Where did Lehman lathe go?

Lehmann changed owner ship back about 16 or 17 and then just disappeared.
I was looking for info if they are still making lathes or parts.

Their web site is DOA......[ 4 SIGHT MRP - Login]

I used to know a place in Dallas that used to make repair parts for Lehmann lathes. Last time I looked, they were no longer in business. I asked my brother if his place he works at had any Lehmann lathes left, they do not. He does know a guy in the used machinery business that has had Lehmann lathes in his place. He will try to remember to give him a call and see if he knows anything. I did a extensive Google search and nothing came up about them going out of business or any the owners retired or what.

Ken

4GSR said:

I used to know a place in Dallas that used to make repair parts for Lehmann lathes. Last time I looked, they were no longer in business. I asked my brother if his place he works at had any Lehmann lathes left, they do not. He does know a guy in the used machinery business that has had Lehmann lathes in his place. He will try to remember to give him a call and see if he knows anything. I did a extensive Google search and nothing came up about them going out of business or any the owners retired or what.

Ken

Click to expand...

Stale news by now, but the last financial snoop info had them as privately held, 6 or fewer employees, and under $170,000 annual gross-not-net.

That's not even a viable business for a house-painter or a lawn-care guy with ONE employee besides himself, so he/they had probably BEEN winding it down for quite some time, already- perhaps hoping to sell the name & such.

I did not check obits. Not sure if the latest owner(s) even had "Lehmann" as a surname.

Lehmann Machine has changed hand three times since it's original bankruptcy back in 1969. I worked for the man who bought the remains of Lehmann Machine Co. in 1973 for a merge $15,000!!! He got about six truck loads of drawing files, which I and John Oder have seen and doug thru, all of the wooden patterns, leftover finished parts. All of this was shipped to Houston and setup at what used to be called Drilco a division of Smith International. Smith decided to move this part of the operation to California around 1976-77. The first four new lathes went to Houston. They were redesigned a bit. The castings came from Korea or Taiwan and the machined parts, most were done at the Smith facility in CA. Later, don't remember, around 1990 something, Smith spun it off on it's own. And up to a few years ago, was still building lots of hollow spindle lathes mostly for the oilfield. Of course, the oilfield has been in a tail spind for the last five years, too. I sure that had a lot to do with them not in business today. Or whatever happen to their business. Ken

Well Tony @ lehmann purchased the castings and sublet to different shops on their ability. I had about 20 different parts to machine as needed,so I still have some casting left and going to be 76 in a few months I need to clear these out.,
I heard he and 1 employee went to texas,nothing since then.
Thanks jim

Jim,

You seem to know more about what's left of Lehmann than most of the rest of us do. It would make sense to move it to Texas. That's probably where most of the Lehmann Hollow spindle lathes are at (were at). Really, they are spread out all over the world.
Just curiosity, what casting do you have there? Any half-nut castings?

No half nut . Do have top compounds,early sliding shoe for taper attachment,the extra long jaws for steady rest,clutch drums and a few little casting that go in the apron.
Might have missed a few off the top of my head.
Maybe some in the might wake someone up
Thanks jim

Neat stuff.....

I used to make a few of those parts along with several smaller parts way back in time when Lehmann was located in Houston.

Thanks for sharing.

Ken

1/2 nut castings, I'll check again.

Ken. Try this email
[email protected]

They have a Facebook page still up, but doesn't seem to have been updated since 2016. There is contact info on this page, including a phone number:

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Shame so few machine tool makers are left in the US.