# Tool Restorations >  old bench lathe

## celsoari

Hello, my name is Celso and I'm from Brazil. I bought a lathe to reform and I don't know its brand and type. Can anyone help me with this information?
Attached photos
thankful
Celso Ari

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## old kodger

I don't know, but the metal badge riveted to it seems to carry the Mercedes logo. Perhaps that's a good place to start.

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## WmRMeyers

It's got double-V ways, similar to the South Bend lathes, which would be a very good feature. Doesn't look like it has threading gears, or much provision for them, which would be not so good, but not terrible, either. Any lathe is better than no lathe! If you're not already a practiced machinist, it could be a good machine to learn on, for not much cost. If you are a machinist already, you may find it frustrating, but you may also have more fun figuring out how to make it do what you want. Good luck in the restoration, and have fun with it!



Bill in OKC

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## JohnMTO

> Hello, my name is Celso and I'm from Brazil. I bought a lathe to reform and I don't know its brand and type. Can anyone help me with this information?
> Attached photos
> thankful
> Celso Ari



How about a high quality photograph of the tag? The one with the "Mercedes" symbol on it.

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## WmRMeyers

That might well be useful. Also, photos of any other markings you can find. Measurements of the through-hole in the spindle, the socket in the tailstock, center height above the bed, distances between the V's of the bed, and the front and back edges of the flat ways, and just about anything else you can measure might also be useful.

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## old kodger

[QUOTE=WmRMeyers;145717].... Doesn't look like it has threading gears, or much provision for them,...

Yes it has threading capability, first of all it has a lead screw, and all those open gears at the back of the head, are where you change gears manually to get different threads.
My first lathe was an old 7"x40" flat bed and didn't look too dissimilar to this lathe, you had to physically change the gears at the back to change the thread pitch.
A fair bit of calculation went into that. I did eventually buy a book on centre lathe turning which contained all the formulas for for that, but my workshop was burgled and one of the things "they" stole was that book

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## Hoosiersmoker

It appears it has an ST:B on the badge. From what I can find, Storebro is a lathe manufacturer and the initials seem to point that way. While I have not been able to find one quite like that one or a another picture of the badge, I do know that they have been in business since the early 1900's and they are actually in the town of Storebro, Sweden. I only had a few minutes to search but there may be much more info if you can find related information about the lathe. I am from the South Bend, IN area and had the opportunity to bid on items from the factory almost a decade ago. A lot of old lathes (such as South Bend) used to stamp the model numbers on the far right end on the bed. Maybe there is more information there? The fact that there doesn't appear to be much information on that particular lathe is a good indication you might have a real gem! Hopefully this helps you a little.

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Andres E. Romero (Nov 11, 2019)

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## Andres E. Romero

Hello Celso , i found this hope it helps .
STB Precision Bench Lathe
best regards Andrés from Bahia Blanca , Argentina.

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## Andres E. Romero

Perhaps is the same maker as yours , anyway on this site there is a lot of info about machines . good Luck Andrés

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## celsoari

the nameplate that appears refers to an importer of machinery, which closed shortly after WWII. I believe it is a European-made lathe made for this importer. Other than the nameplate I found no other markings, not even serial numbers. I believe it must be from the 1930s, and be a south bend clone, with some modifications. The handles are different and the covers too

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## celsoari

I suspect this lathe is a Portass. There are some similarities. The cover of the reduction train gears are identical. The support of flat pulleys is also identical.
however the bed and feet are quite different.

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## Hoosiersmoker

It appears you have a Brazilian lathe actually made by a company called Sociedade Technica Bremensis. I found an actual reference from a book called "Brazil In The Making" published in 1943. They reference them as a machinery manufacturer. (https://archive.org/stream/brazilinm...0jobi_djvu.txt) Again, given that there is so little information about the company or the lathe, you probably have, if not a great piece, perhaps a museum piece from the Brazilian Industrial Revolution. As far as being a South Bend Lathe copy, there were many similarities in lathes of the time as nearly half (47%) of the lathes in the United States and at one time were made by the South Bend Lathe Company. They started in 1906. Our company has a lathe from between 1921 and 1931, judging by the number only serial number 33807 (see pictures). To me, the drive belt tension system seems quite different but like I said in an earlier post, it could be a "Frankenlathe" built from different machines or different designs. Anyway, You might have an historical piece of machinery! Hopefully you can confirm some facts to be sure.

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Jon (Nov 12, 2019)

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## celsoari

> It appears you have a Brazilian lathe actually made by a company called Sociedade Technica Bremensis. I found an actual reference from a book called "Brazil In The Making" published in 1943. They reference them as a machinery manufacturer. (https://archive.org/stream/brazilinm...0jobi_djvu.txt) Again, given that there is so little information about the company or the lathe, you probably have, if not a great piece, perhaps a museum piece from the Brazilian Industrial Revolution. As far as being a South Bend Lathe copy, there were many similarities in lathes of the time as nearly half (47%) of the lathes in the United States and at one time were made by the South Bend Lathe Company. They started in 1906. Our company has a lathe from between 1921 and 1931, judging by the number only serial number 33807 (see pictures). To me, the drive belt tension system seems quite different but like I said in an earlier post, it could be a "Frankenlathe" built from different machines or different designs. Anyway, You might have an historical piece of machinery! Hopefully you can confirm some facts to be sure.



the bed of my lathe has no markings or serial numbers, at least apparently. I found this photo frame very similar to mine. do you have other views of him?
Looking at the lathes.uk link, I came across the Brown and Dandy lathe ("Brown" and "Dandy" Lathes) in chicago and also found similarities. what do you think?

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