Emery Ohlenkamp SB 9" lathe

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jlakes85
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Emery Ohlenkamp SB 9" lathe

Post by jlakes85 »

Hi All,

I've been reading how EO had a 9" SB lathe bolted to an 800 lb steel plate (billet..?) Is there a picture of that machine floating around somewhere?

-jlakes85
SteveM
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Re: Emery Ohlenkamp SB 9" lathe

Post by SteveM »

Not sure about that one, but a guy on practical machinist poured a concrete slab on the top of his workbench and bolted his lathe to that.

He couldn't believe how the surface finish on the work improved because of reduced vibration.

Steve
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Harold_V
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Re: Emery Ohlenkamp SB 9" lathe

Post by Harold_V »

jlakes85 wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2018 7:02 am Hi All,

(billet..?)
Uhhhhh---no!
That word is used to death, and is rather misleading. Plate is made from billet, but is not billet. It's plate.

H
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LivingLegend
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Re: Emery Ohlenkamp SB 9" lathe

Post by LivingLegend »

As I recall, Emory had two SB lathes that he used.... And I think they were mounted on heavy plates.

Rich Carlstendt would be the one who could verify for sure.

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Rich_Carlstedt
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Re: Emery Ohlenkamp SB 9" lathe

Post by Rich_Carlstedt »

Thank you LL and you are right
Em had two ( 3 at one time) Southbend 9 inch Lathes and one was used for making cones and parts for his injectors.
They were mounted on Maplewood table tops (Butcher block) and under the wood top was a solid 2 inch steel plate that was about 24 x 50--54 inches long. The lathe was hands down the smoothest lathe I have ever run, but Em did not tell me about the plate as the reason at that time. I found out later when his basement shop was taken apart and the lathe could not be lifted by two strong movers. I asked Em and he said that having "Mass" was very important for small lathes and that's what was skipped by most small lathe manufacturers ( 10 EE is excluded of course :) ) He needed the rigidity in order to make injector cones as vibration was a killer for seriousely crital parts. The lathe went to his son Harold . Harold passed away last year and the lathe may have been sold in the auction of his shop ( was not at the auction unfortunately ) . I'll ask Harold's son what happened to it. While I ran the Lathe, I never took a picture of it as it looked like every other Southbend Lathe .
I never realized the install of the plate as I thought it was part of the bench ...yes it was !
Rich
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Re: Emery Ohlenkamp SB 9" lathe

Post by Rich_Carlstedt »

Another comment. The lathe was bolt through the wood and through the Steel Plate like a sandwich .
Oh yes, the plate was blanchard gound on it surfaces . Em never did anything halfass.

For someone serious about duplicating this , probably better would be a cast iron plate as it absorbs vibration 10 times better than steel.
You never heard of a cast Iron tuning fork !
Rich
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