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Copyright Tony Griffiths 2025
This material written by and the copyright of Tony Griffiths (© Tony Griffiths), 1998 - 2025. All rights reserved, worldwide. Material may not be copied nor reproduced in whole or part without written permission from the author
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The American South Bend 9-inch lathe, and its tremendous success as a general-purpose workshop lathe can gauged from the number of copies produced: English ones by Smart & Brown, Boxford and Ace; the Australian Hercus, Sheraton, Purcell and Parkanson (the latter the brand name of Theo. Park & Son, Engineers ,Melbourne); the not-uncommon Swedish Storebro, Blomqvist and the much rarer Asbrinks from the city of Malmo. Only one Asbrinks has come to light - and that in Liverpool, England (could it have been smuggled off a Swedish ship. In Brazil, three copies were made: the Sanches Blanes, Joinville, and Boffelli & Finazzi. In France, the UFP was produced, and from Argentina, the S.R.L. San Francisco (CBA) and Industria Argentina. Other copies were the mysterious NSTC (probably American, but about which nothing is known) and the Brtish "Unitol", a name more often found on a version the Heavy-10 and 13-inch - but perhaps these were South Bends just rebranded with the Unitol name cast into the iron cover that guarded the belt running from motor to countershaft. Versions of the lathe, although not exact clones, were manufactured in Taiwan, branded (possibly by a single maker) as the Select 618, Fragram LHB 108, and David 400. Incredibly, having started life in 1933 as the soon-to-be-improved Model 5, the lathe was to continue in production into the 21st century with an improved copy of the late Model 10K (from the 1950s) being built in China and sold by Grizzly. -
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Site Updated Saturday, 18th October 2025. Copyright Tony Griffiths