# Lathe with the headstock on the right?



## amuller (Mar 21, 2018)

https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/dak/tls/d/southbend-lathe-model/6537611023.html


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## markba633csi (Mar 21, 2018)

LOL the picture got flipped somehow


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## chips&more (Mar 21, 2018)

Did Jimi Hendrix own it?


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## BtoVin83 (Mar 21, 2018)

I learned and ran a 4" Lucas boring mill for years and later we picked up another boring mill but the controls were on the other side. Come to find out the Lucas was built reversed from the normal, I could not run the other mill for crap. Loved that Lucas!


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## dlane (Mar 21, 2018)

Interesting, wounder if it runs backwards, threaded spindle , don’t think it’s stock.


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## middle.road (Mar 21, 2018)

Look at Pict #4 - the lettering on the wall is mirrored.


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## dlane (Mar 21, 2018)

That’s one way to get it noticed, mirrored image


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## benmychree (Mar 21, 2018)

BtoVin83 said:


> I learned and ran a 4" Lucas boring mill for years and later we picked up another boring mill but the controls were on the other side. Come to find out the Lucas was built reversed from the normal, I could not run the other mill for crap. Loved that Lucas!


The shop that I apprenticed in had a Lucas 4" bar horizontal boring mill, which was totally whipped, and apprentices mostly got to run and two 5" bar Giddings & Lewis 350T boring mills, which, were the opposite hand; I did not notice any problems in running one or the other, but what was to notice was that the G&Ls were quite a pleasure to run, for one thing they had feed levers that moved in the direction that the feed was to run and could be engaged all at the same time, unlike the Lucas's funky system of feed levers, and my Universal HBM was no better in that respect.


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## benmychree (Mar 21, 2018)

I wonder if that lathe was designed to run "down under"?


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## BtoVin83 (Mar 21, 2018)

The lettering is being reflected by a mirror, the lettering is on the other wall


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## 38Bill (Mar 21, 2018)

I saw that posting a day or so ago and I had to do a double take until I saw the lettering on the wall.


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## RJSakowski (Mar 21, 2018)

BtoVin83 said:


> The lettering is being reflected by a mirror, the lettering is on the other wall



All but the 2nd image are mirrored.  If you you look at the second, it is correct as shown by the gearing chart.  Now look at the shape of the cover and look at the cover in the third image.  It is reversed, indicating a mirror image.  This matches the 1st, 4th, and 5th image showing that they are reversed as well.  Finally, the musical scale in the 5th image is reversed.

My smart phone has the capability of taking either regular or mirror images.


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## pdentrem (Mar 21, 2018)

The picture showing the gear chart is the only one that is correct. You can tell by the tumbler handle that all the rest are flipped.

RJ got there first!


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## silence dogood (Mar 21, 2018)

So this is what left handed drill bits are for.


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## dlane (Mar 21, 2018)

Just my stile it’s a lefty, I’m going amberdexterous ?


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## middle.road (Mar 21, 2018)

I'm left-handed and I don't believe that I could even operate it even if they were offered that way.


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## Hawkeye (Mar 22, 2018)

I have an Australian version of the SB9A (Hercus) and it isn't right-hand-drive. Interesting that they flipped 3/4 of the photos.

I also have an Australian-made snow blower. Wut up wit dat?


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## Silverbullet (Mar 22, 2018)

I guess you really could reverse the head stock and all the other parts . Sure would be eye blinker in a workshop .


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## whitmore (Mar 22, 2018)

amuller said:


> https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/dak/tls/d/southbend-lathe-model/6537611023.html


Cute pix; some lathes' beds  are symmetric; I could make my oldie a left-handed model by repositioning
the jackshaft and flipping the cross slide around.   But, it'd be a nasty trick, either the motor would have
to be grow a reverse switch, or I'd need to get left-handed center and twist drills to use the tailstock.
Plus, I'm actually right-handed.

In image 5, the tailstock is sporting what appears to be a left-handed drill.   I'm sure the images
are backward; no way anyone would choose to buy lefthanded drill sets when a motor reverse would suffice.


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## amuller (Mar 22, 2018)

I thought it was interesting that not just one but most of the pics were flipped.  They must have been posted by someone who had never used a lathe?  Even so, how did they get that way?  it's not something that, I think, would happen casually.


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## P T Schram (Mar 22, 2018)

Just yesterday, I saw an advert on Craiglsit for an old turret lathe with the headstock on the right.

Occasionally, you'll come up with some sort of typically a second op machine with headstock on the right. The last factory where I worked, they had a machine or two with what amounted to basically two headstocks so the single pallet could be operated on with two toolchangers and it sure did speed thing sup, it was in the prototype area.


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## GK1918 (Mar 26, 2018)

chips&more said:


> Did Jimi Hendrix own it?



Amazing  I thought the same thing.  You know Jimmies first guitar was a broom when a boy..


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## amuller (Mar 26, 2018)

It's funny.  I happened to meet the people selling that lathe--but I was looking at other stuff in the garage and the lathe was in the basement and I didn't see it, so I didn't make a connection.  Gave them a heads-up about the flipped pics.


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## BRIAN (Mar 26, 2018)

Now let's get serious for a moment coming down a size or 7 some watchmakers lathes are ambidextrous they are made to be mounted on the end of a finger bench so it can be worked from both sides and even from the tail stock end,  the cross slide or hand graving rest can be flipped over to the opposite side.
 Now this brings about another interesting point,  many parts on clocks  such as the pivots are hand finished with a file,  when working
 with the head on the right hand side it is advantageous  to have a file with the teeth facing the opposite way   rather than left handed as normal files are. a right handed pivot file can be used on a normal?? lathe under the work this has a advantage in that you can see what you are doing.
Pivot files are available left or right handed they normally do not have a handle but the opposite end is a smooth square and used as to burnish the final job to a high standard of finish.
 Glass blowers  lathes have a head stock at both ends.
Brian.


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## whitmore (Mar 26, 2018)

BRIAN said:


> Now let's get serious for a moment coming down a size or 7 some watchmakers lathes are ambidextrous...
> Glass blowers  lathes have a head stock at both ends.
> Brian.



Yes, I've seen the glassblowers' lathes (at the university glass shop, making apparatus for chemistry and  physics),
they're relatively lightweight and move at a welding-positioner pace.

There's yet another use for a two-headed lathe, I've seen videos... but cannot locate any on YouTube.

The manufacture of welded plastic items (fishing floats and the like) used a two-headed lathe, with an offset
for one head.   The two halves of the item go into the chucks on the two heads, then are pressed together with
the offset applied, with both spindles going the same speed.   That rubs the rims together, creating local heat.
When the plastic is softened, the offset is removed, and  the spindles are allowed to spin down, while the heated
plastic cools.   Apparently there's no need for precleaning or solvents, the weld is permanent, and you can do 
holes in the halves, because the chucks are so synchronized that the holes always align at zero offset.
The benefit of the two-headed lathe is that the weakened plastic is positioned and under pressure
immediately when the offset is zeroed,  with the joined parts clamped in final position, even before
the lathe spins down.

It's a lovely, elegant way to combine easily-molded shapes (same  mold for both halves) with a joining technique
that can be mass-produced.


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## bollie7 (Mar 28, 2018)

benmychree said:


> I wonder if that lathe was designed to run "down under"?


No. If so the spindle would be below the bed.
peter ( who lives "down under"


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## 4GSR (Mar 28, 2018)

The former Lehmann Lathe Co. of Saint Louis, Missouri built a hollow spindle lathe for the military that had a headstock in the middle of a long bed lathe.  It had carriages on both ends so you could work both ends of the part (gun barrels) you were working on at the same time.  I've seen several of these retrofitted for use in doing oilfield work over the years.  I took and made a right handed tailstock to work in the left hand end of the bed of the lathe. Or was that the other way around. Don't remember exactly, been too many years ago.  If I can find a picture, I'll scan and post.

Ken


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## silence dogood (Mar 28, 2018)

4gsr said:


> The former Lehmann Lathe Co. of Saint Louis, Missouri built a hollow spindle lathe for the military that had a headstock in the middle of a long bed lathe.  It had carriages on both ends so you could work both ends of the part (gun barrels) you were working on at the same time.  I've seen several of these retrofitted for use in doing oilfield work over the years.  I took and made a right handed tailstock to work in the left hand end of the bed of the lathe. Or was that the other way around. Don't remember exactly, been too many years ago.  If I can find a picture, I'll scan and post.
> 
> Ken


Lehmann Lathe  on utube  is also called the big hole. Is that what you are referring to?


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## 12bolts (Mar 29, 2018)

This is just a ridiculous comment John


benmychree said:


> I wonder if that lathe was designed to run "down under"?


If it were, you would be able to see the brackets on the bottom of the legs that are designed to hang it from the ceiling. And the oilers would be on the opposite sides also


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## 4GSR (Mar 29, 2018)

silence dogood said:


> Lehmann Lathe  on utube  is also called the big hole. Is that what you are referring to?


Yep!


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