Any FHC members that use a metal lathe?

I'm looking at a South bend metal lathe on CL, it states it's a lite 10, but from what I've read they have a rear mounted motor behind the head stock. The pics show a lathe with an under mount motor which would be a heavy 10. I'm waiting for the seller to get back to me. Here are the CL pic.

 

Looks to be in decent shape. Wish I could have found one like that for me.

 

I have no machining experience but want to learn, I don't know anyone with a lathe or mill.

 

close to the one I learned on, if you have the space and actually need to turn parts could be worth it.
Learning could be a bit frustrating with youtube - their really isn't a substitute for a true machining class, learning to cut/sharpen your own tooling = priceless

 

It looks clean. I have a 9" swing Southbend, good machine for what I use it for. Almost identical to that one but belt drive, rear motor. Little small for machining larger bar stock though.
What are you going to use it for?

 

Nothing in particular, no time at home to take a voc/tech class until I retire.

 

They come in handy, but it would be a good idea to get some tutelage. I use mine mainly for gun stuff, but also shop and home.
Made a little spring retainer for a kickstand for a customer the other night, we welded it on at the shop. Saved him about $100, he was happy.
edit- What extras does it come with? 3-jaw, 4-jaw? live center for tailstock? Steadyrest? Tool holders? Dial indicator? Stuff like that adds up in cost if you have to buy it later. JB

 

I guess I'm more fascinated with the machine portion of a lathe then what it's capable of doing, yes that's a little strange.

 

What they're capable of doing is grabbing long hair and ripping it out of your scalp. Or grabbing loose clothing and breaking limbs. They are perfectly safe to use if you know how, but it'd be best to find somebody to show you the ropes. At the very least, watch some youtube videos!

 

That looks like a Lite ten ( maybe a 9x36) a lot of schools had those in the machine shops back in the day. Early ones would be a back mounted motor flat belt drive that looks to be about a 60's unit- matching base maybe a v-belt drive. ( pic could be deceiving) Heavy ten are highly regarded- although most will have to be rebuilt and the bed ways scraped before any real meaningful work can be accomplished. Most of the bed wear will be in the first ten inches from the chuck- Bearing wear is much harder to check fastest way is to chuck a bar and take a medium cut and see how much chatter happens. They can be rebuilt enjoy a huge following- but isn't inexpensive to do so. Take a machinist friend along if you have one