Find a used lathe 55' between centers 5

[fred2know]

I am looking to purchase a manual lathe that is at least 55 feet (16764 mm) between centers and that can turn at least 28 inches over the cross slide.

 

[MikeHalloran]

Or, you could outsource the work to the Watervliet Arsenal:

http://www.wva.army.mil/MFG.HTM

They could do your job on one of their smaller cannon lathes.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[bklauba]

. . . . or Morrison-Berkshire, in NE Mass. They have a 60'X6'.

BK

 

[MintJulep]

I've been to the Watervliet Arsenal. Impressive place.

There used to be a lathe of suitable size at the Baldwinsville, NY boat yard. Probably still there. Probably in rough shape.

 

[Cockroach]

I've seen used ones, 60 ft gap bed with 28" swing. Thomas Skinner is one dealer, they go for about $CDN 22k or so.

Some guys don't like gap bed, I've never experienced trouble putting back the plates after they have been out for a period of time. It is easy to ding the ways though, you would need to be careful with this style of lathe.

Good luck.

Kenneth J Hueston, PEng
Principal
Sturni-Hueston Engineering Inc
Edmonton, Alberta Canada

 

[arunmrao]

I would have suggested making your own from the discards available. In India people from Punjab are excellent machinists and also practical innovators.

What will be the straightness maintained over a length of 55'?

 

[IceStationZebra]

I recently came across an article (which of course I can't find now) that described how a company in the New England region of the USA created a 100' lathe out of several World War II antiques. The bed is made from three different lathes, the head and tailstock from a fourth. The tool rest is from a 5th with custom CNC software. It is used to machine large Navy propellor shafts, with some crazy accuracy of <0.001" over the whole length!

ISZ

 

[unclesyd]

In reference to the above mentioned composite lathe, there was reference to it in show on TV about the new super carriers being built at the Newport News ship yard. The 0.001" is their TIR for the carrier ship shafts.

Our shop built a similar composite lathe using two identical 36"x 20' bed machines. The two lathes were separated by about 8'. It was setup where either machine could control the rotation of the part being machined. The original lineup was by taut wire but was later checked and verified by laser, Hamar. The only addition was a 2 axis digital readout on each machine.

 

[fred2know]

We have found a machine in Poland that can be extended. Thank you for all of your help.