Thread: Sebastian Lathe

MadMorrie
Welcome, I know where you are at when you say "you can't weld it".

re your old lathe
tailstock, if its a std morse taper you can pick up a chuck and arbor just about anywhere. Like most things these days you get what you pay for. If you can afford it buy a good name brand like Jacobs, Allbrech ( I have no idea what they would be worth these days, sorry) or otherwise I'd go for a more expensive one from a reputable dealer rather than an el cheapo off ebay.
For more info on the machine you might have more luck asking on the "Antique Machinery & History" sub forum on the Practical Machinst website
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/index.php
just scroll down the page, its easy to find.
you could also ask on these forums as well

http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/index.php

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/forumdisplay.php?f=3

keep us posted please
regards

bollie7

There is a bit of information about one model of Sebastian lathe with some similarities to yours here:

http://www.lathes.co.uk/sebastian/index.html

They mention that the headstock taper is 3MT, so it is probable as you suspect that your tailstock is 2MT, and not one of the other slightly different tapers which were not uncommon when your lathe was built.

Parts other than normal engineering items like centres, chucks etc.will be a problem unless you are lucky enough to find them second hand on American e-bay, but everything looks fairly simple and most bits except castings could probably be easily made. What bits are you looking for?

Frank

madmorrie,

There is a photo of a lathe the same as yours in Sweden which still has the original treadle fitted here:

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb...en-181473.html

Frank

I was looking for some more information on the sebastian lathe machine I bought yesterday in Dalarna in the middle of Sweden and when I found your forum I discovered this picture of exactly my machine. Its fully functioning and I got a whole lot of parts with it, but I would like to know how old it could be. The old man who had it before me only worked in wood with it and he used only on pedal while he was working. He was standing on his other foot. Does anybody know if you can work in metal only with man power? And is it common to use both pedals?

hansjoerg,

Welcome to the forum.

Probably the best place to find more information on Sebastian lathes is the Antique Machinery and History section of the Practical Machinist forum:

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb...istory-19.html

A search there produced 50 references to Sebastian lathes between 2002 and the present:

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb...archid=1709208

and several of the members there own them. If you post a query there, preferably including a photo of your lathe or a link to the topic which I gave in the post above, you will almost certainly get some answers to your questions. Sebastian lathes are fairly rare in Australia, so there will probably not be much information available from owners here, but there is a lot of interest in old machinery in the P M forum.

Several members there own other makes of treadle lathes too, so they should be able to answer your question about how they operate them. I have never used a treadle lathe, but have used a treadle operated grinder operated with one foot pedal. It was very slow and hard work grinding HSS lathe tools, but you did get used to standing on one leg and operating the treadle with the other eventually.

Frank.

Another one:

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb...he-185308.html

franco