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Metalworking (rec.crafts.metalworking) Discuss various aspects of working with metal, such as machining, welding, metal joining, screwing, casting, hardening/tempering, blacksmithing/forging, spinning and hammer work, sheet metal work. |
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F.E. Reed Lathe
Hello!
When I purchased my new house they left a lot of junk and a few interesting items. One of these is the F.E. Reed Metal Lathe manufactured in Worcester, MA around 1900. This seems to of originally been treadle powered but then converted over at some point to an electric motor. Currently the motor is not working, but I expect to have that fixed. The reason for my post here is to ask if anyone has any idea of the value of this machine? I am thinking of selling it or spending some time to fix / clean it up. Thanks for any and all help! Last edited by shtechie : November 14th 05 at 08:34 PM |
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F.E. Reed Lathe
Blunt truth? Not worth much of anything to most hobby machinist and
certainly worth zero to any professional machinist. Some of the key problems with such an old lathe are 1. Spare parts non existent so you are on your own to make 2. Probably has change gears (no quick change gear box) big pain in the butt to tthread, but many of do it anyway... 3. Non standard spindle thread and /or lead screw -- this is a bigge, as chucks backplates would need to be fabricated and then you run into 1 and 2 4. babbit bearings probable, ball bearings maybe but around 1900 date of manufacture, probably not ball bearings, much less timken roller bearings. Limited to SLOWWWW speeds... designed for use when carbide or HSS tooling was non invented yet... and what is the runnout on the spindle?? Bed wear? Cross feed slop? etc etc. 5 not the least, but there are simply too many other decent lathes out there including the chinese stuff. Very good values and the quality keeps getting better. Really truely-- they are pretty good, and I am an "old American iron" snob... Sentimental/antique value? Now, you can throw a dart on the wall and see what sticks. Seriously... put it in the paper/ebay and put a price of 500 bucks and see what happenes. FE Reed IS a recognized lathe manufacturer and there is a small market for them... as showpieces... not a really good user lathe... try using it for a couple of months and you will see why.. IF you do want to sell, you are looking for a collector to buy it for a price and just put it in his/her shop for sentimental reasons and use it to make the odd cut or two. Example: I just turned down and old Flathers lathe (Nashua, NH)circa 1930. Another good old american lathe manufacturer. Guy thought he had a gold mine on his hand... wanted 1600 to start. what was he smoking?? Did not even go look at it. . He said what about 600.00 and I still said no (did not say hell no... no reason to insult him).... Even if I or someone else fully restored it, it would still be a marginal old lathe. I have restored 5 old american iron lathes now (3 metal, 2 wood) and I use each of them. But, my daily user is a Emco 10". Built in 1970, it still can turn to 1/2 thou without even trying. My others can too (well , one can) but boy do you have to breathe just right. If this were my lathe, I would have some fun with it... makes some small stuff and you will quickly see why newer IS better...(not always, but more and more....) steve Good luck!! . "shtechie" wrote in message ... Hello! When I purchased my new house they left a lot of junk and a few interesting items. One of these is the F.E. Reed Metal Lathe manufactured in Worcester, MA around 1900. This seems to of originally been treadle powered but then converted over at some point to an electric motor. Currently the motor is not working, but I expect to have that fixed. The reason for my post here is to ask if anyone has any idea of the value of this machine? I am thinking of selling it or spending some time to fix / clean it up. Thanks for any and all help! +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Filename: FEReed01.jpg | |Download: http://www.diybanter.com/attachment....tachmentid=126 | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ -- shtechie |
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F.E. Reed Lathe
I obtained a freebie Reed lathe which was also treadle powered, and
its a nice piece of macninery, but parts are scarce and it would still leave a lot to be diesired. I finally decided refurbing it was not in my best interest both timewise and monetary. I am retired but I just could not bring myself to trashing this machine, so I converted it to a wood lathe which turne dout great for what I turn in wood. Remnoved old babbit bearings, made new spindle with threads, added new ball and roller bearings on spindle I made, removed all the backgears etc, and added an electric motor to a step pulley I cast for a flat belt just to keep some of the old original look to it. Its been fine for woodwork and even with wood sometimes it is too much, so I would have to wonder what it would have been like with turning metal. ============================================== Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked! "The original frugal ponder" ~~~~ }((((o ~~~~~~ }{{{{o ~~~~~~~ }(((((o |
#4
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F.E. Reed Lathe
My lathe is serial number "3 or 4" if i recall...big cat brass plate with the serial number on it next to a neat cat plate with the speeds and feed chart. IMHO those brass data plates are the only things worth having off the lathe, or perhaps the ornate cast iron legs would make a nifty looking something or other on the patio...I have about made my mind up though that the first thing that goes wrong with it if it can not be fixed in 10 or 15 minutes with no cash outlay, its gonna be history, so I would break it all up except for legs and brass data plates and melt it down and cast it into something more usefull. Shold be some fine cast iron ..On Mon, 14 Nov 2005 18:12:20 -0700, "Steve Koschmann" wrote: ===Blunt truth? Not worth much of anything to most hobby machinist and ===certainly worth zero to any professional machinist. Some of the key ===problems with such an old lathe are === ===1. Spare parts non existent so you are on your own to make ===2. Probably has change gears (no quick change gear box) big pain in the ===butt to tthread, but many of do it anyway... ===3. Non standard spindle thread and /or lead screw -- this is a bigge, as ===chucks backplates would need to be fabricated and then you run into 1 and 2 ===4. babbit bearings probable, ball bearings maybe but around 1900 date of ===manufacture, probably not ball bearings, much less timken roller bearings. ===Limited to SLOWWWW speeds... designed for use when carbide or HSS tooling ===was non invented yet... and what is the runnout on the spindle?? Bed wear? ===Cross feed slop? etc etc. ===5 not the least, but there are simply too many other decent lathes out ===there including the chinese stuff. Very good values and the quality keeps ===getting better. Really truely-- they are pretty good, and I am an "old ===American iron" snob... === ===Sentimental/antique value? Now, you can throw a dart on the wall and see ===what sticks. Seriously... put it in the paper/ebay and put a price of 500 ===bucks and see what happenes. === ===FE Reed IS a recognized lathe manufacturer and there is a small market for ===them... as showpieces... not a really good user lathe... try using it for a ===couple of months and you will see why.. === ===IF you do want to sell, you are looking for a collector to buy it for a ===price and just put it in his/her shop for sentimental reasons and use it to ===make the odd cut or two. === ===Example: I just turned down and old Flathers lathe (Nashua, NH)circa 1930. ===Another good old american lathe manufacturer. ===Guy thought he had a gold mine on his hand... wanted 1600 to start. what ===was he smoking?? === ===Did not even go look at it. . He said what about 600.00 and I still said ===no (did not say hell no... no reason to insult him).... === ===Even if I or someone else fully restored it, it would still be a marginal ===old lathe. === ===I have restored 5 old american iron lathes now (3 metal, 2 wood) and I use ===each of them. But, my daily user is a Emco 10". Built in 1970, it still ===can turn to 1/2 thou without even trying. My others can too (well , one ===can) but boy do you have to breathe just right. === ===If this were my lathe, I would have some fun with it... makes some small ===stuff and you will quickly see why newer IS better...(not always, but more ===and more....) === ===steve === ===Good luck!! . === === ==="shtechie" wrote in message ... === === Hello! === === When I purchased my new house they left a lot of junk and a few === interesting items. One of these is the F.E. Reed Metal Lathe === manufactured in Worcester, MA around 1900. This seems to of originally === been treadle powered but then converted over at some point to an === electric motor. Currently the motor is not working, but I expect to === have that fixed. The reason for my post here is to ask if anyone has === any idea of the value of this machine? I am thinking of selling it or === spending some time to fix / clean it up. === === Thanks for any and all help! === === === +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ === |Filename: FEReed01.jpg | === |Download: http://www.diybanter.com/attachment....tachmentid=126 | === +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ === === -- === shtechie === ============================================== Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked! "The original frugal ponder" ~~~~ }((((o ~~~~~~ }{{{{o ~~~~~~~ }(((((o |
#5
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F.E. Reed Lathe
In article ,
shtechie wrote: http://www.diybanter.com/attachment....tachmentid=126 Ittle bitty one like that might go $250, might not. Better for wood than metalwork, though better for wood with a wood type toolrest (the lathes of this era/type often were the same bed and legs with different accessories). Has it even got a leadscrew? (on back if at all, I'd guess). I don't see back-gears, either. Has the advantage from a classified ad or craigslist point of view of being movable by a couple of guys. Price it low enough and someone will bite. I paid $400 for an FE Reed, but that was an honest swing of 17x60, as well as gobs of tooling, in pretty good shape for the age, and I'm tolerant of it's age. I have a wood-working version of the one you have, only older (looks like they have not changed the legs any) as it's badged "FE Reed, Makers" rather than the later "FE Reed & Co." -- Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by |
#6
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F.E. Reed Lathe
I had one of those lathes. On cast iron feet, no motor but it had an
unusual feature. On the left end of the spindle was a milling attachment. 2 axis and a huge box of thread chasers No longitudinal screw just a cross slide that had a big knob on the bottom. I believe it was one of the first mill/lathe combos. Built in Mass sometime around 1895. Quite ingenious |
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Thanks for all the responses... Still not sure what I want to do... Might just list it in Craig's List and be done with it. Thanks again.
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#8
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F.E. Reed Lathe
With all the bad things said already, let me throw in a good'n.
I have an F.E. Reed 14x40, circa 1938. It had everything it should except a compound, which I made (built a new cross slide with Atlas-style compound). It even came with a clean and working taper attachment. Power long., power cross, threading. It's just not conveniently arranged. It's not a _great_ lathe, and I'll probably upgrade it in the next couple of years, but I use it at least four times a week, and it turns quality work with no problems. Change-gears are a pain, though. However, mine was well-kept and maintained, and I got over $5000 worth of tooling AND a Cincy #2 mill with the Bridgeport vertical head for a total cost of $1000. For me, that was a good deal. The mill works every day, too. LLoyd |
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