South Bend Lathe Works

[rusty]

Been having fun reading the 1922 south bend catalog I got from nywrencher, and thought I would share a few pics. I have already gotten a few surprises, quite a few of the extra items were made by others, and you can tell who from the photos.
I had already known RI Tool made some of the wrenches, but it seems Armstrong was making the offered tooling. There are also end mills by P&W, chucks by Skinner Chuck Co...and one of the lathes is shown with "Silent Chain" drive option...

Below:
1) Smallest / cheapest lathe, Advertised for the Tool room, don't know how usefull it would be without thread drive, but there it is...

2) Biggest swing, with rarely seen lifting blocks for even bigger swing.

3) Neat, if scary-as-heck piston grinder attachment, note the open wheel and leather bely right in front of ther operator..also, note wrench to the right

4) P&W end mill

5) Patented Armstrong tooling

6) 1 of several Skinner chucks offered, some were optional

[rusty]

Forgot this one...

[nywrencher]

I have a Skinner chuck Co. wrench, if you are interested. Appears to be 11/16" single hex end. Says "Skinner Chuck Co. on the handle, pretty rugged wrench.

[rusty]

Possibly, any makers mark?

[nywrencher]

here's a couple shots of it... You'd have to pm me an offer for it, I really hadn't thought about it much to set a price yet. No owner's marks or extra bangs or beatings to it either. Just needs cleaning a bit. It is not bent as the pictures make you think either.

[rusty]

Bit slow in the metalworking forum, so perhaps a bit of eye candy...

This is the South bend that made me interested in the catalog. It's a bit messy, it has been busy making parts to keep other old machines alive lately...

This lathe had only one previous owner and has with pretty much all of the original tooling bought with it, plus some extras added over the years. The lathe is actully sitting on a bureau made from 3/4 in maple planking, planed one side, and almost as heavy as the lathe itself. They just don't build furniture like that any more...

The odd plywood piece on the end is because some klutz did manage to loose the gear guard over the years...

The Cog belt , insideout, makes a suitable replacement for the leather belting. Originally these lathes were intended to be driven from overhead jack shafting, which is normally driving flat leather belts at a rather slow speed. the large pully in the background is to slow the electric motor down.

The wrench on the toolpost is marked 'south bend', and the one on the end stock is unmarked, both however, are known to have come with the lathe.

The chuck is by Skinner, and so marked,(The one currently on the lathe isn't original, the original is under the bench). armstrong tooling was purchased with the lathe. Over the years, Williams and Ace tooling have been added.

The white plastic bottle in the top left corner of the picture contains turbine oil, which apparently, works well for the main bearings...

[Papaw]

I like seeing a tool being used as intended.
I have often thought about trying lathe work, but just didn't follow through. Don't have room for one anyway.

[johnfreeman]

Very nice setup and a nice assortment of vintage tooling also. Thanks for taking the time to share it

[64longstep]

I would love to have a 24" Gap-Bed lathe...

[Uncle Knuckle Buster]

Nice tool.
VERY dangerous. I have a story, but I'll spare you all the blood and grief.
I have one of those Armstong tool holders.