Late 1920s Vintage south Bend lathe for sale

Jake frm Calgary · Oct 8, 2020

I am selling a late 20s (i believe 1929) South Bend lathe (6 ft bed; 16 in. swing). It is in very good operating condition; still in active use. It was acquired from a school 40 years ago and has resided in a home workshop since. The lathe resides in Calgary Alberta. I'm happy to send more pictures to serious interested buyers, and I'm happy to consider reasonable offers, but recognize this is a rare antique. I am also happy to work with the buyer to assist moving it, but the buyer will be responsible for the move. Thank you for your interest.

JohnEvans · Oct 8, 2020

It is not considered good form to post basically a for sale add with no prices !!! Rare antique ?? It is a old lathe that maybe in very good condition but having RARE value ? NAH !

DDoug · Oct 8, 2020

JohnEvans said:
It is not considered good form to post basically a for sale add with no prices !!! Rare antique ?? It is a old lathe that maybe in very good condition but having RARE value ? NAH !

We are to FIGHT !

Fight like savages over this vintage rare machine tool...

I'll bid $1.00 u.s.

Jake frm Calgary · Oct 8, 2020

Sorry folks but i don't know what its worth. No intent to offend.

true temper · Oct 9, 2020

It would be nice to see a photo of the actual lathe and tooling that goes with it.

johnoder · Oct 9, 2020

Little scan from catalog 84 - the whys of why it could never be considered "rare" - it was a PRODUCTION MADE effort even a hundred years ago

I especially like the ONE THOUSAND assemblies

Note the extreme frugality of making their own production machines from the very lathes being produced

Link to the February 1925 catalog - 9 to 24" with no 16-24

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/1617/21799.pdf

These are ALL Series O - a series discontinued over 80 years back

bikebuilder · Oct 9, 2020

On many sites you need to have posted a minimum number of times before being able to post to classifieds. Don't know why that's not the case here as there quite a few posts that violate the rules. Too easy for folks to fish the waters having no idea what they have or what it's worth.

Guest · Oct 9, 2020

Unfortunately with metal working machinery the value is in it's ability to be put to work making things out of metal. Vintage machinery doesn't have any collector's value for being old and or rare like a coin, car or bottle of wine would. There are plenty of wealthy individuals who have impressive, car,coin and wine collectors. Name one that collects antique machinery, I doubt there are many. As for value look on E-bay for completed sales. Also you could post appropriate pics and ask in the Southbend section right here.

Guest · Oct 9, 2020

johnoder said:
Little scan from catalog 84 - the whys of why it could never be considered "rare" - it was a PRODUCTION MADE effort even a hundred years ago

I especially like the ONE THOUSAND assemblies

View attachment 301504

Note the extreme frugality of making their own production machines from the very lathes being produced

Link to the February 1925 catalog - 9 to 24" with no 16-24

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/1617/21799.pdf

These are ALL Series O - a series discontinued over 80 years back

It says a 16" swing with a 12 foot bed only weighs 2280 pounds, that seems awful light to me.

Jake frm Calgary · Oct 10, 2020

follow- up photos

I have attached pictures of the lathe and the tooling that will come with it.

I was told by South Bend that this was the place to go to find a buyer; I assumed there was someone out there who might want a machine like this. Asking $6000; reasonable offers will be considered.

lucky7 · Oct 10, 2020

That is a beautiful appearing older lathe. Unfortunately, you would be incredibly lucky in Western Canada to get any where near $6000 for a 100 year old lathe. Reality is that it is not rare, it is very lightweight compared with lathes from even the 1940’s, it has a weak spindle with a thread not L series or D series, etc.

Sorry for this opinion as I do think your lathe is quite neat to look at, just not a lathe most folks would buy to use as a lathe nowadays. Suggest keep it and enjoy it yourself.

As an aside, I’d be interested in the history of Canadian Fairbanks Morse who apparently sold this lathe? I believe they made their own lathes in the 1900-1920 time period and sold McDougal lathes after that time. Not sure what happened to them after the 1930’s? Have seen several McDougals and F-M lathes, but hadn’t previously seen a South Bend resold (distributed?) by F-M.

L7

jwearing · Oct 10, 2020

What is the fancy gizmo attached to the back of the carriage?

Dan from Oakland · Oct 10, 2020

Appears to be a nice lathe in great shape for its age, but as others have said or implied, you will be fortunate to probably get half your current asking price.
The widget on the back side of the saddle/ crossslide is a Sunnen crank pin grinder for grinding crankshaft rod journals. These were intended for under-the-car grinding of a rod journal while the crankshaft was still in the engine and in the chassis. Sunnen also made a bracket to mound the grinder on a lathe as can be seen in these pictures. Good luck with your sale!

DDoug · Oct 11, 2020

Dan from Oakland said:
Appears to be a nice lathe in great shape for its age, but as others have said or implied, you will be fortunate to probably get half your current asking price.
The widget on the back side of the saddle/ crossslide is a Sunnen crank pin grinder for grinding crankshaft rod journals. These were intended for under-the-car grinding of a rod journal while the crankshaft was still in the engine and in the chassis. Sunnen also made a bracket to mound the grinder on a lathe as can be seen in these pictures. Good luck with your sale!

Which means this lathe could have been used for grinding cranks....ugh
Worked at a garage that had that, the machine was trashed with grit damage.

jwearing · Oct 11, 2020

Dan from Oakland said:
The widget on the back side of the saddle/ crossslide is a Sunnen crank pin grinder for grinding crankshaft rod journals.

I wonder if it could be worth more than the lathe.

OP, you should separate it and sell it separately. It won't add any value to the lathe.

Good luck with the sale, I think you need to do some more research and work on your expectations.

Jake frm Calgary · Oct 12, 2020

Thanks L7. I appreciate your candid response and understand your points. Much appreciated. I am only aware of Fairbanks Morse in their role in manufacturing & selling scales, locomotives etc. They had a locomotive works in Kingston Ont, when i lved their as a kid in the 60s. After they left (went under?) the site was haunted for years by a massive press that was left in the weather for years. I am unaware of their history with lathes and was surprised to see the plaque on the lathe. Sorry, no more help than that.

Jake frm Calgary · Oct 12, 2020

As has been stated by others that is an old time Sunnen crank grinder. It came with the original package back in the 60s when we got the lathe from the school. i cant profess how much it was used prior to the 60s, (not much, but a guess) but i have not seen it used ever.

Thank you again for the constructive feedback, all. Much appreciated as it helping me form the plan forward. We have to sell this machine and attachments. Was hoping it would all go together.

gappmast · Oct 16, 2020

The attached portable Sunnen crank grinder will add about .75 cents to the value

nt1953 · Oct 16, 2020

It should also be noted that this is a gap bed lathe. On the surface, it appears to be nice and clean. Hopefully, it has minimal wear.

Guest · Oct 17, 2020

gappmast said:
The attached portable Sunnen crank grinder will add about .75 cents to the value

I wonder how many small crank grinding shops are still around? There used to be quite a few back in the day. It was a pretty specialized skill, most automotive machine shops did not grind cranks.

Late 1920s Vintage south Bend lathe for sale

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