Heavy 10 Good Buy With Bed Wear?

B

BlwnGazkit

Registered
Registered
Joined
Mar 2, 2015
Messages
26
I have a local guy who wants to sell me his late father's old Heavy 10. Its a single tumbler gear box with a 36" bed and a Buck D1 3jaw chuck. No real other tooling besides a starrett indicator, which is unknown.


He started asking $900 and when Ilooked at it, the spindle had vertical play, the front V at the chuck has a ridge at the top, and the carriage was taken apart. After a thorough inspection, the spindle play was from a loose bearing cap, and it appears all of the carriage parts are there minus the 2 apron to saddle screws.

Given the state and wear, I declined to make an offer. Fast forward a month to now, and he's contacted Mr and wants it gone for $400.

Think this is a good buy?

I have a Rockwell 10", and while I'd rather have the Heavy 10, I don't want a major project or one that will be expensive to fix. My Rockwell has it's own issues, like an incorrect tailstock from a SB 10K...
 
If it's for 400 I think that's a good deal.....as long as the bed wear isn't a dealbreaker. The chuck (if it's in good condition) is probably worth that. Cam Lock spindles are a desirable feature.
 
The bed wear is really what's making me pause. I'm pretty new to lathes and don't really know how or how much this would affect me.
 
BlwnGazkit said:
I have a local guy who wants to sell me his late father's old Heavy 10. Its a single tumbler gear box with a 36" bed and a Buck D1 3jaw chuck. No real other tooling besides a starrett indicator, which is unknown.


He started asking $900 and when Ilooked at it, the spindle had vertical play, the front V at the chuck has a ridge at the top, and the carriage was taken apart. After a thorough inspection, the spindle play was from a loose bearing cap, and it appears all of the carriage parts are there minus the 2 apron to saddle screws.

Given the state and wear, I declined to make an offer. Fast forward a month to now, and he's contacted Mr and wants it gone for $400.

Think this is a good buy?

I have a Rockwell 10", and while I'd rather have the Heavy 10, I don't want a major project or one that will be expensive to fix. My Rockwell has it's own issues, like an incorrect tailstock from a SB 10K...
Click to expand...

You can do anything you set your mind to.:)
I'm a complete idiot when it comes to the 400 range.
i'd end up buying it and regretting it later.
the spindle play + the bed wear = BAD DEAL, RUN AWAY!!!!
(dependent where the wear is indicated)
unless, you are an individual with lots of money, the time and the will.
OR
you wish to make money from scavenging the lathe and selling the parts.
that is a better sent investment, IMHO.

for loose example, you could get at least 100 for the chuck alone(or more).
a Tailstock may be worth another 100, etc...

good luck either way you go!
 
Last edited:
Well the spindle play was determined to be a loose bearing cap. Snugging that up removed any discernible play.

The main concern now is the bed wear. I don't really know that it's a problem for general use...?
 
whew, that changes the game a little.
do you have any idea where the bed is worn? (usually close to the chuck end gets the most wear)
if you are not making precision parts to dimension, you could learn to use a worn/abused machine and hand finish to dimension.
i'd snatch it for 400
make sure you look real good at the bearing caps and spindle(that may be a deal breaker)
 
The front V is worn for about the first 10 inches starting at the headstock.

The front spindle bearing had been reassembled incorrectly by some one. The bearing spreader? Was not in the slot of the bearing but sitting on top of the gearing and preventing the bearing cap from being fully seated.

I don't really know what to look for on the spindle bearings... Scoring & play? If so, no scoring but I didn't put an indicator on there the check for play. None can be felt after I put the bearing together correctly.

Looking over the photo, I'd forgotten it also has a taper attachment.

Is it crazy to try and swap everything over to a bed that's in better shape? The saddle didn't have visible wear like the bed.
 
Scoring and play would be first and foremost checked IMHO.
the saddle's v's are probably that ride on the bed are toast too most likely.
the taper attachment could be sold for 300 or so too...
finding a good bed with a bad headstock is a long shot but there is hope.
if you really want to make it work you can, but understand it will be some work and money to do it.
i'm the wrong guy to ask about crazy, i do dumb stuff all the time that probably shouldn't be attempted by sane people.
 
Haha! I do things all the time people tell me shouldn't work!

I asked about swapping parts to a new bed because I occasionally see good beds around, but it sounds like I'd be needing a bed & saddle combo which is undoubtedly hard to find...

I was kind of hoping it would be easy enough to just swap all the parts of this guys machine to the heavy 10 bed on eBay. I suppose I could mate the saddle to a new bed with Moglice or similar epoxy. I'd need to figure out how to ensure alignment during that process.
 
I'd take a chance on that....see what else his Dad had ....worse case is it fall unnoticed out of the back of your truck and you are out $400 other than that I don't see how you could lose
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top