I wonder if the tailstock on the Rockwell lathe is the ORIGINAL,CORRECT one?
The South Bend is a very early one. Obviously,it has war board markings,but the old style quick change gearbox with the extra lever on top is an early model. Easy to spot in pictures. It looks like it has been stored in dirt somewhere. There is no way its accuracy can be evaluated via a picture. It will not have a hardened bed. When I was in college,I used a "war board" 16" South Bend lathe in machine shop,and that was about 1960. It's bed was pretty badly worn,and would not turn a true cylinder. Made them shaped like a wooden barrel!! On a 2' long piece,the cylinder would be .015" larger in the middle than at its ends. Many war board lathes were just run to death nearly 24 hours a day in factories. Many years have passed since 1960. No telling what shape such machines are in now. I'd have to opt for the Rockwell as it will have a hardened bed,likely. But,I am suspicious of that tailstock.
If the war board lathe had always been in a hospital,its chances of being in decent mechanical shape would be much greater. But,I can't imagine war board markings on a hospital lathe. They must have gotten it after the war. No way of telling its history.
BY THE WAY: That old model lathe has plain spindle,milled right of the cast iron of the headstock. No replaceable bearings. If they are worn out,you are in BIG trouble.I was asked to look at a lathe like that which was in the maintenance dept. of the museum I was tool maker in. I found I could lift the chuck 1/8" !!!! with a pry bar!!! No wonder it would not cut metal!! I don't know how the maintenance men could be so stupid they couldn't see that chuck jumping all over the place when in use!!!
They gave that lathe away.
All too often I have seen machines which were NEVER OILED by their users. They just cared nothing about the machines,and ran them dry till they were completely ruined. Lots of people like that around,unfortunately. I was THE ONLY person who ever oiled ANYTHING in our back up shop.
