Thread: advise on buying 1942/3 16" 2-H Turret lathe

this is my first post on practical machinist, so thanks for letting me join!
i'm considering buying this 16" 2-H with 6 ft bed,SN 136376 catalog # 2-CW. here are some pics...
i am a one-man fabrication shop and this would be my first lathe that i'm long overdue for(turning 60 in October)
the seller is asking $1100. i'm thinking i would want to convert this to a regular cross slide and compound rest w/ quick change tool post and try to find a regular tail stock for it, but not sure if this is the right thing to do with this machine.
would this be usable as-is for common lathe work, turning, facing, boring without too much of a learning curve or should i just look for an engine or tool room lathe? thanks for the help.

couple more pics, the only thing it comes with is the extra 3 jaws

I own one of these the thread for it is here:
South Bend No. 2-H Turret Lathe 16"x6' Restoration

Replacing compound rest is not a terrible idea. Love the tail stock though. Not for production purposes, but for power feed on drilling. Its dead smooth, and bits don't jam. Plus you can load the turret with a variety of centers, chucks, etc and just rotate the turret head for what you need.

That should be equipped with a 2 speed 3 phase motor originally, very handy. Uses a 3 step cone pulley, instead of a 4 step like other 16's. With 3 the belt is wider and grips more.

You have coolant ramps leading to chip pan, nice accessory. There's a push button switch on leg on tail stock end, but I don't see coolant pump.

You live in a good area to buy machines, I don't, but for $1100 I think its hard to go wrong.

That one is from 1943. No doubt has war production tag, or some other markings.

The compound is original, the rest & tool post gizmo is not.

I don't see any collet assembly, thread dial, micrometer stop. Not a show stopper, but stuff you might get off ebay. Might have a crack on motor base vent, chip pan side.

Has spindle bearings that are the cast iron of the head stock, so it will be important that they be in good usable condition - since there is no such thing as replacing them

Had one 35 years ago

That would be good if you are making large numbers of parts. Unfortunately you will have to fit (scrape in) a tailstock and a cross slide to turn it into a engine lathe.

Texas, yes the coolant pump is AWOL, no chuck key but it does have the war production tag. i will ask for a pic of the vent door, it does look damaged.
i've read your thread on restoring your 2-H and watched your youtube videos, very useful. thanks for going through the extra effort do to that.
John, i did not know about the non replaceable bearing setup, is this tested by prying up on the chuck? or by listening to it run? maybe both?
Carl, so a new cross slide may not be plug-and-play, hmm. did not know that either. that seems to be the pattern here, lol.
i won't be mass producing anything, for the last 22 years i've mostly been playing around with small tractors for work.
i guess since this is my introduction thread, this is my site..
www.pf-engineering.com after all these years you would think i'd have put a lathe in the workshop by now!

John, i did not know about the non replaceable bearing setup, is this tested by prying up on the chuck? or by listening to it run? maybe both?

Levering up - and possibly side to side - with an indicator telling what the chuck or end of spindle is doing - will give a good idea of how worn they are

Running it with the left end gear train disengaged may also be instructive as to general health - should be smooth and quite other than some belt joint noise. Running it in back gear will add the noise of those four gears. Any knocking / clunking / banging means missing teeth

This one is just the right age to have been worked 24-7-365 for the first years of its existence

Handy stuff from VM

South Bend Lathe Works - Publication Reprints | VintageMachinery.org

See the two entries for January 1st, 2018

This one is just the right age to have been worked 24-7-365 for the first years of its existence

ah, good point. i will see what i can find out. thanks for all the good advise!

Originally Posted by Paul F.

i did not know about the non replaceable bearing setup, is this tested by prying up on the chuck? or by listening to it run? maybe both?

Chuck key is not a big deal, you will probably end up with a few chucks as you begin to operate.

On spindle bearings. To truly know, you need to lift each cap. Two allen head bolts per cap, to view spindle and cap surfaces. Seller may or may not like that. You do lift up on chuck to check bearing clearance. The caps are shimmed to set clearance. If you can make out shims still under caps, You should have room to tighten it up. At 77 years old, surfaces may not be pristine, but still very usable. Might get lucky and find them very clean. Chuck side cap will show more wear than the other cap.

If i'm buying it, I wouldn't run it under power. I'd roll it by hand, check up and down clearance. After purchase I'd dump the oil from head stock, lift spindle out, change spring loaded felts, new oil, and set clearances.

With 3 screws, you can pull left side end cover and check gear teeth on gear train. Also try to peak in and roll to check back gear teeth. Peaking up from bottom you can look at all the gears in qcgb.

you guys are awesome! thanks so much for all this feedback, it gives me a lot more confidence in possibly making this purchase.
i will definitely keep you posted on what comes up.

so one dumb question, how do i make these turret ports operational, is there some kind of adapter sleeve i need to use to convert those holes to a usable taper?

Originally Posted by Paul F.

so one dumb question, how do i make these turret ports operational, is there some kind of adapter sleeve i need to use to convert those holes to a usable taper?

Yes, and its a sleeve you should be able to still get new, and cheap, albeit foreign made. The sleeve is not tapered externally, but the internal has a variety of stuff, mt3, mt2 etc. to fit what you want.

The nut above each turret hole locks the adapter or what you put in there. The hand lever on top center locks turret tight, need to loosen to rotate.

To rotate, use the 4 spoke capstan on power feed box. Moving turret assembly forward toward chuck will click a latch. On return, the turret head revolves one position.

One down side to this TS is to move whole assembly. It has 2 bed clamps on under side, with two bolts. Need to loosen those to shove whole assembly. It ain't light, the whole thing is in 500-600 lb range. With lube it slides easy enough, but you do need to put a little ass into it. By comparison, the normal engine lathe TS is about 100 lb. But all that weight is why drilling is so smoothe. I generally just loosen/tighten the rear two bolts as they are easier to get to.

ok, i get it. wow that sounds cool.

Originally Posted by Paul F.

ok, i get it. wow that sounds cool.

Solid Sockets is their name

One of the more important things about those turret "holes" - they have to be concentric to spindle (at least for "drill" type tools). Common to be low when turret slide worn

If your looking to do general lathe work than keep looking. Your in a state that had a ton of shops, has to be better out there. Turret lathes are meant for production not one offs. By the time you convert it to make it more practical, it will cost a lot of time and money. Can you scrape a tailstock into alignment? What if those cast iron bearings are shot? To many negatives in my book.
Unless you NEED a turret lathe for production, your not going to be happy without a lot of effort.

Mr Bridgeport

Common to be low when turret slide worn

sounds reasonable to me.

keep looking ... To many negatives in my book.

thanks for the advise, mr. B

Im with MR Bridgeport on this one. You will be looking hard and long to find the parts you need to change this lathe the way you want it. plus $1100 seems high as is. A few years I bought one decades newer and with all parts that it needed to do 90% of lathe work. I also didnt pay $1100. You should be able to pick up a 13 that is 30-40 years old for $800ish. One nice thing to look for is flame hardened ways. I think this was very common in southbend lathes starting in the mid 70's another very nice option would be the D1-4 spindle for chuck changes.

Good luck keep us posted on what you decide. There is a lot of very very helpful people here for your new southbend adventure.

i totally appreciate all the feedback you folks are providing, that's why i came here.
there are a lot of lathes for sale in new england right now, but my criteria is for a 12 to 16" swing so that reduces the herd considerably. some folks will not communicate back to me at all, and some set prices prohibitively high it's ridiculous. in addition to this, some are located in hard to access areas and offer no help with loading, ie, basement with stairs. no bueno for my 60 yr old back that worked in home construction in a previous life. in addition to the 2-H turret, these are other options i'm considering:

South Bend Fourteen, listed in two separate ads, one for $2500, another asking $2700. has forklift, lathe not under power.



Clausing 1401 asking $2000 sent 2 emails, no response



Colchester 12 x 36, asking $1875 machine shop use, have forklift. asked to have a phone conversation with someone that knows this lathe, no response.



Clausing 5913 $1600 needs the usual plastic bushing on the reeves drive, does not know if the pulleys are trash yet. he's flipping it.



then there's the Meuser 16" in the next town over, asking $1100 O.B.O., closing his machine shop, abundant tooling, emailed but no response, sold the next day.



my first preference is for a more modern gear head variable speed machine, but these also have their issues with their reeves drive system and can be problematic.
the reeves setup i like the best so far is on the colchester with flexible shaft turned manually.
i'm not in a hurry to spend money, so we'll see what turns up.

this is the vs setup in the colchester

ok, here's the latest. the owner is reporting no movement prying up on the chuck / main spindle bearing and sent me this pic of the turret ways.
he said there is movement prying up on the turret but feels this can be adjusted out. my limited experience says there is no way to "adjust out" worn turret ways.
here is a pic, for what it's worth.