Please,talk me out of buying this Hendey Lathe

[SteveHGraham]

That's a $3000 lathe, all day long.

[John Evans]

Pretty but useless to me . Always said I was born 50 years too late but NOT a hundred !

[Harold_V]

That's a $3000 lathe, all day long.

Perhaps. That's assuming one is willing to tolerate a machine with a threaded spindle, and speeds adequate for carbon steel turning tools, but woefully lacking for use with modern tooling.

Large lathes are not in demand. Unless an individual had reasonable cause to purchase a machine like this for the asking price, it would be a mistake, as high quality lathes, more modern in design, thus far more useful, can be procured for far less money, and they'd be more productive, although still not competitive with CNC. In other words, machines like this are not very desirable, especially in industry.

I had a good chuckle when I read "Does it come with a coal bunker and boiler, or do you have to buy those separate? "
Sort of paints the picture.

H

[SteveHGraham]

I was trying to be generous. When I saw that the priced had been REDUCED to $10K, it seemed to me that the owner needed an intervention. It's not very good as a tool, so that kills the tool value. It's great as a museum exhibit, but how many machinery museums are there in the United States? Maybe two, kept alive on government subsidies? I'm just guessing, but I'm pretty sure they already have lathes.

[John Evans]

And on the subject of wishful thinking, local Clist has a pretty Logan 200 for $3500 !!! Pictures show NO change gears,extra chucks ,tooling of any kind. DuPont overhauls don't add thousands to the value.

[spro]

I do know that SteveG was being generous. I know that Hendey is not there to compete the same way it could have 50 years ago. It is another thing about American history and this isn't like vehicle. We have seen over the last decades, styles returning to the curvatures of periods before. Art and style is big again but you can't drive that lathe down the street to show it. The man who restored it probably realized he could have restored any vehicle and maybe he did. He restored the actual machinery which built the early cars and trucks. They are there, in factory photos, building everything which built the industrial base we needed to be.
It may seem practical yet sad to even place a worth on some machines as this Hendey lathe. Who knows? The man may have been confirmed or injured by his service in war. Through his life, he restored these machines for a reason.
and it was to be to compared to a lathe from China..?

[Harold_V]

Very nicely spoken, spro. It's very hard to understand what an item may mean to another. One does as his soul dictates, often when others may be at odds with the decision, and may not understand the significance to the individual in question. I tend to believe that the machines this gentleman restored were done for reasons many of us could not understand. Frankly, he has my admiration.

H

[Glenn Brooks]

Spro has kind of hit the head of the nail for me. From what little I have learned, the old timer -A. J. Aherns was his name - restored and maintained all his equipment in immaculate condition. I mean, throughout the entire shop-cluttered and jammed with 60 years of machine tools, shop made tooling, and small engine repair work - I saw no signs of rust, debris, or the usual accumulation of oily swage in the corners. Nada. Nothing. This old timer clearly took pride in his workplace. And left it as a real journeyman would do.

I'll only say, having gone to look at it in person the other day, in the setting where it was located, I feel like I've had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel back into time and actually see one of these lathes were commonplace, and in new condition - working in shops where parts were made one at a time, with care. Mr. Aherns left it with oil on the ways, chips here and there from a job just finished, and all bright and shinny like the year it left the factory. Simply amazing.

But, Holly Smokes - what a machine! Just to have seen it in the condition it is in. That's a treat I will remember for a long time.

And fortunately the estate sales guy has kept the price high! Somebody will take home a real prize when this eventually sells.

Glenn

[liveaboard]

About 20 years ago...... no wait...

About 30 years ago, I was in Bombay and I needed a pushrod for my 1965 Chevy Impala. V8 283 it was.
Found one that was close, needed about an inch taken off; I was directed to a doorway between the parts shops [they were all on one street]. Inside was a large machine shop that wasn't apparent from outside at all.
There was an old machinist and a lot of much older machines. Lathes, mills, drills... all belt driven by shafts on the ceiling, long flat belts and pulleys. It was all driven from a single large electric motor on the floor in one corner
Then I realized; there had once been either a steam engine or a big hoot slow diesel there.
Old fella cut the rod and repressed the end on it, charged me $1, and I had the car running again the next day.
Driving a chevy Impala around Bombay.... crazy.

Yes, it's Mumbai now. But back then it was Bombay.

[SteveHGraham]

If you Google Indian lathes, you will get photos of brand-new lathes made for line shafts.

[pete]

They still make quite large shapers today in India and maybe China. A place in the U.K. had an advertisement for new large commercial sized shapers and that's how I found out they were still being made today. There's even at least one YT video showing one and they actualy looked to be quite well made. Universal table, built in power feeds on all axis's including the vertical tool slide.

As to the Hendey, for the exact right person that 10k wouldn't be out of line. It depends on how a person is hard wired for interests. People will dump 30k into a new bass boat that doesn't make them a dime except the enjoyment they get with it. People restore old commercial Mack and Peterbuilt trucks to brand new stock condition that will never haul a commercial load and doing it costs a fortune. There's one guy on YT who runs a commercial job shop and built and tooled the whole shop to be as period correct as possible for around the 1920 - 1930 time period. While he does have a very few electricaly driven machine tools, most of it is still line shaft driven from a single cylinder steam engine. Given what's been written by Glenn as to that Hendey's brand new condition then to the exact right person with a home shop that Hendey would be the find of a lifetime even at the 10k price. Hendey lathes were an extremely well built, expensive and respected tool room lathe according to the general opinion over on the PM Antiques forum. I still vividly remember about 45 years ago seeing a full line shaft driven machine shop that was in daily use at a tugboat company's yard in North Vancouver B.C. And at the time they were the largest tugboat company in the whole Vancouver harbor. Cates Towing is still in business today. Of course the minute the old machinist retired they scrapped the whole thing. There's people who are fanatical about owning South Bend lathes and will pay high prices for good condition and desireable machines despite the fact the South Bends were built down to match a price point and aren't the best ever made. The rarer SB and even Atlas accesories go for a fortune today for what they are. But as Harold said that Hendey in a commercial shop today would be a money loser.

[liveaboard]

Lots of lathes made in India for local use; I assume china and other countries are the same.

Here in Portugal there is or was a domestically produced line of machines; I can get an old 10' for a few grand. Since I don't have a few grand, I haven't taken a close look. But as Harold said, since few people can accommodate a machine that size, and pro shops use modern machines, they sell for surprisingly low prices. There are other European lathes advertised for sale too, bigger ones cost the same or less than small ones.

So that monster Henley, as lovely as it is, will have a hard time finding someone to pay that kind of money for it.

My machinist friend/guru in India went to the city [Bombay] to buy a new lathe for his shop; he stayed away for a week, testing the brand new machines for accuracy before buying. He told me most of them were useless, but he found one he was happy with and marked it in multiple locations so he could be sure that they'd ship the one he selected.
This was a long time ago, so hopefully things have improved.