Fix it, limp on or boat anchor! help me decide the fate of my 10ee...

This 10ee fell into my lap for a song a little under a year ago. I'm finally just now really getting into it and it looks like its got some pretty severe bed/saddle wear. So, now i have to figure out what to do with it.
Im a glass worker by trade and mostly machine in service to that. Lately there has been demand for some of my tools so ive been expanding my machining capacity a bit. this lathe is my only one at the moment. I am good with basic restoration but have minimal scraping experience. so here are my options as i understand them and i would love some input...

-fix it...a very steep hill to climb. Probably means a regrind and scrape of the bed followed by moglice and scrape of the saddle and TS. Would love to do this and the experience would be a professional boon as I work on reconditioning glass lathes from time to time, but...as i understand it, it would mean months of work, major expense, new skills and equipment and no working machine for quite a while.

-limp by...I do a fair amount of non precision stuff like tool handles which would be fine but i will run into issues eventually. Also, the machine needs other things. nothing major yet but spending time and money on a machine that is not likely to last is sorta demoralizing

-Boat anchor/part out or sell...hate it but this is where im leaning at the moment. such a neat machine but it barely pulled $1200 at auction(from someone who backed out, hence me getting it) first time around so even selling it whole may be difficult in my area(Boston). given the good condition of many of its parts im guessing i would get more going the full stripping and parting route...but it would kill me a little to strip it, especially as its still generally running fine other than the wear, has functional TA, ELSR, threading is good, reasonable backlash, etc..

what do yall think?

If the drive runs good, put it back in one piece and use it, sure its not much better than a south bend with the poor ways, but it will still cut and it will probably out preform you, until you get up to speed, then find a better one...Phil

You may be surprised how well a wore out machine can do with a bit of inspiration. The wear on the saddle is baked in, the wear on the bed too. Try using the taper attachment as a seeing eye dog for the saddle? Make sure all the bearing are good in the taper first. Even without that the may be acceptable for the tasks at hand?

Steve

If most of your work is short, the bed wear won't matter. If it has a taper, you can adjust for it either with the TA or by using the compound set up at 90.

The saddle and compound ways are easy to scrape, not hardened.

Get the lube system working! That is what causes that kind of bed wear.

Unless you're making a lot of long, tight-tolerance parts, the machine may be fine just as it is. It depends on what you're doing. For example, my machine has a LOT of bed wear. If I try to use the carriage in the last inch of travel closest to the headstock I get about 0.001" taper per inch. Also the carriage is down on the tailstock ways. But I found that by adjusting the tailstock and staying away from the headstock that only have a few tenths deviation of the indicator (vertically or horizontally) over the length of the 12" (ish) test bar. The machine meets MY needs as is, which is all that matters.

What sort of tight-tolerance work do you need to do?

Cal

I'm with the others. Once you clean it up and start putting her through the paces, you may be surprised just how well she turns. These old Monarchs are real troopers and even when they're not looking so hot can pull off some pretty impressive results. If your not happy with it, send it down to me and I'll give you back something a whole lot prettier. Don

I'm in the "better the devil you know" camp. I agree with the others to use it for a while and, at some point, if you have the interest, it would make a great restoration project. I'm rebuilding a 16CY from 1941. Pulled the QCGB and headstock over the weekend in preparation to have the bed ground. Then it's turcite on the saddle, scraping etc. But for me, the rebuild is much of the fun.

All good questions and all excellent responses. (Says the guy who's never owned a 10EE.)

Offhand, you could easily sell that lathe for what you have in it. The 6 jaw adjustable chuck and DRO's (are they Heidenhain?) alone may be worth that. Parting it out is work, too, and besides having to deal with sellers and shipping you'll have to dispose of what's left.

If learning scraping, alignment and moglice skills would benefit you, I'd say go for it. You won't learn it all at once, obviously, but if you can spare some time on a regular basis, that's all that's needed.

You may be better off having the ways ground. Hardened ways (if these are) are difficult to scrape. That'd save some scraping time, but you would have to strip the machine to the bed for grinding.

This is one of the more rugged toolroom lathes ever built. It'll last. It's lasted at least 50 years already, while being abused. You won't abuse it, and it'll outlast you!