Sheldon Sebastian 16" X 60" I Think

[76kcfdcapt]

Hi, I don't post here often. I have posted about my Comet Bport Taiwanese copy.
I have had this lathe for 20 years in storage. It was long past time to get it in to my shop and working again. It was inherited from my grandfather. It says Sheldon Sebastion, have not had a chance to clean the info plates or find the serial numbers. It appears to be in quite good shape except for the surface rust. Came with a 3 and 4 jaw chuck, steady rest, faceplate, taper attachment and few odds and ends. It is now in my shop after quite a bit of rearranging. (no pics yet). It does not have the original motor and I have not dug in to it to determine if it is single or three phase. I can run it either way since I built a converter for the three phase mill. It is a heavy beast for sure! I was hoping for a smaller lathe but I already have this and I do have projects I can use it for. I will post more info as I clean it up. Any info from members here would be appreciated. Hope this is the right place for this.
Glen

 

[4GSR]

Glen,

You have a old Sebastian lathe built before Sheldon bought out part of the business. Actually the lathe business was bought out by the D.C. Morrison company which is still in business today making and selling keyseaters. Sheldon never did support the old Sebastian lathe line. Instead they built their own gearhead lathe called "Sheldon-Sebastian". I have a 13" that I've owned since 1978. There is some resemblance, nothing interchangeable between the two brands. D.C. Morrison does not show it as part of their website anymore. I suspect they still support repair parts for the lathe if requested. Don't expect any operations/parts manuals from these guys. The internet is full of information on these lathes.

Ken

 

[76kcfdcapt]

Ken, The tag on the machine says "Sebastian" and then another tag says "Sheldon machine or lathe Co.", cant remember exactly and I am at work right now. So I think it was built after the takeover?

 

[4GSR]

Post pictures of the tags and serial number. I'm interested in redefining the history of Sebastian Lathe Company and the transition between D.C. Morrison and Sheldon.

 

[76kcfdcapt]

I think that the thread pitch info may have come from a different lathe hence my confusion. Here are the tags.

 

[76kcfdcapt]

Can someone tell me the sequence to removing the feed/thread gears? I am not quite sure how to remove them, I could probably figure it out but I don't want to break anything,
Thanks, Glen

 

[76kcfdcapt]

Did some investigating and clean up today. I thought this thing was going to be clapped out but it is actually in quite good shape under all the rust and grime. The inside of the gear box was perfect, shocked. The feed gears were dirty, some surface rust, cleaned them up. Clutch mechanism was dry and surface rusted, works perfect now. Cleaned the 3 and 4 jaw chucks so they are ready. Took a look at the motor, it is a single phase 3/4 hp. I am sure this lathe came with a bigger motor but I think for what I am going to use it for it should suffice, crossing my fingers. Still have to get the front change gears off and cleaned up, still not sure how to go about it.

 

[FOMOGO]

I think it's great that it was handed down from your grandfather. Your probably going to find that 3/4hp motor pretty underwhelming on a 16" lathe. Were it mine, I would go with 3 phase 5 0r 7.5 hp with a VFD. Should be fun getting it up and running no matter which route you take. Cheers, Mike

 

[76kcfdcapt]

Mike, I can do that if I need to, I have a rotary phase converter already to run my mill. I will try it and see what happens, not hard to find 3 phase motors at least. When I inherited it I had no shop and was lucky to find a place to store it. I should have got it going sooner but I had other priorities.
Glen

 

[76kcfdcapt]

I also checked the swing and length and it is a 16" swing and the bed would take 60" between centers, it is a little over 72" from the headstock to the end of the bed.