I have an opportunity to purchase a south bend lathe that is in unbelievably good shape for around five hundred. do not know much about them as i have only worked on the Monarch lathes. any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Need more info- Size, tooling etc.

Post a photo so people can advise you. Missing parts and missing tooling can be a black hole for your money.

The catalog number is 337-B. 15" swing, 5' bed on its own cast base. The only thing that i can see is missing is the secondary drive belt. Nothing even wiggles and every is free and very, very, very smooth. I will have some pics soon. If nothing else its about the prettiest little thing I've seen in a while.

..The only thing that i can see is missing is the secondary drive belt. Nothing even wiggles and every is free and very, very, very smooth. I will have some pics soon. ...

The stuff that is missing is not necessarily the stuff that is attached to the lathe. Tooling, change gears (if it has change gears), face plates, steady rest(s), tool holders, taper jig, etc, could cost more than the lathe itself. Stuff that is not bolted to the lathe has a tendency to get lost each time it changes hands. :(

I have a model 37C 15" with a 6' bed. Mine is a 1919. Can you get some pics? Look around here for some good SBL info...Bob
The SBL Workshop - Home

Here it is! Gearing seems to be there as well as other parts.

I eyes don't work so good with little photographs, so the only "tooling" that I can see is one faceplate and the tool-holder. It does not look like it has a "quick-change" gear box in the front. If that is the case then you will need a stack of "change gears". So possibly missing are:
- change gears
- other face plates
- collets
- steady rest(s)

Other nice tooling to have include:
- collection of cutting tools
- milling attachment
- boring tools
- taper jig
- a stack of metric conversion gears
- depth adjustment gauges
- etc, etc. etc.

The ideal South Bend lathe comes with a couple boxes full of tooling.

Edited November 6, 200916 yr by UnicornForge

Sometimes you have to buy some tools. I couldn't see anything either. The picture is too small.

Not sure why the picture is so small as it is large on my computer. I am going to try to get more next week.

Not sure why the picture is so small as it is large on my computer. ....

If you import the image into a piece of software such as Photoshop Essentials, you can click on Image, then Resize the photograph and specify the number of inches wide and high that it will show as when someone clicks on its thumbnail posted to the IForeIron forum. :D