[PSUBS-MAILIST] Browne & Sharp Turret Lathe (Saint Paul)

Tue Jun 25 06:52:19 EDT 2019

West Saint Paul MN 55118

    On Tuesday, June 25, 2019, 6:33:58 AM GMT, irox via Personal_Submersibles <personal_submersibles at psubs.org> wrote:  

Hi Pete,
I think getting a lathe to learn the basics on is a good idea, I find nothing beats having your own (verse taking courses with limited access to a lathe, or getting a membership to some shared workshop with a lathe).
For learning the basics, I picked up a a used Central Machinery 9x20 (cheap and crappy enough you won't cry too much if you kill it, plus it has a plastic gear that is easy to replace in cases of crashing - so I've not crashed it)and spent time playing around with different cuts, making things (small pistons are a great practice things) and such (swapping gears, doing different threading etc.).  It's not a great lathe, but it does the job, and even thoughI now have a bigger lathe, I still use the 9x20 (I keep meaning to sell it so I can fit more machines into my workshop).
A few years later I bought a 1943 Smith Drum sliding bed lathe, this thing has separate ways for powering the entire bed out a bit, and can turn up to 28" in diameter (great for hatches) with the bed extended.  I spent a lot of time cleaning it and rebuilding bits,getting a VFD wired for it, putting on a modern tool post, and a lot more time tracking down the original manuals for it (eventually found a copy in a veterans museum and paid a researcher to scan it for me).
I feel getting a 1905 lathe is going to be taking on a project in itself, with a lot of investment required before you get to the learn the basics part.  (I'm still trying to track down parts from the Smith Drum Lathe).  Maybe see if you can find the manual for it, and see if you can figure out from the manual what type of threading (or other attachment system) the chuck uses, also how hard is it to get parts (may be a thriving parts business on ebay, or maybe you'll be look high and low for random things).
The vintagemachinery.org website has tonnes of the Browne & Sharp manuals/catalogs, so you're may be in luck there:http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgIndex/detail.aspx?id=2185&tab=3
Oh, checking out this catalog from 1904, and may be that's not a lathe, but a screw cutting machine (see page 144):http//vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=3713In fact, I didn't see any machines advertised as Lathes, nor do I see any manuals for Lathes by Browne & Sharp.  I don't know enough about their screw cutting machines to know if they can operate as proper Lathes.  I don't see a cross slide, and not sure if the turret swings out at all.
I personally would give it a miss and look for something else given your goal is learning lathe basics, but I also feel a pull from old machine tools.
Where are you located?  I sometimes have leads all over the country for lathes (like I said, I'm still looking for bit for mine).
Good luck!  Ian.

-----Original Message-----
From: Pete Niedermayr via Personal_Submersibles 
Sent: Jun 24, 2019 4:02 AM
To: Personal Submersibles General Discussion 
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Browne & Sharp Turret Lathe (Saint Paul)

Is this worth it to pickup? It will probably cost me a couple hundred bucks to get home. Though I might not be able to make alot (any) useful parts. Is it worth it to lean the basics of using a lathe?

Pete

Browne & Sharp Turret Lathe

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Browne & Sharp Turret Lathe

1905 Browne & Sharp Turret Lathe. Free but you must pay for removal. We have freight elevator and loading dock.
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