Jamie,
Big lathes have very low value because there are so many of them and they
require a lot of room. Very often they also require large power sources and
special foundations and because of this, there is very low demand. Scrap
weight at best for this one. It was made in the 30's or 40's. I purchased an
almost new Lodge & Shipley Powerturn 18 x 54 for $3500 including transport.
It weighs 6,000 + lbs. This is a modern machine and nobody wanted it. I had
to put in special power and an 8" concrete bed. Additionaly, with the plain
bearing head stock, you won't be able to exceed 600 rpm without overheating
the bearings. Forget it.
Steve

wrote in message
...
I have the opportunity to buy a South Bend lathe. It is a 16"x12' bed. It
won't turn but about 9' between centers though. It has a motor with 4
v-belts jackshafted to a 4 step flat pully up to the headstock. It is
fairly old (I think the headstock is babbit bearings) but is is pretty good
shape considering it has set in a tractor shed for the last 10 years,
getting a douche of diesel every month to keep it from rusting. It has a 4
jaw chuck and he said there might be some other tooling somewhere(?) I am
a woodworker with dreams of turning long bedposts on it if nothing else,
but if it cheap enough I may sell it and buy some woodworking tools with
the profit. I saw where one almost like it (10'bed) did not sell on Ebay
for the $2750.00 start price.

What should I offer for this?

Thanks

Jamie Norwood