen in my past that were rebuilt, the primary clamp on the back side of the saddle were left in place. But the secondary holdown on the front of the bed were generally left off. There's nothing legit for needing them. Don't worry about replacing them, they just collect crud and cause abnormal wear.

Added Note:

If you ever get in a situation where the carriage/saddle starts moving up and down or bouncing around, you are fixing to have real problems that a missing hold down is not going to fix! It's called a wreck!

Ken
 
#3. hold down clamps holding the carriage to the bed. A number of lathes i have seen in my past that were rebuilt, the primary clamp on the back side of the saddle were left in place. But the secondary holdown on the front of the bed were generally left off. There's nothing legit for needing them. Don't worry about replacing them, they just collect crud and cause abnormal wear.

Added Note:

If you ever get in a situation where the carriage/saddle starts moving up and down or bouncing around, you are fixing to have real problems that a missing hold down is not going to fix! It's called a wreck!

Ken

Ken, I thought there might be something more to it. The design of the carraige does chips and crud to accumulate between the vee way and the flat way these extra gibbs ride on.

1943

John Oder

Thanks again John, I really appreciate your taking the time to look up my serial number.
 
Can anyone help identify this reed prentice , it has no tags or Name plates on it ? Serial number on the end of the bed or ways is 32621 it’s a 16x60
 
Can anyone help identify this reed prentice , it has no tags or Name plates on it ? Serial number on the end of the bed or ways is 32621 it’s a 16x60


All the serial tells us is that it was made in 1943

Thumbnail from 1936
 

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Can anyone help identify this reed prentice , it has no tags or Name plates on it ? Serial number on the end of the bed or ways is 32621 it’s a 16x60

Your question is like asking "I have an old car, it has 4 doors made is 1972, tell me about it."
Dude, quit digging up ancient threads and asking the same question.
Start a NEW thread about you lathe and dont start it until you learn how to post PICTURES of the lathe.
 
Serial Number Reference Book For Metalworking Machinery states discontinued in 1966.

Latest serial in this book is 501230 for 1965.

John Oder

Hello there, I appreciate this thread seem to have been ended for quite a while, but I was wondering if I could have some assistance with a Reed Prentice no.5 jig borer.
I’d be quite interested to know the age of the machine I use daily at work, it’s serial number is 21594.

Thanks, Stephen
 
Hello there, I appreciate this thread seem to have been ended for quite a while, but I was wondering if I could have some assistance with a Reed Prentice no.5 jig borer.
I’d be quite interested to know the age of the machine I use daily at work, it’s serial number is 21594.

Thanks, Stephen

Serial book just has numbers - does not say if for lathe or what - early forties - 20100 for end of '42, 24000 for end of '43
 
Serial book just has numbers - does not say if for lathe or what - early forties - 20100 for end of '42, 24000 for end of '43
I suppose ether it would be safe to say 1943 was the year it was built. All I know about it at work is that it came across by boat during the war, and was used to build tanks. It’s mostly complete, and by far just as accurate as a modern machine. Thankyou so much, I thought it would be quite novel to be able to celebrate its 80th birthday.

Thanks again, Stephen
 
My family had a No 5 RP Jig Borer years back. Did a lot of work on that old machine over the years we had it. I don't remember the serial number of the old girl, I'm pretty sure it came from GB back in the 60's-70's. It had similar markings on it as one I saw in a old war film a while back that was made in GB. Ken
 








 
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