Safop lathes are manufactured by SAFOP S.R.L. in Castelfranco Veneto, Pordenone, Italy, a company that concentrates on medium and large machine tools and products for the railway industry. The lathes shown below are of the older, conventional "Leonard" type for turning and facing together with a special combination turning and grinding version. Able to handle jobs weighing up to 20 tonnes, the lathes incorporated many ingenious features, all of which are described in the pages below.
Still listed by the company, Leonard lathes are now CNC controlled and available in several specifications with a wide range of accessories and options available. Full details of Safop current machines are available on the company's well organized, well-presented and interesting website.
An older Safop lathe, probably from the later 1940s, can be seen at the bottom of page 2