1915 Hendey 16" x 8' tie bar Lathe

The lathe pictured above is a few years newer than mine, but differs only in a few details. My Hendey was purchased at the Cabin Fever model engineering show in York PA in January 2009. I went looking for a few machine files and maybe a bargain on a dial indicator. Ended up with this monster.

The term "tie bar" refers to the bar cast integral with the headstock, connecting the 2 bearing pillars. This was done to add rigidity. Double tapered bronze bearings support the spindle.

The carriage feed is reversible via the lever at the right end of the apron. The bottom rod carries adjustable stops which disengage a dog clutch in the bottom of the headstock. The feed can be stopped and reversed without opening the half-nuts or stopping / reversing the spindle. This was a useful feature for thread cutting.

Another interesting feature is the lack of an interlock between the cross and longitudinal feeds. This allowed the crossfeed to be used in conjuction with a taper attachment to give a wider range of tapers.

The lathe is serial number 16649, built the last week of August 1915. It is a 16 x 8' (bed) cone head, which means that it will swing 16-7/16 inches over the ways and take 52-3/4 inches between centers, with the tailstock flush with the end of the bed. Net weight with taper attachment installed is 2835lbs, although I don't have the taper attachment. The original countershaft is also missing. The lathe came with a Turner Unidrive 4-speed motor/gearbox conversion. Turner began making the Unidrive lineshaft conversion in 1932 and is still making multi-speed gearboxes.

The pictures below were taken at the start, and end of the lathe's journey from southern Pennsylvania to Maryland. In the first picture, you can just see the snow-covered Susquahanna river in the distant background.