New Haven Patternmaker's Lathe

[Tim Hunter]

I've been asked to tell a bit about my larger wood lathe. It's a patternmakers lathe made by New Haven Mfg. I've only seen one other similar machine. Capacity is 30" swing over the ways and about 85" between centers. It was originally a flat-belt driven machine, and was very rough before I rebuilt it. I redesigned the spindle to include ball bearings and built a 16-speed drive system. There is a fairly comprehensive thread about it over on OWWM.org here:

Pattern makers lathe - New Haven - Old Woodworking Machines

And here are a couple of images:



Tim

 

[Peter White]

Great restoration looks new.

 

[Doug Rasmussen]

For an aid to turning bowls or spindles a pattern makers lathe can be a great machine. Mine was not originally intended as a pattern maker, it was an old metal lathe dating from around 1920. It had power feeds, a compound tool rest, threading capability, a taper attachment and all things you would expect in a metal lathe. My first project on it was a pair of table lamps with tapered sections of lignum vitae 14" long that needed no sanding (that was back in the day when exotic woods were inexpensive). Mark Lindquist has a similar machine in his shop tour video available on the AAW site.

The downside is it took up a lot of shop space. When I downsized to semi-retirement I gave it away.

 

[Rip Littig]

The point is how unique your lathe is and what a beautiful job you've done restoring it. Absolutely gorgeous. While monetary value isn't the point, I can't help but think how much the right person here in CT would value it at. There are certainly lots of wealthy Yale alumni in New Haven! Again, sorry to detract from the aesthetic value of your very special lathe but I couldn't resist

 

[Tom Gall]

Great looking re-build and fantastic paint job, Tim! I hope you aren't planning to use that LH faceplate as a handwheel - if so, wear a leather glove.