Restoration of big Axelson lathe

I know Axelson Lathes and you guys are all right. That machine has a hardened bed and it is worn bad. That's why the owner didn't take pictures of the operators side of the bed. The way I know it is worn is on the picture of the back side by the chuck you can see a line on the way. Axelson has one flaw, it has straight oil grooves cut into the bottom of the saddle. So as it is run the area on the HARD way does not wear. I see your in Nebraska and the machine is in Fresno CA and your in Lincoln NE - that's 1600 miles. I found a manual with info on the machine. It looks like it's a 32" swing machine and in the following book it says it is almost 20,000 pounds. I would guess it will cost you at least $5,000.00 to hire a rigger on that end to load it on a semi, $10,000.00 for trucking with the price of diesel fuel going up to $4.00 per gallon., then another $5000.00 to rig it into your garage. So by the time it's sitting inside your car stall you have invested $23,000.00.

If you want to regrind the bed as it is to hard to scrape, you would need to pull the bed and send it to a grind shop. Cash Masters in Milwaukee, Danaluck in Oklahoma or I forget the name, but there in a place in Nebraska too....I'm guessing they would charge a min of $5000.00 to grind the bed, plus riggers and trucking again...to and from....

You would have to go look at it in person as if it's been rained on for 10 years the headstock in rusted, mice nests inside the electric box, paint is peeling, etc.. The RPM will be slow...It says 1800 rpm and for a big lathe is fast. I see where so many buy something like this and it kills them financially. I don't know if your married, but what happens if you die before your wife...what will she do with the lathe? No one will want to buy it, she will have to pay a scrap dealer to come and get it.

If someone offered to give it to me, I would run away fast. Find yourself a Monarch EE, a LeBlonde or Hardinge lathe. or some other easy to move and repair to rebuild.

If your still thinking about it , start calling around for quotes and buy an airplane ticket to go look at it.

Rich

 
That particular Axelson has the integrated motor/headstock arrangement which I wouldn't want. It precludes you from using other motors if you so desired.
They made other models with a more conventional drive system which I would prefer over that one.
Very nice lathes tho, like the Branford metalmaster and others
Do you really need a lathe that freaking big?
-Mark
 
rabler said:
I have a 10,000lb 1967 Monarch 612-2516. I also have a 10 ton gooseneck flatbed trailer and a diesel duallie pickup. And a 85HP tractor, and a 6 ton excavator. Even with all that equipment, a 5 ton lathe is a challenge to work on. For example, I had to move it around several times to disassemble because I needed 3’ more room on one side to get the leadscrew out. I could have alternately cut a hole in the wall.

If you’re looking for a project more than wanting a large piece of historic cast iron to keep and use, find something in the 3000-4000lb range. Those can be moved by a standard forklift, carried on a trailer behind a pickup, fit more readily into a home garage, are often 3-5HP, fairly easy to power with a vfd, etc. Easier to resell or donate. Very much more realistic to work on. I started my first rebuilding project on a Monarch 14” x 30” model 12CK. About 3500 lbs. Still working on it some but it is now my primary lathe. Paid $2200 for it about 3 years ago. Included a taper attachment, QCTP, 3 and 4 jaw chuck. Was under power, running at purchase. Very rigid and a joy to use. Can be shifted around in a garage by one person using skates and a toe jack.You’ll save that much in rigging fees over something that is 10,000lbs. My 612-2516 needs a hoist just to remove the 140 lb compound. Makes refurb quite a bit slower and more challenging. Putting it on skates on a standard 4” thick concrete floor would worry me about cracked concrete.

Old lathe, pre 1960’s, often have very low top RPM as they predate carbide tooling. My CK had an original top spindle RPM of about 520. I replaced the 6-pole original motor with a new 4-pole motor and vfd. I can spin it up to 1000RPM, certainly not fast by modern tooling standards, but feasible to use carbide if I want.
Click to expand...
After having slept on it and reading through the other comments, I am inclined to agree. This is a bit too big for me to realistically handle. I still really want to do a full restoration project, but I'll keep an eye out for a candidate of a more manageable size. There is no rush to jump into anything yet.

As always, the insight and knowledge on this forum is always greatly appreciated!

Speaking of holes in the wall, the factory I work at just moved our big Poreba lathe with the 30' bed to a new location with the tailstock right up against the wall. Now they are talking about starting work on a new part that will be close to 40' long and will need to cut a very large hole in that wall to make it fit in the machine....
 
Richard King 2 said:
I know Axelson Lathes and you guys are all right. That machine has a hardened bed and it is worn bad. That's why the owner didn't take pictures of the operators side of the bed. The way I know it is worn is on the picture of the back side by the chuck you can see a line on the way. Axelson has one flaw, it has straight oil grooves cut into the bottom of the saddle. So as it is run the area on the HARD way does not wear. I see your in Nebraska and the machine is in Fresno CA and your in Lincoln NE - that's 1600 miles. I found a manual with info on the machine. It looks like it's a 32" swing machine and in the following book it says it is almost 20,000 pounds. I would guess it will cost you at least $5,000.00 to hire a rigger on that end to load it on a semi, $10,000.00 for trucking with the price of diesel fuel going up to $4.00 per gallon., then another $5000.00 to rig it into your garage. So by the time it's sitting inside your car stall you have invested $23,000.00.

If you want to regrind the bed as it is to hard to scrape, you would need to pull the bed and send it to a grind shop. Cash Masters in Milwaukee, Danaluck in Oklahoma or I forget the name, but there in a place in Nebraska too....I'm guessing they would charge a min of $5000.00 to grind the bed, plus riggers and trucking again...to and from....

You would have to go look at it in person as if it's been rained on for 10 years the headstock in rusted, mice nests inside the electric box, paint is peeling, etc.. The RPM will be slow...It says 1800 rpm and for a big lathe is fast. I see where so many buy something like this and it kills them financially. I don't know if your married, but what happens if you die before your wife...what will she do with the lathe? No one will want to buy it, she will have to pay a scrap dealer to come and get it.

If someone offered to give it to me, I would run away fast. Find yourself a Monarch EE, a LeBlonde or Hardinge lathe. or some other easy to move and repair to rebuild.

If your still thinking about it , start calling around for quotes and buy an airplane ticket to go look at it.

Rich

Click to expand...
After seeing all the responses and sleeping on it, it is very clear that it is much too large to deal with. As you pointed out the cost just to get in the door even would be too severe.

I'm in Nebraska right now, but will actually be moving back to Tucson at the start of the year. My parents are very close to Fresno, so I always keep an eye out for deals in that area as well. I still want to get a project lathe to work on, but I'll cap it somewhere around the 14x40 to 18x60 max size. There's actually a Monarch 10EE near the bay area that would fit the bill a lot better. I'm in no rush and still casually searching around.

Thanks for the input!

Jon
 
Here's a nice one for you to buy and it will be valuable when your done. They are talking about it on PM.
sfbay.craigslist.org

Hendey 5x12 Metal Lathe - tools - by owner - sale

S/n 24119, would put it between 1920-1921 http://wiki.vintagemachinery.org/Hendey-Machine-Co.ashx? It is total just over 6'W. Motor side is 5.5'H, bed is 3'+. Overall about 2'D. There is minor...
sfbay.craigslist.org
 
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