Photo Index - South Bend Lathe Works - 420-AN Toolmaker Bench Lathe

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
South Bend Lathe Works
South Bend, IN

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Metal Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Lathe, Metal
Machine Size:	9" x 48"
Submitted By:	Bill Moore

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	420-AN Toolmaker Bench Lathe
Date of Manufacturer:	1934
Serial Number:	53627 (View SN Registry Entry)
Last Updated	11/7/2017 12:14:07 PM

Comments:

Purchased this great lathe from a nice family in East Texas, who also met me halfway across Texas to make the delivery.
Lathe works but needs a lot of work to make it sing, perhaps a future restoration. From my research, this lathe is rather uncommon/rare and was only manufactured by South Bend for less than 2 years. From a respected UK lathe site:

"At around the time that the precursor to the most successful South Bend lathe of all was being launched, the Model 5, Type 405, the Company were also working on a new small lathe, the Series 20 Toolmaker. When introduced in early 1934, under Catalog No. 520, this new machine was priced at $158, this being twice the cost of an equivalent capacity if basic 405 that was listed at $75. Although the Toolmaker was shown in the 1934 Year Catalogue, by the middle of 1935 it had disappeared, perhaps setting a record for the shortest production run of any South Bend model."

This is a 420 series lathe, indicating it was sold as a bench lathe (the 520 models were mounted on SB cast iron legs). The South Bend advertisements (see pics) show the lathe to have company and model badges either as part of the bed casting or perhaps painted but alas, mine does not unless it is buried under the considerable dirt and grime, or stripped during a long ago paint job? Mine also does not have a reversing switch, which I believe was an option. The lathe came with a lot of tooling and tools and I've only begun to sort it all.

I'm proud to have this machine but a smaller lathe might prove to be more practical. We'll see.

UPDATE: Sold on 11/6/17.

Photo 1:

Comments: Full view
Source: Seller's photo

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Photo 2:

Comments: Model plate
Source: My phone

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Photo 3:

Comments: South Bend Catalog
Source: Web

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Photo 4:

Comments: South Bend Catalog
Source: Web

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Photo 5:

Comments: Serial No.
Source: My phone

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