basement model a

I moved my South Bend model A to my basement this weekend. I worked on cleaning it up last night and got it back together. I still need to get the countershaft hooked up. I think I'm going to replace the floor version countershaft with a horizontal bench-top version. The countershaft version is just too heavy to move all the time and I want to mount it to a bench since I have limited space in the basement.

It's going to be nice to have the old lathe back in my basement. I always find myself wanting to turn something at home and I'm sure I will be working from home a bit more now that Maya is here or at least until she is big enough to go to the studio for extended periods of time. I was going to sell this lathe, but I just can't get rid of anything sentimental. I built this lathe up from pieces when I was in grad school and converted it from a model C to A model a using the old Clausing knee mill in the metals studio at the U of  I. I sure do love these old lathes (maybe that explains why I have two of the 9" and the toolroom 13"). It was fairly easy to move this down to the basement once I took off the feet, gear train, and headstock and I think that's what I really love about them. They're big enough to do some heavy turning, but light enough to move by yourself (Jill begs to differ of course). 

This old lathe always makes me think about picking up Ian's South Bend. I went with him to pick up a South Bend 9" at a strange resale shop when we were both in grad school. We got there to load it and we found it sitting on a great old bench that happened to be full of accessories. The two of us could not get out of the place fast enough with his new purchase; we were afraid that they might figure out how much everything was worth before we had it strapped into the bed of his truck. What a deal. 

Ian, I hope you've found a place for it in your new house... (send me some pics if you happen to read this).