Manufactured during the 1960s into the early 1970s, the Lombardo F2500 and SF1300 facing lathes were manufactured in Italy by Construzioni Meccaniche Lombarde s.n.v.Straniero & Crippa in Oggiono, a town to the NNE of Turin.at the tip of Lake Annone.
While the SF1300 was, in essence, just an ordinary lathe with a very raised centre height, massive construction and speeds and feeds ideal for large diameter facing work up to 1300 mm in diameter, the F2500 was very different. Built as a dedicated facing lathe, the F2500 could be built up in various, the standard configuration being an independent headstock unit coupled by drive shafts to two short, parallel bedways. The beds were spanned by a single very wide carriage that carried two independent compound slide rests. The two slides could work simultaneously in the same direction, in opposite directions or at right angles. The front slide (which was supplied as standard) could be rotated through 360° and had power feed through a travel of 700 mm in any direction. The rear slide was supplied at extra cost, was provided with just longitudinal feed and had a hand-operated tool rest and a ratchet-driven longitudinal travel.
An alternative configuration, listed as the F2500L, was a single central bed - again separate from the headstock - with, in front of it, the twin-bed assembly from the F2500. The various configurations and full specification of both lathes can be found below.