Hello all,
I wanted to introduce myself and my new obsession, my name is Barry and I am located in Chapel Hill NC. My new obsession which has been christened Lucile is a 1959 SB 16 inch Lathe with an 8ft bed. I bought her at a state surplus auction sight unseen. She was listed as a Westinghouse Lathe but even with the poor photo from behind (see below), I recognized her (IMO) gorgeous curves. Of course the Westinghouse mistake comes from reading the switch gear info from the back.
I have zero experience restoring or running such a lathe, but I have been reading and watching the usual suspects on youtube. Can't get enough Keith Fenner, Keith Rucker, Tom Lipton, Tubulcain, Halligan and Brad Jacobs. The level of expertise and willingness to help on this site is also very impressive. I'm really enjoying Thomas Utley's 16 odyssey.
I am more excited than nervous about restoring her back to her former glory. I think it is managable if I take a sub-assembly approach, have plenty of patience and ask enough questions. It's a marathon, not a sprint :-)
Here is what I know or suspect...
Removed from operation around October 2017 at the NC DoT, but unfortunately stored next to an open window since then. Some surface rust and when I got her, the compound and cross slide were rusted together. Broken gib screws on the compound and cross slide, bent compound screw. Some wear on the lead screw.
Bed wear/dings looks minor compared to some of the restoration projects I've seen on-line but I don't really have the ability to measure how bad it is. ( I think from the card and the lack of scraping marks by the headstock that the bed is hardened (not sure about that)
More photos and disassembly progress to follow...
I wanted to introduce myself and my new obsession, my name is Barry and I am located in Chapel Hill NC. My new obsession which has been christened Lucile is a 1959 SB 16 inch Lathe with an 8ft bed. I bought her at a state surplus auction sight unseen. She was listed as a Westinghouse Lathe but even with the poor photo from behind (see below), I recognized her (IMO) gorgeous curves. Of course the Westinghouse mistake comes from reading the switch gear info from the back.
I have zero experience restoring or running such a lathe, but I have been reading and watching the usual suspects on youtube. Can't get enough Keith Fenner, Keith Rucker, Tom Lipton, Tubulcain, Halligan and Brad Jacobs. The level of expertise and willingness to help on this site is also very impressive. I'm really enjoying Thomas Utley's 16 odyssey.
I am more excited than nervous about restoring her back to her former glory. I think it is managable if I take a sub-assembly approach, have plenty of patience and ask enough questions. It's a marathon, not a sprint :-)
Here is what I know or suspect...
Removed from operation around October 2017 at the NC DoT, but unfortunately stored next to an open window since then. Some surface rust and when I got her, the compound and cross slide were rusted together. Broken gib screws on the compound and cross slide, bent compound screw. Some wear on the lead screw.
Bed wear/dings looks minor compared to some of the restoration projects I've seen on-line but I don't really have the ability to measure how bad it is. ( I think from the card and the lack of scraping marks by the headstock that the bed is hardened (not sure about that)
More photos and disassembly progress to follow...