Ford F-150 of lathes?

I like Southbends and I am privileged to own this particular machine.
It was purchased new in 1941 by the newly formed Goodyear Aircraft Corp.
The only real issue I have with the machine is limited ram. I prefer a gearhead machine.
But just like everything else people moved to geared machines and away from plain bearings.
 
Aaron David said:
South Bend.

An F150 isn't a fleet or commercial vehicle. You would need to step it up to at bare minimum to an F350/E350 to deal with commercial use/abuse. The reason I am saying this is your example is for a homeowner, and the SB fits that perfectly. Plenty of parts, several people make new parts/accessories, it is easy to learn on, and with the belt drive, pretty forgiving. And, most importantly, you can do good work on it.
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So many small businesses have started out in a F150....
 
Before the "Ranger"s, there was an F-100 and earlier an F-1. That was the truck that ran farms and small shops. When Ford stuck an automatic transmission in trucks, it started the downfall of small trucks. I consider an F-150 to be a "wanna be" or pretender to a real truck. A pickup box on an automobile chassis. I personally prefer an F-350 with a 3+1 (granny gear) Spicer trans on a 300 inline 6 engine. Not all that fast, but brute force tree climbing strong.

By the same token, for a "hobbyist" level or small shop, slow but strong, lathe, I would opt for an Atlas or South Bend machine. I use an Atlas built Craftsman(101.27440) 12 x 36, but mostly because it is relatively light and the price was right at the time and place. Weight is an issue for me, I don't recommend it for the average user. An Atlas is toward the light end of the spectrum, but for weight and cost is hard to beat. Most brands will have their ups and downs, the good vs the not so good. A bigger machine is desirable in most cases, but with capacity comes weight and complexity.

Modern lathes(since 1990ish), both domestic and import, use a fancy chuck mount. The older Atlas and South Bend and many others use a threaded spindle. 1-1/2 x 8 is fairly common, although by no means a "standard". But even today, virtually universal. Additional chucks, collet chucks, and many other specialty devices can be had. The downfall of many such machines is the inability to cut metric threads. They can cut from true to almost true metric, but with retrofitted, non-native gears. Read as "extra cost" items.

In any case, an individual must look beyond the general condition of the machine. The pluses and minuses of the particular anticipated application. I cut metric threads almost as much as imperial. And have the extra parts to do so. But the important point, to me, is winding coils for solenoids. Running in reverse, very slow, and mounting a turns counter were important to me, but esoteric to the average user. Those points must be well considered for either a new or used machine.

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The auto electrician I worked for at one time had a 60-70 year old Altas 12 inch in the rebuild room in the back. Did everything needed for a rather large small buisiness. But they weren't a machine shop, and when something serious need to be done, we had a fab shop on call to take care of it.

Nothing wrong with machines like that, but you need to know the limitations.
 
sdelivery said:
So many small businesses have started out in a F150....
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True, and they were beat to within an inch of their lives because they were overloaded and overworked....and they usually died prematurely.

You see no end of 1/2 ton class trucks around here carrying snowplows and salt spreaders and they're always "bowed" in the middle or look like they're begging for someone to shoot them in the engine block with a .50 and end the misery.

F-150 is homeowner grade equipment at best. You can force them into commercial work, but it's not the right tool for the job.

F-250/350 is where commercial use starts and even they might not be enough depending on the type of work....
 
You'll find fans of various machines here. Personally, I've owned/own a Grizzly, Clausing, Atlas and Rockwell. The Atlas 12 x 36 was my first, Rockwell 10 x 36 was my second, Clausing 12 x 24 the 3rd, and a Grizzly 14 x 40 is my "last". Each "new to me" lathe had improvements on the others.

The Atlas has flat ways and mine was a little worn. Things were looser at the headstock than the middle or far right of the bed. Longitudinal power feed is basically threading as many threads per inch that the quick change gear box allows. No separate power feed so you use the heck out of your half nuts. It was a good lathe, made a lot of good parts and learned a lot. It's better than a mini-lathe, but is what it is.

The Rockwell was a step up in most respects though it had a smaller swing. "V" ways, separate power feed gearing instead of the half-nuts, taper attachment, variable speed drive, 4C collets.

The Clausing 12 x 24 (model 5418) was a BIG step up. Not necessarily in quality, but in stoutness (if that's a word). It's a 800 lbs. lathe vs. maybe 250 lbs. for the Rockwell and Atlas. With a quick change tool holder on it (instead of a lantern tool holder), parting 1 1/2" mild steel is a snap.

My Grizzly is a model G0709 14" x 40" lathe. It's my "go to" with a set-tru 3-jaw chuck though I have a 4-jaw and 5C collets for it also. It's a 1600 lbs. machine and can handle more than the Clausing simply because it's bigger by design.

I currently have the Grizzly and the Clausing. I still use the heck out of the Clausing as I leave a 5-C collet chuck on it. If my job is soft brass, plastic and/or needs multiple operations on and off the lathe, I forego the Grizzly with the set-tru chuck and jump on the Clausing.

Part of your 'Ford 150' question may be availability of parts. I haven't needed anything on the Clausing or Grizzly (yet); Clausing is a circa 1963 machine and parts are still available from the factory. The Grizzly is still produced; parts are available.

The Rockwell lathe was getting to be an issue regarding parts. To me, the 10" Rockwell lathe power feed design in the apron is garbage. There's a brass worm gear in the trans that gets severely worn in a hurry as it's powered by a worm that rides the lead screw. Problem is, just the edge of the worm gear engages the worm on the lead screw as the engage/disengage of power feed is accomplished by sliding the worm gear normal to the axis of the worm on the lead screw. Typically you'll see a worm gear cut with a face that matches the radii of the worm. That's not the case in the Rockwell. I replaced the worm gear for about $75 when I picked up the lathe (it's a circa 1964'ish vintage), but that source dried up.

Atlas, South Bend, Sheldon and Logan parts are readily available. You can go wrong with old American iron, but for the most part, it was designed to be abused (maybe not the Atlas). In a home shop, you'd be hard pressed to wear out a Clausing's flame-hardened bed. The "wrong" with old American Iron usually involves abuse and/or poor maintenance from a previous owner.

When I look at used equipment, the first question I ask is, "Why are you selling it?". We typically keep cars for 10-15 years until they start nickel and diming us. Then we sell and let them be someone else's problem. Is the seller trying to get rid of a problem? I'll also ask, "How difficult is it to get to all of the lubricating points?" If the seller doesn't know off the top of their head and has to start looking around for them, he/she probably didn't maintain the machine very well. I'll also look at the shop in general. If it's a pig sty, to me that speaks to the owner's pride in the care of their machine.

I use the website "searchtempest.com" for hunting. Enter your location, drive distance, search parameters, and it spits back Craig's List and Facebook Marketplace listings. Good luck with the hunt!

Bruce
 
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Brand shouldn't really play into this, the pickup analogy has to fit size / capability / user friendliness. Brand is far too subjective, if you are a Ford guy then of course a Chevy 1500 is a Harbor Freight 7x10 and the Ford F-150 a Monarch 10EE. ;) (Toyota guy so no Ford / Chevy bias, but obviously Tundra is a Hardinge HLV based on sky high resale value).


Ok, putting way to much thought into this but... If we are going to go with a pickup truck analogy, I'd break it down like this

Honda Ridgeline / Ford Maverick / Jeep Gladiator - Sherline / Taig / Unimat etc
Classic (small) compact pick up (older Toyota, Nissan, Ford Ranger etc) - Atlas / Craftsman 6x18" or 7" mini-lathe
New "compact" pickup (Ford Ranger, Toyota Tacoma, Chevy Colorado etc) - 8" mini-lathe
150 / 1500 -1/2 ton: 120v, 9-10" swing
Toyota Tundra / Nissan Titan - South Bend Heavy 10, Logan 11", Craftsman 12"
250 / 2500 - 120/240v, 12" swing
250 / 2500 Diesel - 240v single phase, 13" swing
350 / 3500 - 240v 3 phase, 14" swing
350 / 3500 Diesel - 240v 3 phase, 15" swing
F450 / 4500 - 240v 3 phase, 16" swing
F550 / 5500 - 240v 3 phase 18" swing
Class 7 or 8 truck - 480v 3 phase, 20"+ swing
 
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Aaron_W said:
Brand shouldn't really play into this, the pickup analogy has to fit size / capability / user friendliness. Brand is far too subjective, if you are a Ford guy then of course a Chevy 1500 is a Harbor Freight 7x10 and the Ford F-150 a Monarch 10EE. ;) (Toyota guy so no Ford / Chevy bias, but obviously Tundra is a Hardinge HLV based on sky high resale value).


Ok, putting way to much thought into this but... If we are going to go with a pickup truck analogy, I'd break it down like this

Honda Ridgeline / Ford Maverick / Jeep Gladiator - Sherline / Taig / Unimat etc
Classic (small) compact pick up (older Toyota, Nissan, Ford Ranger etc) - Atlas / Craftsman 6x18" or 7" mini-lathe
New "compact" pickup (Ford Ranger, Toyota Tacoma, Chevy Colorado etc) - 8" mini-lathe
150 / 1500 -1/2 ton: 120v, 9-10" swing
Toyota Tundra / Nissan Titan - South Bend Heavy 10, Logan 11", Craftsman 12"
250 / 2500 - 120/240v, 12" swing
250 / 2500 Diesel - 240v single phase, 13" swing
350 / 3500 - 240v 3 phase, 14" swing
350 / 3500 Diesel - 240v 3 phase, 15" swing
F450 / 4500 - 240v 3 phase, 16" swing
F550 / 5500 - 240v 3 phase 18" swing
Class 7 or 8 truck - 480v 3 phase, 20"+ swing
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Oh no, they revived the maverick name plate on a truck?

Oh the humanity....
 
This is a tough question to answer. What I will say is that once you run an industrial lathe that is actually rigid, all the hobby stuff won’t ever do it for you again. It comes at a price but…. My 1st lathe, a sweet 13” SB from ‘56 off a Navy ship with pretty much zero wear gets little use since the big Monarch’s and Hardinges moved in. But I suppose I would have to go with the postwar SB as the family truckster. That said though I’d take an HLV-h as a small lightweight any day. Then there’s the big iron. All depends on what you want to do and how much you want to spend. Lots of cool stuff has been made on the little old SB and Atlas lathes.
 
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