Specifically, a 1948 Sears 109.20630. I'm asking $300, though I'd be open to trade for a decent wood lathe. I'm also open to insulting offers, as I want the table space back this is currently taking up.
I don't want to ship this, but I'd be willing to deliver within reasonable distance or meet you somewhere. Shipping old cast iron almost always leads to a cracked something or other, and I just don't want to risk it. I also tag along with a friend racing in NHRA division one, so I find myself as far north as New Hampshire and as far south as Maryland a few times each season.
Details:
I've had this lathe for years, but have largely favored using my bigger Southbend 9 inch, so I have not put a ton of time on this. I've gone through it, tuned it up, and made chips with it though. It comes with what I believe to be a full set of change gears, a four jaw chuck, a three jaw chuck, a face plate and dog, a bag of random tooling, and some glorious Chinese dial indicators. I'll also include a 1/2 inch Jacobs chuck, but I lack the adapter to fit it to the tailstock. That adapter is available online for a few bucks though. This thing uses a 0MT taper, which is hilariously tiny. Everything is mounted to a piece of cabinet ply, stained with the finest leftover crap stain I had.
How tiny is it? One standard Bartle Skeet can for reference:
Frequently asked questions:
- Is this a good beginner lathe? In short, no. A good beginner machine is stiff, and will forgive you if you make a mistake. On a burlier machine a too aggressive depth of cut will at worst break the tool. On this thing, you could bend the spindle if you push to hard. This is at least setup with metal gears, unlike the plastic gears on all the modern import machines.
- Can it cut steel? Yes, but not well. If you go for a leaded steel like 12L15, it will manage with the right tool and tons of patience. Tons. Like Mother Theresa levels of chill. Aluminum is fine, and basically all plastics.
- Who is this machine for? Tinkerers making aluminum and plastic small parts. Great for model stuff or making replacement parts for 3D printers. Making bushings and the like. Or you want to bet your SO that you can in fact setup a small machine shop in your bathroom.
- Who is this machine not for? You want to turn shafting for a Cat D9. Abom79 is your idol. You require instantaneous gratification in your tooling.
And look! Here is the manual for the thing.
