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!

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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