Hey great purchase and if you check your bed with a file I think you
will find you have found also one of the elusive flame hardened beds.
If it is the bed alone is worth what you paid for the complete lathe.

Turk

--- In southbendlathe@..., "Neal Winblad" <nwinblad@...>
wrote:

Not to worry about what it may be missing. Parts for South Bends

show up

all the time on eBay. You will be able find a cross slide / compound
very easily. Most people would prefer the T-slot I think except when
threading. So, you could have both and decide on a job by job basis
which to use. I believe the collet nose adapter comes off and chucks
screw on but I will let someone who knows for sure answer that one.

My

point is at $300 you have a lot of money left over (compared to

buying a

fully equipped lathe) to buy all the accessories you need. The fact

that

this lathe comes with all those collets is very desirable. They run

much

more true than work in a three jaw chuck. So, you will only need a

chuck

for larger work. The fact that this lathe is a model A, having a

quick

change gearbox means you don't have to mess with rather cumbersome
process of putting on change gears. That is very desirable. The fact
that this lathe has a fairly long bed is desirable as you can turn
longer work. I also has a micrometer stop on the ways. That is a

nice

feature. The three phase motor is probably a good thing as others

have

said. You just need to buy a small VFD and then you have a variable
speed lathe. One of the areas where this can come in handy is if

you are

threading to a shoulder. If you put the lathe in the slowest gear

and

put the back gear on it still is a bit fast for some of us to back

off

the cross slide at the end of the cut. But, if you could slow it

down

even more (by a factor of 10, say) then at the end of the thread

cut you

would have time to back out the cutter. I think you cannot go wrong

in

putting in a $300 bid on this lathe.

Neal

-----Original Message-----
From: southbendlathe@...
[mailto:southbendlathe@...] On Behalf Of imarelicz28
Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 9:00 AM
To: southbendlathe@...
Subject: [southbendlathe] Light 10 buying decision opinions wanted

Thanks for your comments. I know from a value standpoint that $300
buck would be a steal. But, I'm not buying it to turn around and

sell

it. I need to make sure it's something that "I" can actually use. A
couple of you have said that the T slot Cross Slide is a desirable
feature, but you don't see any provisions to mount the compound

rest?

What is the advantage to the T slot arrangment? The only thing I

have

any experience with is the typical compound rest and tool post. If

a

compound rest won't fit on it, what will I need in the way of tool
holders to be able to turn and thread with this lathe?

Also, is the collet holder something that can be removed quickly to
install a 3 or 4 jaw chuck?

http://smg.photobuc
<http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v224/imarelic/south%20bend%

20lathe/>

ket.com/albums/v224/imarelic/south%20bend%20lathe/

I really appreciate your comments