Help with vintage metal lathe

[mthomasff]

I have an old metal lathe that belonged to my grandfather(he passed away in 1952). This thing is pretty big, at least 10 feet. I can only get to one end of it due to its current location in storage but I was able to find the following tag on it. " Manufactured for Bailey-Lebby Machinery and Supplies, Charleston,SC". I Googled it and came up empty. Any help or suggestions on where I may be able to locate an ID tag on it would be helpfull. FYI, my grandfather used this in the 40's to build a 1/4 scale steam locamotive, so it's pretty heavy. Thanks

[tp555]

You got to do more looking for mfg.Lathes are sized by chuck dia. and length of bed, eg 13x 40.This means 13" dia chuck and 40" length of carriage travel. Made for "Some company in SC" means that the lathe mfg would add a plate saying
who they made it for.You got to find something that tells where it was made like south bend, indianna.Chance are its probably at least 17" chuck with a 6foot
bed and has a foot brake.A big heavy mother to move and probably needs 440v
3phase electricity.Good luck.regards.

[WhisperFan]

It's funny, it seems with these older machines, the bigger they are, the harder they are to sell, and the less money they bring in for those that sell them. People with home workshops seem to want 12x36 to 13x40 lathes that run on single phase.

I looked into a phase converter when I started shopping for lathes, and quicky decided a 12x36 220v single phase was all I wanted.