Hi Jim,
Don't know what is going on with my emails. But here is what I sent.
Hi Jim,
I sent this on my Gmail account, but I thought I should send it again on this one. My gmail does not always work perfectly.
🙂
Hi Jim,
That lathe look very much like my Boice-Crane. I sold it a couple of years ago to a friend of mine. He moved away but as far as I know it is still working fine.
It was a real fine lathe. I used it for several years before I bought the Oneway. I sold it for 500.00. If it is in sound shape, It would be a real step up from your Harbor Freight lathe. It is much heavier and built like a tank. I used it for spindles for a long time. When I got into turning bowls I added some plywood to the front and back and filled it with 600 lbs of sand in plastic bags
🙂 It stuck to the floor like it was bolted down.
It was a 12 swing like the one you pictured. The gap bed is just for platters and it is just that gap right to the right of the headstock. If you use a chuck it is almost unusable as the chuck and any wood you mount on the chuck make it go past the gap.
Things to check for are the Reeves drive. Made sure it works smoothly. On mine you had to have the lathe running before you could change speeds. Open up the cover when you test it and watch how smoothly the sheaves/pulleys work. Also, I am a bit concerned about where it is stored. I looks like it may be on a dirt floor... maybe not, but I can't tell for sure. If it is check for rust on everything. But to tell you the truth, if it were me I would jump all over it for 300 bucks... that is if everything checks out.
On another note, we lived in Raleigh back in the mid 80s. I worked for 2 years for Cablevision of Raleigh as their underground cable locator.
Good luck and best wishes,
Dave
David Peebles
Lyons, Ohio
Revolutions Woodturning
www.bowlturner.com
