Hello there ksdavid and johnoder,
I'm a newbie posting to the forums but have been lurking around for a good while learning. When I saw found this thread I found some commonalities with the Monarch lathe I picked up a couple of weeks ago that is very similar to the one ksdavid posted the pic of in the original post. Mine has some oddities that have me scratching my head regarding what model and vintage it is. So I thought I'd reply to the thread to see if either of you had an opinion on it.
There is not now nor does it appear there ever was a model/nameplate on the machine anywhere as far as I can tell. The only indication to any model designation I've found is the inspection stamp on the end of the bed which is stamped "Inspected by (initials) Lot #B2458". That would indicate 1928 production from what I've read but I'm confused about the "B" because everything I've seen that referenced a Monarch B model was a cone pulley lathe. I will attach the only two pictures I have of it right now which were the crummy pics from the auction. I did some quick Photoshop editing to try and eliminate all the background clutter that made it hard to see in the poor lighting.
My headstock and controls, quick-change gearbox, and tail-end leg are all identical to yours. However, there are quite a few differences as well.
- Mine appears to have come from the factory with a headstock mounted 5hp motor, because the head-end base is not the casting that was made for the motor-in-leg configuration like you have. Mine has a hinged cast iron door on the front(broken unfortunately).
- The bed on mine appears to be 2ft or so longer than yours.
- My carriage is a fair bit different in that there are no cast-in "troughs" in the front wings on the left and right of the cross slide; just solid blocks of cast-iron.
- My apron controls are just slightly different as well. Yours appears to have some other knob or boss between the half-nut lever and the cross slide feed lever that mine does not have and my feed levers for the cross slide and carriage are a good bit beefier than what yours appear to be. I also have a thread dial on the right hand side of the carriage.
- There appear to be some minor differences in the tailstock.
- My chip pan is not the typical "step up" type that seems to be ubiquitous on all the other Monarchs of this era I've seen, but is instead a flat pan. (more correctly said, it USED to be flat)
- Though it is hard to see in the photos because it is partially detached, mine does have the square shaft, 90 deg. gearbox, and apron mounted clutch engagement lever you guys were discussing above. However the style of the gear box does not look like the one johnoder posted. It's more of a square cast cover over the bevel gears than it is an enclosed casting like his picture shows.
- Mine also has
most of an original Monarch taper attachment on it. There are at least a couple of parts I can tell are missing, but I haven't gotten into that assembly yet.
The biggest question I have about the machine that has me scratching my head is the spindle nose. Though the picture makes it look like it has a flanged end on the spindle, that is actually a shop made (poorly made at that) adapter on a spindle nose that is partially threaded and partially tapered! It's also a size that I have not found
any reference to being a standard configuration. The threaded portion is 3-1/2" x 4 tpi for about 2" long and the end is tapered for about another inch. I haven't verified the bore yet, but it appears to be something like MT5 or MT6.
That was a lot of rambling, but if either of you would have any thoughts or insights about it I'd be all ears. And if ksdavid needs any measurements or pics of the clutch engagement lever mechanism I'd be happy to get those for you.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
Evan Dailey
Ona, WV