Sheldon R15-8

trident marine · Apr 12, 2020

Hello,
My lathe model is Sheldon R15 I believe it was made in mid-1966, the s# is 32297 the change gearbox is a concealed unit with two dials located on the front of the lathe to rotate to the desired speed and feed. However under a cover on the left side of the lathe, there are three pullies coupled withe a timing belt style (an idler/tensioner pully a drive pulley, and a headstock drive pully, please note that they are pullies, not gears, with straight rectangular teeth.

Thank you for your reply.
-Adam

Ray Behner · Apr 12, 2020

What are you asking?

9100 · Apr 12, 2020

Ray Behner said:
What are you asking?

He is probably asking about the carriage feed timing belt that drives the gearbox. I have what should be the almost identical lathe and there is nothing on it above the feed selectors like the picture shows.

Bill

GregSY · Apr 12, 2020

No problem, don't mention it.

Ray Behner · Apr 12, 2020

Bill,
Those are just magnetic hooks stuck to the gearbox........I think.

tnmgcarbide · Apr 12, 2020

i'm no expert, but i believe the sheldon square
head R- series was a mid 1970's machine. they would be
adapted to tape cnc and a tracer and turrett
model. different class of machine than the south
bend / clausing style of the early machines.

DDoug · Apr 13, 2020

9100 said:
there is nothing on it above the feed selectors like the picture shows.

Bill

Those are HF magnets, as well as the rectangular ones below....

projectnut · Apr 13, 2020

Here's a link to a 1965 sales brochure for the Sheldon R 13, R15, and R 17 machines.

http://www.vintagemachinery.org/pubs/2133/6860.pdf

On page 6 there's a picture of the headstock and control buttons. On pages 10-13 there are full frontal pictures of the R series machines.

9100 · Apr 13, 2020

tnmgcarbide said:
i'm no expert, but i believe the sheldon square
head R- series was a mid 1970's machine. they would be
adapted to tape cnc and a tracer and turrett
model. different class of machine than the south
bend / clausing style of the early machines.

Mine was one of the last made, I don't know the exact year but early 70s. It was intended to have a variable speed drive but it was never installed. A fellow who worked for a machinery dealer bought it and was unable to come up with a drive, so it sat in its crate until I managed to buy it after years of trying. I put a 15 hp DC motor with a motor driven three phase Variac and rectifier in the base and made an appropriate control panel. A very fine machine, medium duty, not comparable to Monarch 61s or American Pacemakers, etc. for heavy stock removal, but it has well earned its keep.

I have the manual scanned if you need it.

Bill

DDoug · Apr 13, 2020

9100 said:
Mine was one of the last made, I don't know the exact year but early 70s. It was intended to have a variable speed drive but it was never installed. A fellow who worked for a machinery dealer bought it and was unable to come up with a drive, so it sat in its crate until I managed to buy it after years of trying. I put a 15 hp DC motor with a motor driven three phase Variac and rectifier in the base and made an appropriate control panel. A very fine machine, medium duty, not comparable to Monarch 61s or American Pacemakers, etc. for heavy stock removal, but it has well earned its keep.

I have the manual scanned if you need it.

Bill

I have an r15-8 foot model, it came with a 3 phase to d.c. drive (reliance), it was bad so I replaced the 3 hp 240 volt motor in the base with a 3 hp 3 phase motor & VFd.

The drive was in a separate cabinet, with the start/stop/revers and speed rheostat on top.

trident marine · Apr 15, 2020

Hello, all thanks for your help concerning my Sheldon R15-8 lathe sorry for the confusion on the concerning the magnets on the quick change gearboxIMG_4704.jpg
IMG_4707.jpg I am not sure if you folks can see those pics I have sent with my reply, I am not sure how to send
IMG_4719.jpg the pics with an attachment. Again thanks to all who are trying to help me figure out how to be able to cut metric threads on this lathe.Thanks again, Adam.
IMG_4718.jpg
IMG_4716.jpg
IMG_4712.jpg

Ray Behner · Apr 16, 2020

Sorry, but I didn't see any mention of "metric" in your first post. To thread metric, you'll need a stack of gears and other parts to couple the quick change to the lathe. I've never seen that set in the wild, so I made them. If you should ever find the set from a 13, 15 or 17" grab it. They are all the same other than the spindle feed gear which has a bigger bore on the 15 & 17".

Shovelwrench · Sep 4, 2020

I just picked one of these up!!!! Definitely loving it!!!

Does anyone know what the orginal retail price on these was!?!?!? Just curious

4GSR · Sep 4, 2020

The price of a Cadillac of that year!!!

Probably very close to it anyways.

Dan from Oakland · Sep 5, 2020

It was only the 17" Sheldons that were also offered as NC and then CNC machines. The 17" is a pretty stout machine. I have a CNC version if anyone need a running project.

UptownSport · Sep 6, 2020

projectnut said:
Here's a link to a 1965 sales brochure for the Sheldon R 13, R15, and R 17 machines.

http://www.vintagemachinery.org/pubs/2133/6860.pdf

On page 6 there's a picture of the headstock and control buttons. On pages 10-13 there are full frontal pictures of the R series machines.

That's a beautiful machine. How did all of this 'go away?'

EmGo · Sep 6, 2020

UptownSport said:
How did all of this 'go away?'

Combination of ingredients ... Goldman, Carl Icahn, Kirk Kerkorian & Friends bought off Congress, while all the old-line US machine companies had a collective brainfart. Simultaneously US people got all snotty and decided they weren't gonna work in no steenkin factory. The guys who were happy to work in a factory got shit on, so now we have a two-tier society.*

Maybe coulda survived one or even two of those developments, but not all three.

I think part of the last component was a partially caused by the vietnam war. Anyone who could afford it got a student deferment, so all of a sudden instead of going into dad's shop and learning how to make things, they came out basketweavers and sociologists with no respect for the people creating all the stuff they fill their homes with. Revenge of the VC, as it were ....

* End result of that, imo, is Donald Trump because you can't shit on people for forty years without some kind of reaction. The Trump is a total backstabbing pos liar but at least he pretends to represent working people, which the previous thirty years of assholes did not.

I miss John Kennedy

9100 · Sep 6, 2020

About 1975 I was working as a consultant/machinery builder, making specialized production machines. I had a Beaver/Pal English mill in my basement, which was as good as any on the market at the time, but still suffering along with a 9" Logan lathe. My customer at the time had the best toolmaker I have worked with. When I asked him about a lathe, he said to get a 10" Sheldon. He knew what he was talking about that was what he worked on until an influx of backing money let him upgrade to a Hardinge HVLH. I tried to buy a Sheldon and the dealer said the manufacturers had a steel allocation and Sheldon decided to put their's into CNC machines and were not making any more manual lathes.

The fellow I got mine from bought it from the factory as manual lathes were going out of production and never took it out of the crate. Aside from someone who cut test bars at the factory, I am the only person who has run it and as I close down, it is going to the second best toolmaker I have known where it will get the best of treatment.

P. S. I seem to recall that a 10" Sheldon went for about $3500, but that was a long time ago.

Bill

Sheldon R15-8

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