Cincinnati 13x42 hydroshift for first lathe?

Hello all, am searching for my first lathe. Was originally looking for a South Bend simply because they seem to be more abundant.I'm more interested in what the machine can do for me than a name tag so I'am open to all suggestions.Will be for home shop use. I maintain and modify older Harleys and vintage dirt bikes for personal use so parts for those along with tooling would be it's primary usage.
I currently do all my "fabrication" with a Chinese drill press,a 4" angle grinder and a butt load of hand files I've done surprisingly well at that for many years but the limitations are obvious. The lathe is a Cincinnati 13x42 Hydroshift which the seller nor myself knows much about except that it ran when moved.I believe it is a 220 3 phase motor which is one of my questions, am currently having new shop put up but only wanted to wire it for 110 and 220 single, is it doable to convert this machine to run off single phase? Is this even a machine a newbie should even consider starting out with? Whats a Hydroshift? Was also concerned about parts and tooling availability. Would I be able to thread bolts and such down to 1/4" dia. Seller says it comes with a "bunch" of tooling and is looking to get $1000 out of it and its just the next town over.
Here are some pics the seller provided. Any and all comments and your time are appreciated.

Even though I don't have any experience with that model it sounds good to me. Especially at that price. I mean that's only $1,000 away from being free. And close to home. You can spend $1,000 riding around looking for a good lathe. (I've spent more.) Your best way out may be a phase converter.

If it’s not all beat up, it’s definitely worth $1000
It will cut threads, it looks like a Rubber Flex Collet chuck on the machine now. These hold various size collets and would be perfect for threading small stuff.
It would be a great deal if it had 3 and 4 jaw chucks
It will probably sell quickly, so dont spend too much time thinking
Grab anything that looks like it goes with it


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If it were me I would go look at it. And I would take $1000 .. and a truck or trailer .. and some tiedowns.

Thank you,
Mr.Smith

I have the 15x 42 lathe, It is a very good machine to opperate.
The carrige seams to "float on the ways".
One problem to watch is to make sure it shifts, the spindle speeds are hydralicly shifted. Mine shifts ok, but can be finicky occasionaly.
I have been told that parts may be hard to find.

This is a real gem of a lathe. It is worth 1000 SB lathes. It looks like it is in good condition as well. The price is very, very good. Like others have said, the Hydrashift can be flaky to fix and there are no more parts available, but you will be able to make most of what you may need to keep her going. Cincinnati made many of these machines and most are still running.

My uncle has one of these, I think the same size. Really cool lathe, you adjust the speed as it's running instead of stopping and changing gears (unless my memory is way off, only ran it once!). Cool lathe. The motor nameplate looks like it has a surprisingly low amp draw? You might be able to just swap the motor and run a single phase 220v motor on it. Worst case pick up a cheap rotary phase converter.

Get all the tooling, documentation and workholding you can. If he has other stuff he would sell separate, definitely consider getting it, especially anything that was used on that machine.

Thanks all for the replies and advice. Wasn't sure if a that particular shifting set up should be shied away from by a new guy.I got a chance to stop over and root around on it a bit here's what I found. It was not under power the guys storage isn't wired for it so did the next best thing I could think of and took the lid off to have a gander.Was able to turn everything over by hand and found no damaged teeth, about three inches of oil in the bottom it was so clear I could see to the bottom no chips or flakes anywhere. Seems the lid hadn't been lifted in a very long time.
It does have a set up for the rubber flex collets, Jakobs I believe and comes with a box full of collets 1/16" on up must be 10 or 12 in there. Can you even turn 1/16" stuff on this thing? Has a 3 and 4 jaw chuck and a Faceplate but they look every bit of 12" across. Aloris quick change with half dozen assorted holders of the same make. Mounted Taper attachment that looks complete. Carriage stop and thread counter. Has an assortment of centers and chucks. Now the bad, looks like a slight ridge on the close side of the v bout 6" in front of spindle back maybe 16" By slight I mean I can see it in the light but not that noticeable by touch is that a no go? There's noticeable backlash on all wheels but the tail stock, not floppy but there.
On the outside gears the largest of the set has two missing teeth next to each other the rest are fine.
So with that info still think the same?

maicomutt said:

So with that info still think the same?

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It's not a Pacemaker but still about a hundred times better than a South Bend. For $1,000 I'd already have it in my garage before someone else finds it. I've made a lot of parts on its bigger brother, the 15" and they work pretty good.

Don’t worry about a small ridge, if you do the math, a small drop in the carriage equates to an even smaller error in diameter.
The gear can be repaired, you could also have a new one made, and new may even be available.

Buy the thing before it’s too late!
Seriously!

Edit- I believe the gear you are referring to is outside the headstock by the motor belts?

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Yes it's the larger of the gears on the outside of the machine, sounds like even with it's issues I should jump on it..

maicomutt said:

Yes it's the larger of the gears on the outside of the machine, sounds like even with it's issues I should jump on it..

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Yes... now


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Echoing the sentiments above, GET IT! I have a Tray Top from 1950s, also have a Jacobs Rubberflex. It is amazing. No brainer, call him now and tell him it's yours.

Advice taken call made shes mine!Really appreciate the input.Been lurking a short time great forum. Hope I can learn enough in future to make a contribution myself.
Now the real patience comes in, going out of state for a seven week job run.When I get back then the question I'll be asking is how do you run this thing?!
Cheers

Nice !

The answer to your question is with a phase converter

maicomutt said:

Advice taken call made shes mine!Really appreciate the input.Been lurking a short time great forum. Hope I can learn enough in future to make a contribution myself.
Now the real patience comes in, going out of state for a seven week job run.When I get back then the question I'll be asking is how do you run this thing?!
Cheers

Click to expand...

You got a heck of a buy on that lathe !. Good for you and enjoy