FS: 66 x 120" Manufacturing Lathe/Welding Positioner

Betts-Bridgeford lathe, originally made to produce 16" battleship shells, or so I'm told. The war ended before it was put to use, but it has since been modified to act as a combined welding positioner+lathe for rebuilding large rolls by building them up with weld followed by turning back to size. Don't know the exact original swing, but it has been blocked up to 5+ft swing. Ways are in excellent condition.

66inch x 10 feet between centers.
Only power feed (noleadscrew) with a QC gearbox providing four available feedrates: .05ipr, .062ipr, .072ipr, and .126ipr.
Machine has two carriages, though one has been temporarily removed.
Obviously a 3phase machine, and very large.
Includes 34" 4-jaw chuck and a live center, no other tooling.

In addition to being raised for increased swing, the drive has been modified. The motor runs through two truck transmissions, allowing <.5rpm spindle speeds necessary for weld-repair.

Machine is located in Oakland, Ca. We are able to crane this machine over to the door, but buyer will need to load onto trailer. Machine likely weighs 15+ tons.

Price? I'm not sure, but I'd rather see it get put to use than turned into scrap. It's worth at least $1500 as scrap, plus I can save the chuck, 50hp motor, and a few other choice parts. If someone's interested I can post pictures and more details. If not, I'll begin stripping it.

When does the machine have to be out?

Although way too far away for me I'm afraid

alskdjfhg said:

When does the machine have to be out?

Although way too far away for me I'm afraid

Click to expand...

You can't fool me, you have been just waiting to have a reason to buy an oilfield lowboy.....

WHHJR said:

You can't fool me, you have been just waiting to have a reason to buy an oilfield lowboy.....

Click to expand...

Although you can get those float trailer pretty cheap (especially with low oil prices) I think a regular drop deck would be nicer than a float.

But yes, a semi and trailer is on the list....

There were 48" at 40,000 and 14 foot over all, 1800 each two feet extra - thanks to Tony.

This would have needed 8" blocking to go to 66"

Halcohead,
I know I've made three trips down there already to buy machines from you and I've eyeballed that monster every time but I'm gonna have to tap out on this one! I'm surprised he's letting you get rid of it!

Matt, if you wanted the machine we could hold it for a few months until the drive made more sense, but it sounds like you have enough large lathes as it is.

Thanks for the information, John. I forgot to measure Saturday, but I think it's been raised by ~12-14" (can verify later this week), so 30-40k sounds about right. I checked with the shop owner; we can crane it up onto any trailer up to 30', but a 60' trailer would require a larger forklift than we've got for loading.

pri0ritize said:

I know I've made three trips down there already to buy machines from you and I've eyeballed that monster every time but I'm gonna have to tap out on this one! I'm surprised he's letting you get rid of it!

Click to expand...

Haha, understood! Hope those machines are serving you well, by the way. The space sure has been nice on my end.

And surprisingly, scrapping the lathe was his idea. I told him I'd try to find someone to use it, first. Both of us would rather see it put to use.