1955 Oliver 51A

[chad rheingold]

I have the opportunity to purchase a 1955 Oliver 51A lathe that runs, but would benefit greatly from a full restoration. Additionally, the lathe does not come with any face plates, centers or chucks. It appears to have a 1 1/8" 8TPI RH thread on the spindle and I should be able to purchase a chuck adapter from Oneway for my current chuck. I am currently turning on a Jet 1236 and this appears to be a great upgrade.

If anybody has any advice on the 51A or knows about the availability of parts, you input would be greatly appreciated. I did see that some parts are available from Eagle Machinery.

[Brian McInturff]

Chad,
Is the lathe single phase, 2 phase, or 3 phase? I bought a 51 once that was 2phase DC. Dangest thing I'd ever seen. Seems back in the 1930's places like Pittsburg had DC power in some areas. Best thing to do would be hangout a couple nights over at the OWWM. com site. You'll find parts for just about anything there. A great bunch of guys.
Brian

[Nathan Hawkes]

Also, believe it or not you might try Ebay. I've seen a few Oliver 51's over there, so parts might be available.

[alex carey]

what are the lathes capacities. Swing and bed? Why is it a better lathe. What kind of motor. I don't know those lathes that well, any more info on them would be nice.

[Mike Stephens]

Wow that lathe is a monster. Good luck with it.

[chad rheingold]

Guys -

Thanks for the suggestions. I have been looking on ebay and haven't seen much yet. The lathe was originally wired for 3 phase power and has since been converted to 220.

Alex - The swing is approximately 12 inches and I think the bed is 60 inches. The main reason I think it will be better than the Jet is the overall size and weight of the Oliver (600 lbs). It is also runs very quiet and I like the idea of restoring and turning on a 50+ year old lathe.

Thanks again and I look forward to being part of the Sawmill Creek community.

[Curt Fuller]

The old Oliver lathes are truly workhorses compared to most modern lathes. But they were built for spindle work and don't have the slower speeds or the swing that bowls turners like. They're very heavy and solid and were made mostly for industrial use. There's no problem getting chuck adapters and faceplates for the 1 1/8 x 8tpi spindle, I get mine from CraftsuppliesUSA. I think the 51's have a wierd motor that has 4 or 5 speeds and the speed is controlled by a contraption that you turn a wheel crank to change speeds. I know it's not a Reeves drive like my 159. I don't know much more about them but almost all of them are originally 3 phase 220v. With the unusual multi speed motor on the 51 that could be hard to convert to EVS or to replace with a single phase motor. Here's a good place to learn more...
http://www.owwm.com/home.aspx

or..

http://www.olivermachinery.net/info.asp?content=history

[chad rheingold]

Curt:

Thanks for the information. This lathe has 4 speeds, 600 RPM, 1200, 1800 and 3600. The motor actually has four separate windings - one for each speed and the motor shaft is the spindle. It appears that you can hook up an inverter for speed control. I'm sure there is a steep learning curve coming my way.

Thanks again