On a tight budget, this is a relatively easy task. Perusing my favorite classified magazine "The WantAd" one afternoon, I saw this ad:
Hendey Lathe, no motor, $250. (Name of town) 555-555-5555
I had previously encountered two Hendey lathes. One, by reputation, was the one my brother used at his former employer's shop. He thought quite favorably of it. The other I had seen in person, being in the shop of the father of a college friend of mine. In fact, that number rang a bell...
Not only was it like a lathe I already knew, it WAS a lathe I already knew.
So I called. My friend's mom answered, and said "Oh, you want to talk about the lathe, let me put you on with Bill."
Bill got on the line and said that no, he hadn't sold it yet, and yes, I could come down the next day and look at it, he'd be around.
I did just that, and in short order had agreed to purchase the lathe. Since he knew me, he explained that he wanted the 2HP motor for his new drill press, something along the lines of a Niagra or Buffalo, with a power feed. (I forget which, exactly). It currently had about a 3/4HP on it, and it wasn't enough when agressively feeding the larger bits. For me, he'd throw in the motor on the drill press. Starting out with the lathe a little underpowered to learn with didn't sound like a bad idea, anyway. As I gain confidence in my and the lathe's abilities, I can always upgrade. Poking around the shop, he also said he'd throw in a 4-jaw chuck and a faceplate he wasn't using (too big for his new 13" Southbend, the reason he was selling the Hendey). Both were threaded something larger, maybe 2-1/2"-8? than the 2"-8 on the Hendey.
Having agreed to purchase this large chunk of cast iron, I was left with the dilema of how to get it home. My first instinct was to hire a flatbed wrecker, so I asked Bill if there was someone he knew and would recommend. "Yes, but why? I've got a nice little trailer here all set up, I'll just drop it off after I come back from a little vacation."
A few weeks later, and that's exactly what happenned:
Yours truly, Bill is behind the lathe.
Bill's wife Beverly keeps Bill and I honest. Terri is behind the camera.
As always, no-one thought to get the camera until things were already underway, so I don't have any pictures of it on the trailer, or the process of sliding it off.
I've since acquired a few accessories for it and installed the motor, but have yet to run it. Something about having my hands freeze to the handles kinds of dampens the enthusiasm.
Sill to come, I need to acquire change gears to drive the gearbox for threading and power feeds, and need to machine the baseplate for the new quickchange toolpost. Once I have the toolpost set up and the threading working, I'll make a new backplate for the 4-jaw, and a threaded adapter for the faceplate. Either that, or trade the faceplate. It's a 14", and just misses the ways by 1/4". Bill says the Hendey is a 13" nominal lathe, which would fit with their usual reputation for conservatively sizing their lathes. There's no number cast into the side of the bed like on later ones I've seen, and I have yet to find the serial number, though Bill swears he's seen it.
Last updated 12/6/03
© 2003 Glenn S. Lyford, all trademarks etcetera property of their respective owners.