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Milwaukee Ductile Monarch 60/61

Baitshop

Aluminum
Joined
Mar 2, 2018
I recently came to be the caretaker of a 1954 Monarch series 60. I think the story may be interesting to some, so here it is.

My brother called me two weeks ago and asked me if I was interested in another lathe. I had a small 1959 Logan 9B17-41 that I rescued from a barn, and I have always wanted and needed a full size lathe. He showed me some pictures and gave me some basic details. It was a 1940's model CK 12x30 and the guy had told my brother that he was looking for $1,000 for it(he acquired it for free from his employer and didn't really know what it was). I started doing research and got myself all excited to bring it home. Went down there with the trailer and two grand in my pocket just in case he had other cool stuff for sale. I'll skip the part about how I really feel about not getting that particular lathe and the person that was selling it. Needless to say then that I came home with an empty trailer. Even though it was definitely for the best in that situation, I was determined at that point to find a Monarch of similar vintage.

Craigslist, search tempest, and ebay trolling began in earnest at this point. I found several around the country and was prepared to drive out to Ohio to grab one that was on ebay. There were two for sale in my state of Wisconsin, but both were at the top of my budget. I reached out to the fellow in Appleton with the craigslist ad that was the subject of a thread in the classified section of this forum prior to my joining. We went back and forth a little bit. When it became pretty clear that he was willing to make the sort of deal I was comfortable with, I hitched up the trailer and drove the two hours north to take a look. This was last Friday morning. Now I am not a machinist by trade nor am I an expert in machinery. I know enough about lathes to understand that no visual inspection is going to tell the tale of what sort of life the machine has led. Were the dogs on the gears all beat up or busted? Were the ways worn to hell? I realize too that getting a lathe "cheap" doesn't really mean anything. There is no fixing any major issues without spending more than I would have on an entire different lathe that I could have seen under power. All of that being said, I immediately coughed up my maximum offer after a quick walk around. I am definitely and admittedly a strange person when it comes to vintage tools and machinery.
In my mind that lathe was meant to come home with me, and so it did. I was fortunate that the owner had a very nice Lull type Cat to load my new Monarch. Getting it off the trailer would be a whole different story.

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I was contemplating several different ways to get the lathe into my shop while driving home. I ended up cutting some 6x6's that I had laying around to make a pair of ski's. My trailer has a 12k harbor freight winch on it that has saved my ass a bunch of times. This time around I ended up boring a hole in the concrete of the shop and running the winch cable and another length of elevator cable around some snatch blocks and back up to the crossmember between the ski's. Pictures tell this story best. I was not at all comfortable getting this done, but it worked out with no drama. It took probably 4 hours to get the lathe up on ski's and down into the shop. Last Saturday I spent half of the day getting it moved up and into the corner of my small shop.

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So at this point the lathe was at home in the shop and I started disassembly. It's at this point that I was doing some research that led me to this forum. One of the threads talked about how Monarch was still around and how they had records of these machines. I called them up and Terrie answered the phone. It sounded very much like when she asked me to hang on a sec after I gave her my serial number that she was walking to grab the file from a cabinet. Talking to her was very cool to say the least. She told me first off that my machine was a series 60 tool room lathe but that it was a late 60 and had features more like a 61 series. She told me that the machine was commissioned to be built by Briggs and Stratton out of Milwaukee in 1953. I agreed to cough up the 100 bucks for a binder with some papers in it. Fair price to pay in my opinion for the storage of those documents for 60 plus years.

The fellow I bought the machine from did tell me that he purchased the machine from an auction and that it originally came from Briggs and Stratton. Knowing this and after having spoke with Terrie at Monarch, I was really getting very interested in the history of the machine. All of my favorite tools and machines are of a similar vintage to this lathe. Most of them don't have a traceable history. To me the best part about the machine is really the history. So at this point I reached back out to the gentleman that I purchased the lathe from asking for any more information that he had. All he could recall is that he was the one that purchased it from an auction in Oshkosh about 4-5 years ago. Armed with that information I was about to learn how truly amazing the internet can be for research purposes. I spent several hours looking at auction history from that area and time period and came across this:

Remaining Machine Shop Inventory – MUST GO!

That's my lathe! So I registered with the auction house so I could see how much he paid for it of course. A few more hours of digging brought me to this sad picture:

MONARCH 16" Geared Head Engine Lathe S/N 38987

So at this point the history of the machine looks fairly clear. A few more hours of internet searching brings me to this video(go to 8:30 mark):

Metal Tech - YouTube

There she was back when it was a functioning shop.

So as best I can tell, this lathe was commissioned to be built by Briggs and Stratton in April of 1953. I assume it was installed at the Milwaukee Ductile Iron foundry in West Allis, Wisconsin when it was delivered in April of 1954. The foundry was owned by Briggs up until about 1999. Here they made cranks and cams for the small engines. This lathe was obviously not a production machine, but rather spent it's life in the maintenance shop. Around 1999 the plant was sold to an out of state company and became Metal Tech. The plant continued to make parts for Briggs. In 2009 the plant closed it's doors for good, and I believe that my lathe sat in this vacant old foundry until the building was purchased by MRD, a demolition company. Before the building was torn down in 2014 my lathe and anything else left inside was auctioned off. You can see from the link above that it sold for basically scrap value. I believe that it was purchased by the auction company in Oshkosh and was then sold at auction again to the man that I purchased it from. This man had an employee that was the driving force behind the purchase. Their company is not in the business of machining, but the employee at the time was going to use the lathe to facilitate plant repairs. It was installed and made to run, but at some point the employee left the business and the project was abandoned. Those guys needed the space, and that's where I came to own the machine. I'll post more tonight.
 
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Did you wire it up and run any tests for alignment or accuracy before you tore it down?

There was no way that was going to happen. I was expecting some questions of this nature. To me the machine was worth the full cosmetic restoration just because of what it is and what it represents to me. It could be way past where a machinist would put this much effort into restoring. I realize that sounds dumb to people that make money doing this stuff, but to me it isn't that. It's more than a hobby, but less what I do everyday for my primary income if that makes any sense. I won't be scraping or any of that at this point either. It's not that I don't want to learn all of that. I want to learn everything. But at this point in my life I already didn't have the time to do what I'm setting out to do with this machine, which is a full cosmetic and basic mechanical restoration. Everything will be completely cleaned and stripped, epoxy primed and top-coated with the same color imron as the bridgeport in the background. Bearings that need to be replaced will be, but other than that this is mostly cosmetic. Like I said, I understand if guys that rely on these machines see that as foolish. I hope that didn't sound like I was taking offense to your question. I will level the bed as best as I can when it goes back together and try to teach myself how to dial in the tail stock and such. It will be as accurate as I can make it, and that will be good enough for what I do with it(I hope).
 
Looks like a great specimen for a restoration. From the pics, not much evidence of prior ham-fisted treatment.

Thanks. These things are crazy robust! The inside of the gear case looks like a big rig transmission. I was super relieved to see that all the gears looked wonderful and the "dogs" were about perfect.
 
I almost bought that machine a while back. Kinda kicking myself for not pulling the trigger. Tim was nice to deal with and we had a fair price worked out. It’s just a little too much lathe for me— I would have pulled the trigger if there was more tooling. Good luck with it.
 
I almost bought that machine a while back. Kinda kicking myself for not pulling the trigger. Tim was nice to deal with and we had a fair price worked out. It’s just a little too much lathe for me— I would have pulled the trigger if there was more tooling. Good luck with it.

The lack of tooling did definitely give me a little pause as well. The part that makes me sick is if you look in the original auction site listing from the salvage company there was a separate listing for all the tooling. Multiple chucks, the steady rest, collet attachment and everything that the original order had on it...sold for $225!!!! Breaks my heart really. I feel like all of that tooling should be with the machine. It is what it is though. I did my best to track down where that went but I've had no luck. Tim was an excellent guy to deal with. What I paid him is very close to what he paid for it so I feel like it was a fair deal for both. I was very upfront with where I was going to be on the price before I drove up there. Like I said, I went right to my maximum bid, and I think that's exactly what he was looking for at that point. It had been on craigslist for over a month when I bought it. Thank's for the well wishes.
 
The lack of tooling did definitely give me a little pause as well. The part that makes me sick is if you look in the original auction site listing from the salvage company there was a separate listing for all the tooling. Multiple chucks, the steady rest, collet attachment and everything that the original order had on it...sold for $225!!!! Breaks my heart really. I feel like all of that tooling should be with the machine.

I didn't see that separate auction listing for the tooling-- what a shame! I did see the original sale, where it sold for like $500, and also what Tim paid for it; sounds like you paid just about where I was on price. Also just got a chance to view the gearbox photos, on my home computer (was on cell phone before), and am definitely kicking myself for not buying it after seeing the shape of the gears. Good luck, cant wait to see the updates (will probably make me sick, but glad it has a good home).
 
There was no way that was going to happen. I was expecting some questions of this nature. To me the machine was worth the full cosmetic restoration just because of what it is and what it represents to me. It could be way past where a machinist would put this much effort into restoring. I realize that sounds dumb to people that make money doing this stuff, but to me it isn't that. It's more than a hobby, but less what I do everyday for my primary income if that makes any sense. I won't be scraping or any of that at this point either. It's not that I don't want to learn all of that. I want to learn everything. But at this point in my life I already didn't have the time to do what I'm setting out to do with this machine, which is a full cosmetic and basic mechanical restoration. Everything will be completely cleaned and stripped, epoxy primed and top-coated with the same color imron as the bridgeport in the background. Bearings that need to be replaced will be, but other than that this is mostly cosmetic. Like I said, I understand if guys that rely on these machines see that as foolish. I hope that didn't sound like I was taking offense to your question. I will level the bed as best as I can when it goes back together and try to teach myself how to dial in the tail stock and such. It will be as accurate as I can make it, and that will be good enough for what I do with it(I hope).

That isn't foolish.

Foolish is wasting your life trying to make a machine perfect when it doesn't matter.

It takes a little more skill to make nice parts on a heavily worn machine, but it's a lot less work than rebuilding a machine like that.

Put a decent paintjob on it and fix anything broken and it'll do just fine for you.
 
I didn't see that separate auction listing for the tooling-- what a shame! I did see the original sale, where it sold for like $500, and also what Tim paid for it; sounds like you paid just about where I was on price. Also just got a chance to view the gearbox photos, on my home computer (was on cell phone before), and am definitely kicking myself for not buying it after seeing the shape of the gears. Good luck, cant wait to see the updates (will probably make me sick, but glad it has a good home).
Lot-Assorted Tooling and Milling Cutters on Floor



Check out the second picture.
 
That isn't foolish.

Foolish is wasting your life trying to make a machine perfect when it doesn't matter.

It takes a little more skill to make nice parts on a heavily worn machine, but it's a lot less work than rebuilding a machine like that.

Put a decent paintjob on it and fix anything broken and it'll do just fine for you.

Thanks for the affirmation.
 
Put a decent paintjob on it and fix anything broken and it'll do just fine for you.
I'd have the local Mexicans from the body shop come over, throw a $1,000 paint job on 'er, and make parts :)

I'm seeing a lot of fixation on "ooh ! it's out .0002" !" around here. If I was that picky I'da never made nuthin' ... it's the PARTS that count, not whether the table is square to the center of the earth within three microns.
 
Congratulations on getting that machine, glad to see its at a good home! Thanks for posting about the history you found out about, I enjoyed reading it.

I think the cosmetic restoration is the right move-it looks to be in great shape in the pictures.
 
Great detective work and story. Congratulations.

There is no question a model CK is a great lathe and it would have been perfectly capable. But, ya know - model 60/61!

What's the max rpm?

There was no way that [testing] was going to happen.

The original photo showed a pretty serious oil leak across the front of the gearbox and enough kitty litter to attract a coven's worth of cats. Any indication those leaks have been resolved? Be a shame to go back into it for an oil leak or some other minor problem that would have been obvious with a little use.
 
Great detective work and story. Congratulations.

There is no question a model CK is a great lathe and it would have been perfectly capable. But, ya know - model 60/61!

What's the max rpm?



The original photo showed a pretty serious oil leak across the front of the gearbox and enough kitty litter to attract a coven's worth of cats. Any indication those leaks have been resolved? Be a shame to go back into it for an oil leak or some other minor problem that would have been obvious with a little use.

Thank you. The max RPM is 1,000. I think the CK I was looking at was half that. My plan was to put a VFD on that machine and just over-speed the motor to get a little more out of it. I'll still run my 60/61 on a VFD because I need phase conversion, but I doubt I'll ever push it past 1,000 rpm.

As far as what you mentioned about the oil leak; that it definitely a valid concern. The green light for me to tear it down without having ran it was that the gears were all in such good shape. I'm gambling of course. If I get it back together and running and it has issues I'll suck it up and take it back apart. Of course I'm playing CSI machine shop edition and trying to diagnose everything I can while it was taken apart/going back together. The front bearing on the motor is getting growly, for instance. I'll hopefully catch other things like that. As far as the oil leak, I believe I have that figured out. If you look at the picture of the machine in the video I posted at the 8:35 mark, it does not appear like it's leaking everywhere like in the auction photo. Keep in mind that the machine sat in that building from 2009 to late 2013 with no climate control or anything. What I discovered is that someone had installed a series of pipe fittings out the back of the head-stock to make draining the oil more convenient. That whole "assembly" was super loose and allowing all the head-stock oil to drain onto the inside of the base. When that cavity on top of the base filled up it started barfing oil out the seam between the change gearbox and the base. That's a lot of words to say that I appreciate the advice and I will keep trying to identify things that need fixing. The last thing I want is a leaker.

Thanks again to everybody for the advice and the kind words. I worked on the bases and the bed all weekend. I took the bases to work to use the hot water pressure washer on them. The inside of the bigger base where the motor goes was amazingly filthy. The pressure washer did remove all of that and most of the beige paint that had been applied at some point in it's life. I'm surprised that any of that paint stuck over the years actually. It doesn't look like any prep was done to the original paint. The bed I pressured washed at home in my driveway. All the paint was removed with a wire wheel on a big angle grinder. I've done this a few times before, so no ways were damaged in the process. It's nowhere near as good as sandblasting, but I'm not equipped to do something that big myself and I'm not trusting enough to let someone else do that on a machine that is basically irreplaceable to me at this point. Probably burned up 50 worth of rags and solvent wiping everything down after wire wheeling. The one thing about that is if the paint is dirty, the wheel smears it around while taking the paint off. It takes forever to clean before painting , but you know what they say about prep and a paint job.

I did use a different product this time around based on a recommendation from the supply place where I get my paint. For a long time I've been using Nason ful-poxy to seal stuff and Nason ful-fil high build primer to prep for block sanding. This time around I used an Axalta(dupont) Corlar direct to metal epoxy primer that is also high solids/high build. The stuff sprays out really nice. I don't know how it sands yet. I was just utilizing the thickness to soften the edges over the peaks and valleys of the casting on these parts. If I had more time and more space I would have body-worked everything, but that's not feasible with this project at this point in my life. When I do the doors, head-stock, and other smaller parts I will body-work those to make them straight. Anyway, back on track; the high build epoxy theoretically would allow skipping the high build step I was doing before. I think this is more of an industrial coating where they want the thickness for extra corrosion resistance. It may sand like hell(most epoxy's I've used do). If that's the case then I'll end up going back to my old routine, but for something that isn't going to be body-worked, this primer seems like a good option for making the part look "softer" and more presentable if that makes any sense. The top coat is an Imron gray that I picked out of a chip book back before I did the bridgeport. It's a little lighter probably than what was on this machine from the factory, but I like the way it looks. I'll post some pictures in a bit.
 








 
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