Tell me about this lathe please

[Todd Burch]

What does "dual drive" mean? Is this a specialty lathe?

Thanks, Todd

[Thom Sturgill]

This is a metal working lathe. The dual drive refers to the fact that the high range was belt driven while the low speed range was gear driven to provide more torque. it was designed for "training, maintenance, experimental workshops and light production duties"

[Todd Burch]

Thanks Thom.

I guess then, this would be considered a desirable lathe to learn on? What might be a ballpark fair price, assuming it works?

Todd

[Thom Sturgill]

this is probably the wrong forum for that, though their are a few machinists here. I believe SMC has a forum for machinists. I just googled it out of curiosity.

[Sid Matheny]

I have no idea what it is worth but I ran one of those 45 years ago and it was a great lathe!

Sid

[Dave Mcintire]

Its not a good machine to learn anything on. Its a heavy duty metal cutting lathe for precision machining. Its not suitable for wood turning and too big to learn machining. If you don,t know what your doing with this machine you run a high risk of damaging it and possibly hurting yourself.
If you want to learn to turn wood you should look for a good used or new wood lathe instead of something like this. If you want to learn how to run a metal lathe try to find a 9" southbend or similar logan. From the picture this looks like maybe a16" swing machine, how often would you turn something even half that size?

[Todd Burch]

Thanks Sid!

Dave, it's a 15" x 24". I already have a couple wood lathes. I'm fair enough on those, but turn out of necessity, not for fun. I'm a slow learner. I feel safe.

[Ronald Fox]

Not sure what you would use this metal lathe for. If you are considering using it to turn wood, you should realize that metal lathes are not designed to turn wood. Metal lathes are designed to turn metal and use oil for cutting and lubrication. If you turn wood on a metal lathe, the shaving and wood dust will gum up the works and cause problems.

[Todd Burch]

I posted here, since this forum gets a lot of traffic and there are so many here knowledgeable about lathes. I would not use it to turn wood.

I do appreciate all the comments. Todd

[joe marra]

Just the model name.

[Todd Burch]

Well, I bought me a lathe - the one pictured above. I won't go pick it up until mid Sept. See y'all in the metalworking forum later on.

[James A. Brown]

Looks like an old one and 24 inches seems pretty short for a 15 inch swing. Starting out as a machinist and then a toolmaker I have 40 years in the trade and IMHO there is no better engine lathe made. I am now retired and enjoy woodworking, working in metal holds no interest for me now. I don't go to the metal working forums but if I can help with any advise using this lathe please PM me and I will try to help. Jim.

[Todd Burch]

Hi Jim. Thanks! And, you are correct - indeed, it is a 15X30. (I emailed LeBlond with the serial # and got all the pertinent specs on it's birth.) One more week until I go pick it up!! Todd.