What is your general take on these?

I came accross a rather nice one that appears to be a 10" or so swing, 56" bed, and appprox 30" between centers. It has a about a 1 3/8" spindle bore and is complete with tons of tooling. No apparent wear on the parts.

Coundn't find a model number.

Any idea of approximate worth?

Thanks,

Mike

Mike have you seen the one on the Practical Machinest forum? It is in the classifieds as lathe and shaper for sale. One of the guys on the forum posted the photos for Brad. I have seen it and have turned a test bar on it. It has a lot of tooling. Look at it and use it as a guide. Brad is asking $2000. Butch

Butch,

thanks. It is comparable, the one I'm looking at has a longer bed and threaded spindle but includes more tool holder, about a thousand cutting bits, starrett precision level and many incidentals. They are asking the same price.

I was just looking at some of the machines they had which also include a Delta/Rockwell vertical mill and a Diamond horizontal mill. Both of which were nice but, I really need a bigger mill. The tooling, vices, endmills, and cutters included however made it very very tempting!

Anything to lookout for on the Sheldon? Are parts available?

My Uncle and Brad both have Sheldons. Brad has 2 other lathes and is selling the smallest one. He does no gunwork. Actually he does very little work other than cleaning up his stuff and making sure that it is in top shape. My Uncle has had his since college days and has used it very hard. He has 2 other lathes and will not sell the Sheldon. Parts are easy to find in the DFW metroplex. Butch

I worked on a Sheldon and thought it was a fine machine.

i have a similar sized sheldon in the shop & it's one of the more used tools. Parts are easily available if you need to rebuild anything. Ours is running with a 6 jawed buck check & holes under 2 tens. While they are not thought of by purists as the best, the lathe doesn't seem to know that.

butchloc

just out of curiousity, is the shop you speak of a gunsmith shop or a regular machine shop, or what?