Southbend 22-Y(?) - Old useful tools rock

I made a decision last night, and put a deposit on this guy, delivery included. $500 is apparently what my sweet spot is for old tools, since that's what I bought my 18" parks wood bandsaw for. I usually get one big tool a year, and decided that a "real" lathe was next in line for this year. Just this Sunday I figured I'd mention it to my rallyx buddy who I know helped start a metalworking community in the area many years ago. turns out it was only going to take a few days for a good entry level lathe deal to pop up! Thanks, again, Chris H.!

Based on some picture research, I think this is some version of a 22-Y, the early 9" southbend. Please, if you know more than me (you do!), teach me.

The deal includes the aforementioned delivery since I'm close enough, the bench under the lathe, a few chucks, and whatever other tooling is in the drawers (ooooo...fun!). The garage is going to need more reorganizing than I thought. I have until Sunday morning. *gulp*

Watch these three MIT videos. Best info I could find out there.

Awesome, thanks!

I have one of these, it's big enough to be useful, but not as big as you'll eventually want it to be.  Things to look out for:

• The longitudinal power drive is run off the half-nuts.  This means that these tend to wear if you're not super nice to them, and getting replacements is $$.  This part is inside the apron, you might want to inspect it.  Manual drive runs off of a different system.
• The cross slide and compound is not very rigid.  This makes it hard to machine steel, especially during interrupted cuts and parting. 
• There should be a set of change gears with this thing.  You want the change gears, they are $$

Other stuff I'm thinking of:

• These lathes were marketed as the south-bend Juniors, you know, if you're looking for parts/information
• These things are old enough that they were designed to run on overhead belt drive systems, not electric motors.  That motor probably came along later, along with the switch on the front to control it.  Forward and reverse may or may not function.  When I redid my wiring so that I could actually reverse the motor, I needed more than 3 leads (I think I needed 5, if you're interested, I'll check my work and draw you a diagram)
• I don't see a chuck in your pictures, you want that too.  You can get import chucks from SHAR tools for right around $200 after shipping.  The backing plate you're probably looking for is 1.5" 8PTI.  Seriously consider getting an AXA quickchange tool post while you're at it, they're so much better than that lamp-post thing.  If you're desperate, I think you're close(ish) and I sorta kinda have a few spares that had more runout than I wanted to deal with.  

That looks exactly like my lathe. I'm glad to finally know what I have.

And now the spending begins. Try to think of what all the parts you make would have cost, rather than what the tooling cost.

She's a beaut!

Those little "starter" lathes never show up near me.  It's either super-hi-dollar Hardinge ones that they're asking $4k+ for, or there's a guy in WV that has had a YUGE lathe on CL for a couple years that he bought "to play with making cannons on".  He also mentions that "you could stick your head in the chuck" and that it weighs "at least 8000 lbs."  By weight it's a great deal, but for actual usefulness, not so much.

In reply to bluej (Forum Supporter) :

Those overhead belt drive conversions are what I look for when buying machine tools. 

NorseDave said:

Those little "starter" lathes never show up near me.  It's either super-hi-dollar Hardinge ones that they're asking $4k+ for, or there's a guy in WV that has had a YUGE lathe on CL for a couple years that he bought "to play with making cannons on".  He also mentions that "you could stick your head in the chuck" and that it weighs "at least 8000 lbs."  By weight it's a great deal, but for actual usefulness, not so much.

That's why I jumped so fast! My buddy Chris knew this was exactly the sort of thing I was looking for, and made sure I saw it asap. I'm very happy. Lathe is here and in it's new home. I think there's some bed wear, and belts need attention asap, but today was very productive. I took pics.

Pic for now of the cool homebuilt trailer the seller's father made a long time ago:

In reply to NorseDave :

When I was shopping for my small lathe, I had similar issues.  This awesome monster showed up on CL which (according the add anyway) was intended to make cannon barrels.  It was in my price range, but was the size of a car and substantially heavier.  In no way was that thing practical, but I wanted it.  Probably just as well that I didn't have a way to transport it home.