Brand new old school south Bend 10” lathe!

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Glenn Brooks
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Brand new old school south Bend 10” lathe!

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Well, this posting has to be the barn find of the century. No idea who it belongs to, but it’s a treat just to look at!

https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/tls/ ... 82985.html

Glenn
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Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge

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spro
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Re: Brand new old school south Bend 10” lathe!

Post by spro »

A treat to look at. It looks like a 1951 South Bend 9A to me. 1984 and still 3AT collets no way. 1951 9A uses very similar 3C collets. There is something wrong with the digits and especially the price. Oh it is nice and actually 1100. I didn't follow what South Bend was doing in 1984, well actually there was some upheaval but thanks for posting.
pete
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Re: Brand new old school south Bend 10” lathe!

Post by pete »

I believe that's the one with a thread about it over on the PM South Bend forum Glenn. Given the asking prices for new South Bends when they were still in business in the 1980's his asking price isn't really out of line for what it is. Some years ago about 10? brand new still in the factory crates South Bend shapers turned up from military storage and they were going for about $5k each. Are they or this lathe really worth that much, maybe to the right person they are. I'd guess you could restore to factory specs or maybe a bit better the same lathe for about half of what he's asking including a top quality bed regrind, carriage, compound and tail stock scraping.
spro
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Re: Brand new old school south Bend 10” lathe!

Post by spro »

I'm all for history and preservation. I didn't realize history was catching up this fast. There must be some serial #s to denote it was the last few.
SteveM
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Re: Brand new old school south Bend 10” lathe!

Post by SteveM »

I doubt he'll get that for it.

If a used one in pristine condition is worth $6,000 (about four times what a typical used one in good condition would be), then the premium for "unused" is $5,000

That would mean that either:
A: someone is willing to pay a pile of cash for a museum piece and never use it
B: Someone is willing to pay a $5,000 premium to get the best one out there and then start using it and have the value immediately drop by $5,000.

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SteveHGraham
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Re: Brand new old school south Bend 10” lathe!

Post by SteveHGraham »

I think the price is crazy. It may be in great shape, but it's still a flimsy, small old lathe with a low top speed and limited tooling.

For a little more than half of $11,000, you can have a 14" Taiwan lathe with variable speed, a DRO, and a warranty, and it will cut over 60 threads right out of the box. The Craigslist job only cuts 48 without surgery (changing gears), and none are metric. I also see no rests, no coolant system, and no taper attachment.

I can understand paying a lot for a 1970 Dodge Challenger with 10 miles on it, because it's an investment, and you can take it to car shows and have a lot of fun with it. What good is an outmoded thousand-pound machine that sits in your garage taking up valuable space?
Every hard-fried egg began life sunny-side up.
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NP317
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Re: Brand new old school south Bend 10” lathe!

Post by NP317 »

I concur with SteveG's comments/thoughts.
~RN
pete
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Re: Brand new old school south Bend 10” lathe!

Post by pete »

If my memory for the numbers isn't too faulty Blue Ridge Tools would have been pricing the same lathe comparably equipped at around 14-16k in the early 80's. That's the main reason the American built South Bend company is now long gone. Sadly it seems to me that some of those collector types have moved into the smaller machine tools and are now doing what they did to those muscle car prices. I've had an Ebay search on for about the last 10 years for South Bend shapers and Atlas horizontal mills. When I started that search either machine was rough priced usually around $600- a high of maybe $1k for something decent. Today it's averaging a $1500 - $2500 and there well used. There's still the odd rare deal around if you get real lucky, but those are the general prices today that I'm seeing.

Original accessory's for either machine like vises, rotary tables, dividing heads and especially lathe milling attachments are simply ridiculous for what they are. It would take the right person, but I'd be surprised if he doesn't get very close to his asking price. South Bends just like the Myfords have a "mystique" all out of proportion to what they really are for some people. And some of them seem to have very deep pockets. Just before the U.K. Myford company closed, an average equipped long bed Super 7B was in the $16k range plus shipping over here. A Super 7 is a light weight under 300 lbs 7" lathe with a maximum of about 9" in the narrow gap. To me that SB lathe isn't worth even close to it's asking price, if I really did want a SB I'd buy a decent used one and rebuild and collect up the accessory's for how I wanted it. It would still be a money and time pit though. The days of fairly cheap home shop sized American made machine tools are just about over because that once abundant supply is now drying up. And for some of it I can see double or even triple of today's prices in the not too distant future.
Glenn Brooks
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Re: Brand new old school south Bend 10” lathe

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Yep, for me the rarity is the old traditional style lathe with no wear. Almost unheard of these days.

Looks like the seller is hoping to flip it for a big sale. Be interesting to see how long it stays on the market. This one has never been used, so it should reasonably have some kind of premium for no wear. Interestingly, I just looked at Grizzly’s lathes. Small bench models new in this size are as low as $2000. Even the new 12” ones are priced under $5 k in some cases. So as we know, quite a price spread.

OTOH, Iam sort of rooting for the guy to get his price, as I have a 1925 9” south bend that I bought off Craig’s list a year ago or so. It has only been used for a year or so after the first owner purchase dit. Sat in storage ever since and still has the flaking marks on the bed. It’s basically a new lathe, only 92 years old, more or less. I would have no idea how to price it if I wanted to sell it. Which i don’t at this point, as Iam really tired of working with old clapped out machinery.

Glenn
Moderator - Grand Scale Forum

Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge

Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
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SteveHGraham
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Re: Brand new old school south Bend 10” lathe!

Post by SteveHGraham »

When an axe head with most of the hardened part ground off brings $75 on Ebay, anything is possible.
Every hard-fried egg began life sunny-side up.
plumberzpieco
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Re: Brand new old school south Bend 10” lathe!

Post by plumberzpieco »

There’s a butt for every seat!
EOsteam
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Re: Brand new old school south Bend 10” lathe!

Post by EOsteam »

I had an older fella give me some,advice many years ago. He said, “It doesn’t matter what what the value is. It only matters what somebody is willing to pay for it.” Ebay is over run with sellers who do not seem to understand this simple fact.
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