Oliver No. 55 Lathe

I'm not an old arn expert, but I suspect his But It Now price ($450) is a bit high for a lathe that's in pieces, has a re-ground spindle (what caused it to need re-grinding?), and has bronze bushings instead of bearings.

Still, it's a cool-looking old lathe.
 
I think your right Vaughn. Olivers bring big money but there is something odd about that one. I see a Reeves drive... or pieces of one and I see a set of step pulleys too. Odd to say the least.
 
It looks like most of the drive parts are there. Although, one has to wonder why it was taken apart. I wouldn't bother reassembling it. My preference is to use the flat belt drive, but use a VFD for speed control. I also wonder why the spindle needed to be "ground". My guess would be excessive wear in the bearings. This lathe was originally supplied with split sleeve bronze bearings. These are very reliable as long as they are properly maintained. Here's a picture from the 1910 catalog:

75.jpg
 
I gotta tell you, as wrong as it is, every machine shop I worked at cheated when it came to regrinding or redoing the spindles on lathes and mills. I just did this last week on a Turret Lathe we had.

You make new jaws for the thing and then bore them out with the right sized drill bit chunked into the tailstock. Its not right, as you should really figure out why the head, jaws or whatever is off and correct it that way, but the railroad, Lie Nielsen and even my current place of employment uses this method to "get by". I doubt you will find too many lathes and mills out there that have not been "reground"...this guy just happened to know and said it like it was. I can't fault the guy for that.
 
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