What's new
What's new

Value for a 24 inch South Bend?!?

Bowtie_Finn

Aluminum
Joined
Aug 1, 2018
Location
Roanoke
Hey Everyone, hoping to get some advice from this wonderful community !

I have the opportunity to buy a nice 24" South Bend Lathe, but cannot find any information on value/going price for this size/vintage of machine to base an offer on - anyone have a good "ballpark" idea on what it would be worth?

The machine is in real good shape, sat for a some time unused and has no excessive wear/etc !
-The machine seems to have dual back gears? never knew that was a thing :confused:



Appreciate any help!

-Finn

24_South_Bend.jpg24SB.jpg
 
Awesome! I have only seen pictures of one other South Bend 24. They are rare beasts. I own one, but this one seems to have all the goodies. It has a quick change gearbox, a taper attachment, the original silent chain drive, and what appears to be a follower rest. I'll bet there is a steady rest and a tool post grinder as well.

I would think $2000 would not be out of the park.

It is very heavy, and mine was face planted in its final move. Some damage, but not terminal.
 
"3 cents a pound" is my first thought. If you think thats "real good shape" I'd hate to see what you think bad shape is.

ok, are you trolling us?:D
 
From about 1930
 

Attachments

  • scan 01_1.jpg
    scan 01_1.jpg
    98.1 KB · Views: 56
  • scan 01_2.jpg
    scan 01_2.jpg
    96.1 KB · Views: 50
  • scan 01_3.jpg
    scan 01_3.jpg
    97.1 KB · Views: 53
  • scan 01_4.jpg
    scan 01_4.jpg
    97.6 KB · Views: 47
"3 cents a pound" is my first thought. If you think thats "real good shape" I'd hate to see what you think bad shape is.

ok, are you trolling us?:D

LOL - you should see some of the line shaft era stuff I buy and try to get running - in my book if it doesn’t have a chipped gear or sat outside it’s in great shape :D but I’m a sucker for hopeless causes !
 
LOL - you should see some of the line shaft era stuff I buy and try to get running - in my book if it doesn’t have a chipped gear or sat outside it’s in great shape :D but I’m a sucker for hopeless causes !

LOL! ok,ok, I get that, but hold on to your hat there, brother! don't pay a dime over 450 for it, just remember all the pain and headache you will have for free on top of that!!
 
What??? It only cost $1700 new. Value degrades with age. $750 tops in my book! Regardless what tooling is included with the machine.

Ken

+1

I think $250-750 is the likely sale price in the iron rich rust belt. At an industrial plant auction it would bring scrap at a weekend farm/estate auction more towards the top.
 
The owner should pay you for getting it out of there. Moving that monster is not a job for "a couple of guys and a pickup truck." To avoid wrecking what's there you should consider hiring experienced machinery movers. Those top-heavy machines are dangerous to move.
 
Botie_Fin,

Where in Texas is this lathe located in? What city? I'm just curious, no financial gain on my end. My days of playing with this old iron are behind me.

How are you going to drag that lathe out of there? Looks like there are at least three other machines you have to get that past to get it to the door opening in the back ground. I would highly recommend you to remove all of the over head iron as you can before moving. Looks like there is decent over head structural members that a come-a-long can be attached to for lifting pieces off of the lathe. Ideally, you want to dis-mantle the lathe all the way down to the bed. Leave the legs attached.
It looks like the base of the lathe is setting on 4 x 6's. That's a good thing. Lag bolt them down. Next, lift the bed up just enough to slip a 2 x 10 under the 4 x 6, starting at the tail stock end of the bed. Either lag bolt them together or carriage bolts. Doing all of this, will give you a way to roll the lathe bed out on pieces of pipe, Egyptian method.

Do a search for "Matts 11,000 lb Lodge & Shipley lathe to get ideas on how to get a lathe out of a shop. This move will be very similar.

What ever you do, stay away from trying to use machinery skates! And don't try to move the lathe as a whole unit! It has to be broken down into smaller pieces to get it out safely IMO.

Ken
 
Hey Ken - it’s located in the dfw area. Sorry I should have been more clear - it was purchased by a local dealer here and is in his shop now - so at least loading it won’t be an issue lol! Unloading would be the tried and true Egyptian method 😬

I can pass the guys contact info along to anyone who’d be interested in the lathe - as I’m still hoping the fence on it lol!

Thanks for the detailed write up!
 
Thanks everyone for the help! I never had moved one of these top heavy lathes - but can see how that would get scary fast!

It’s funny I was thinking with the South Bend name and the rareness of the swing for a south bend - that would drive the price to 3-4k!But maybe I’m used to seeing all the inflated eBay machine prices :angry: Or maybe the money is in 9a’s and 10 heavy‘s - something that can be moved with ease!
 
LOL! ok,ok, I get that, but hold on to your hat there, brother! don't pay a dime over 450 for it, just remember all the pain and headache you will have for free on top of that!!

Too true - I bet the pain in moving in would almost nix the worth :eek: plus I’d have to sell a few items to even make room lol
 
Awesome! I have only seen pictures of one other South Bend 24. They are rare beasts. I own one, but this one seems to have all the goodies. It has a quick change gearbox, a taper attachment, the original silent chain drive, and what appears to be a follower rest. I'll bet there is a steady rest and a tool post grinder as well.

I would think $2000 would not be out of the park.

It is very heavy, and mine was face planted in its final move. Some damage, but not terminal.

Oh man - I’ve had a machine or 2 face plant - worst feeling :( I feel your pain!

This one seems to have dual back gears, does your have them or am I imagining things !?!
 
I would seriously doubt that it has a non standard back gear arrangement.

Most of the heavies of all makes had such - plus we know SB offered three step cones - which is a natch for DBG. Be interesting to see how late this 24 is.

Here is a GK 24" that weighs twice what the 24 SB weighed - 3 step cone and DBG that you could switch between the two ratios on the fly
 

Attachments

  • photo 5.jpg
    photo 5.jpg
    87.8 KB · Views: 82
  • photo 4.jpg
    photo 4.jpg
    87.1 KB · Views: 89
  • photo 2.jpg
    photo 2.jpg
    88 KB · Views: 73
  • photo 1.jpg
    photo 1.jpg
    86.8 KB · Views: 77
  • P1000347sm.jpg
    P1000347sm.jpg
    89.8 KB · Views: 88
Last edited:
I can only say that my 24" has the standard back gear arrangement and that I have never seen a South Bend with a double back gear.
Mine is a 1921 and has a 4 step pulley.

IMG_4181.jpg

IMG_20171004_055409.jpg
 








 
Back
Top