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

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 cannot comment on that particular model, but in general, Sheldons
are very nice lathes.

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child -
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

I have two of the Sheldon lathes in this series one 10" and one 13". They
are good lathes and nice to run. One thing that is a weak point on them is
the tumbler gears that are fiber. Both lathes I have needed repair work on
the tumbler with gear replacement and bushings. Not hard to do. I replaced
a 10X24 Logan with the 10X24 Sheldon and it was like going from a Chevy to a
Cadillac. The rigidity was most noticeable. I would highly recommend the
lathe if it is in working condition.
lg
no neat sig line

wrote in message
ups.com...
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

Thanks for the quick replies.
What is the reason for the fiber gear(s)? Are they "sacrificial" parts?
Can you get replacements for them, if they are damaged?
Are all of the gears fiber, or just one in the train?

I am going to look at this tomorrow. Anything else I ought to look at?


Thanks very much for the replies!

-AL

I would make the assumption that they are both for noise and sacrificial.
Both of mine have been replaced with aluminum gears, and I think that there
is only one or two fiber gears in the train. you may also want to visit
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sheldo...yguid=75282800

There is the group dedicated to the Sheldon's. There is also a good
write-up on Sheldon's at the http://www.lathes.co.uk/sheldon/index.html
site.

lg
no neat sig line

wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks for the quick replies.
What is the reason for the fiber gear(s)? Are they "sacrificial" parts?
Can you get replacements for them, if they are damaged?
Are all of the gears fiber, or just one in the train?

I am going to look at this tomorrow. Anything else I ought to look at?


Thanks very much for the replies!

-AL

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

I sorta remember making up a brass gear for a 10" Sheldon to replace one
a student shelled out. Weak spot.

larry g wrote:
I have two of the Sheldon lathes in this series one 10" and one 13". They
are good lathes and nice to run. One thing that is a weak point on them is
the tumbler gears that are fiber. Both lathes I have needed repair work on
the tumbler with gear replacement and bushings. Not hard to do. I replaced
a 10X24 Logan with the 10X24 Sheldon and it was like going from a Chevy to a
Cadillac. The rigidity was most noticeable. I would highly recommend the
lathe if it is in working condition.
lg
no neat sig line

wrote in message
ups.com...

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

My Sheldon ( 50 yards from me in the shop) is an 11x44 - in that series.
The machine is great. Mine purchased in 1952 and kept in the family - in
fact I was present when it became a member :-)

I don't know of any fiber gears on my machine. Perhaps some replacements
were made in fiber at one time ?

The quick change box next to the head is really nice. Not to have to change
gears for a different feed rate or thread is wonderful.

Martin
--
Martin Eastburn
@ home at Lion's Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net
NRA LOH, NRA Life
NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

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Thanks everyone for all of the input. I will be going out to look at
this machine this afternoon. I will let you know how it goes.

Thanks again!

-AL