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American Pacemaker in Boston

maynah

Stainless
Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Location
Maine
This was on Boston CL but now it's gone. That's good, I can stop thinking about it. I was even thinking how I would pour a slab for it since my wooden barn floor would never hold it.
I hope someone on PM got it. Tell us if it's as nice as the seller says. What does it weigh?

American Pacemaker gear-head tool-room lathe in perfect operating condition.
Lathe has 19" swing by 58" between centers and has a 7.5 HP motor. Provides 27
selectable spindle speeds from 30 rpm to 2000 rpm and 48 selectable threading
leads from 1.5 threads per inch to 92 threads per inch. Perfect hard ways are
made from 100% hardened tool steel and are replaceable (a feature common to all
American lathes). Head gears run under oil and one-shot oilers are provided for
ways, carriage and threading gear box. Everything works perfectly and machine
has like-new tightness and accuracy. Lathe also has rapid-traverse for the
carriage which allows you to rapidly move carriage back and forth by simply
moving a lever - great time saver when working on long pieces. Machine also has
a taper attachment and a built-in flood coolant system. Comes complete with a
3-jaw chuck with reverseable jaws, a 16" 4-jaw chuck, an 18.5" face plate, a
steady rest for up to 8" diameter stock, a follower rest, drill chuck,
micrometer stop, tool postl tool holders, boring bars, centers, etc. This well
maintained lathe is ready to use with no issues and would look like new with a
little paint touch up. Will load on your truck or can arrange for delivery.
 

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Its a "little" one, 16" catalog size, open QC box design, so less than 7000. Its later brother, closed QC, more "square head" would be over 8000.
 
Perfect hard ways are
made from 100% hardened tool steel and are replaceable (a feature common to all
American lathes).


FWIW at this late date, those don't look to be the replaceable tool steel ways. That did not become standard until ~1955 and this machine is a 40's era model. Like John said, this is one of the "light" ones. These happen to be may favorite for aesthetic reasons; the later models are even stouter but also not as neat looking.

Bourn and Koch said:
"The Pacemaker lathe was
optioned with replaceable ways in the beginning of production, and we
believe standardized in 1955."
 
There has been a '47 serialed one on this forum with the bolt on hard ways.

I expect they would "do it" if you wanted to pay for it.

As to them being "replaceable", possibly when ATW was still around, but not now - is my take on it.

Be quite a project to make them both perfectly straight, the exact geometry, the bolt/dowel hole locations just so - and also hardened.
 
There has been a '47 serialed one on this forum with the bolt on hard ways.

I expect they would "do it" if you wanted to pay for it.

As to them being "replaceable", possibly when ATW was still around, but not now - is my take on it.

Be quite a project to make them both perfectly straight, the exact geometry, the bolt/dowel hole locations just so - and also hardened.


The first picture has a pretty good shot at the ways. Based on that, I'd say that machine did not have the hard ways as the seller claimed. I've got two 16" with soft ways and one 14" with hard ways.

Bourn and Koch currently owns what's left of ATW and they sell replacement parts, including the tool steel ways (for an outrageous amount!). Like you say, though, it's not a replacement the typical machine shop can undertake. I think the only practical way to do it yourself is to bolt the suckers on good and tight and then send the lathe off to a place to have it ground. But if you're going to do that ... why buy the replacements? :D I've heard that, back in the day, ATW had to do the replacement in factory using their collimation equipment and carefully tweaking each bolt. :willy_nilly:
 








 
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