On 19 Apr 2005 07:37:52 -0700, "
wrote:

Hi all,
I have an oppurtunity to buy a Sheldon model EXL-56P lathe. It is a
10" swing and the bed is about 48" long. I have not yet seen it in
person, but have seen a few pics and will be going to see it in a day
or so. It has quick change gearing, a 3 jaw, but not much other
tooling. It looks to be in intact condition, there is surface rust on
most of the exposed metal, and 50% of the paint is peeley. A friend
aquired it, and has offered it to me for $500.00. He is a machinist
himself, but has no interest in doing that stuff at home. He tells me
that there appears to be no pitting in the rusted areas, and when he
moved the carrage over an inch, there was still oil under it. He said
everything moves freely, and it does not look abused. It has sat
covered in a barn, not hooked up for who knows how many years.
Everything looks like it would clean up with scotchbrite type effort.
It has a single phase motor, but the wiring is junk so it was not
tested, but I don't care too much about the motor, I have those.

I will be going up to look at this myself soon. Any opinions on this
machine? Is that a decent price if one considers it to be as described?
Any tips, stuff to look for, etc? Anyone have one of these machines,
and how do you like it?

Thanks for any thoughts,
-AL

I also have 10" and 13" Sheldon lathes. Don't worry about the fiber
gears, if it has them. Of the gears in question, one of the lathes
has fiber and the other has bronze. They are worn equally. They
will be the least of your worries.

For that price, I don't see how you could go wrong. I paid far more
than that for my 10-inch and I had to put out another $500 for new
precision bearings for the spindle. I don't regret the cost one bit.
It's a dandy lathe.

I don't know if it is an issue with Sheldons in general, or, if it was
caused by abuse, but I had to bore and sleeve the back bull gear and
the cone pulley; and, I had to grind the exterior of the spindle. It
had been run in the back gear without lube. Galled. Really bad.
However, it's better than new, now.

Enjoy that Sheldon!

Best regards,

Orrin