I'm removing an old lathe and before I scrap it I'd give it away. It's late
19th century, has a Reeves three phase drive and babbitted bearings. We used it for rough work and grinding. It won't make watch parts very well but it'll bore a 4" hole in D-2. Gunner...come get it!
I get to buy a new lathe! I get to buy a new lathe! I get to buy a new lathe!
Gunner, I'd offer to drive, but... You do the math.
Doesn't even pencil out if you took your truck - even if you could carry a ton plus of cast iron cross country, which a Ranger can't. Hell, I might have to add air springs or overloads.
Google maps wants me to go to your house, then backtrack all the way back down I-5 and take the 210 to the I-15 - No way! Go straight across Taft Highway to US-99 to the CA-58, to I-15 in Barstow.
Once I fixed that stupidity, I-15 to I-70, I-76, I-80 all the way across. A bit too far North for my tastes at this time of year, two pairs of tire chains for a 1-Ton (245/75/16-E) will not be cheap. (Forward motion is nice, but I like steering control too.) Bruce's front door to Gunner's - 117 miles, 2-1/2 to 3 hours. That, we could do without breaking the bank or our backs.
Gunner's to Tawm's shop - 2,398 miles, 38 hours driving. 2 days of shift-driving it flat out, stop for gas and heartburn only. Three days if we stop and sleep, 4 days if we want to actually enjoy the trip. Each way.
I get 11 MPG combined - 14 tops on the freeway feather-footing it. Utility beds with a ladder rack have the aerodynamics of a brick.
2,515 miles from Lost Angels to Graft to Sin-cinatti and 2,515 back -
5,030 miles total. Good news, the Cruise and the Air both work...
275 miles safely on a fill, 300 pushing it, that's 28 gas stops. 420 gallons of gas round trip figuring 12 MPG, at an average of $3 a gallon = $1,260 just for the gas, best case.
7 or 8 days worth of food, tolls, motels, tickets, bribes in lieu of tickets, chains, a whole week blown staring at a windshield...
And I think it's due for a water pump or alternator or an idler, a bearing is getting loose somewhere. The serpentine belt tensioner pulley jumps in and out 1/8", just enough to notice...
yes yes ...but Bruce..its a 19th Century lathe with babbit bearings!! Think of its history, its blind devotion to keeping the world free from rust and Communists! The veritible image of hard work and dedication to the job at hand! It should be used as a model for every snot nosed little rug rat to explore, to learn about, to understand! Fresh paint, some work with scotchbrights and steel wool...a veritble Lady Liberty of the greatest industry the world has ever seen!! A hole punch of no other kind on the planet! A hard working hard core old bitch of the old school, never late to work, never sick, never too tired, only desiring to be lubed and put to work keeping America Free!!
Damit Bruce!!!!...you have no heart, no imagination...no..no..no Style!
Oh, I have a heart and imagination, and I certainly have had my moments in the Style category... But I don't have a lot of work at the moment either. Your idea, so you'd have to bankroll the bulk of any acquisition excursion.
If you have a job for that lathe, or a museum that wants to buy it and put it on display, and can get it shipped for less than the cost of the gas and incidentals to go pick it up and haul it home, go for it.
It's just WAY beyond practical to "go get it" cross country. Which is a shame, because there's probably lots of intersting stuff along the way. We could take Route 66 back... Damn you, no money!
Get Tawm to crate it up and shove it in the back of the shop, and see if you can get fortuousity to happen - when the LTL freight broker calls and has 10' open on a flatbed trailer headed this way, and he's willing to let you have it cheap.
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