Would you take this lathe if given to you?

bad_idea · Oct 10, 2012

We have a Grizzly DF-1237G lathe at the shop waiting to be disposed of. I asked the facilities manager and he said it would be perfectly fine to dispose of it into the back of my truck. I spoke with a machinist in the machine shop and he said it functions fine. I have absolutely no knowledge on lathes. At all. But I would like to have one and be able to make my own parts for automotive work and metal fabrication. Purely hobby use. Is this machine worth dragging home? It isn't terribly large, maybe 4-5' long, so it should fit in my garage decent. I wouldn't look for a lathe at this point in time, but free is free! Any idea on the weight of this lathe? I have an I-beam across the ceiling of my garage rated for 3800 lbs, but I would like to be able to drop this in the bed of my pickup. It doesn't look like it weighs much more than 800 lbs or so? Any good online sources of basic knowledge on a lathe? I know there is a fair chance the machine is 3 phase. I have contemplated building a rotary phase converter and this would be a good excuse to build one.

LGMechanical · Oct 10, 2012

I answered yes before I even read the contents of your post.

If you have the capability to move it, the room to store it, and the time to use it, it should be a no brainer. Have fun.

Jawn · Oct 10, 2012

You ****!

Yes, take it! If you don't have a place for it, feel free to dispose of it in my garage.

larry_g · Oct 10, 2012

Of course you should take it. Ask about though and make sure that you get all the chucks, steadies, and tool posts that may be part of that machine. Talk nice to the machinist and he may have some tool holders and cutters that he can let you have.

good luck with this.

lg
no neat sig line

Swan · Oct 10, 2012

WhoWhatNow · Oct 10, 2012

Hell yes!

ckadams00 · Oct 10, 2012

There are people who will badmouth Grizzly. Ignore them.
Yes.

Zeke · Oct 10, 2012

larry_g said:
Of course you should take it. Ask about though and make sure that you get all the chucks, steadies, and tool posts that may be part of that machine. Talk nice to the machinist and he may have some tool holders and cutters that he can let you have.

good luck with this.

lg
no neat sig line

Good points. You can go broke having only a lathe and no tooling.

930dreamer · Oct 10, 2012

Call the Grizzly Tech dept and maybe they can look up a manual at 570-546-9663. I called the regular dept and they couldn't look it up due to the age. :thumbup:

bad_idea · Oct 10, 2012

well, 3 yeses in the first 5 minutes! ok. I did some searching online and found it is the same as the grizzly G1003. I found a manual for the G1003. It weighs 850 according to the manual, I was close. It is also 110/220 single phase according to the manual, another plus. I will definitely talk to the machinist tomorrow. It may be a bit before I can drag it home though, the facilities manager has to run paperwork to dispose of it.

Any good online tutorials on how a lathe works and the basics of using one? I know enough about them to respect them. Anything that spins and cuts chunks of steel away deserves my respect.

Is the tooling for this lathe interchangeable with others? I don't even know what to call the items to ask if they work with other machines. From what I can gather in searching the web briefly, this is a lower grade machine. I am looking towards the future, if and when I upgrade machines, how much can I transfer to the new machine? I gather the tooling for a lathe is a good amount of the cost of owning/using a lathe.

Thank you for humoring my ignorance.

bad_idea · Oct 10, 2012

In the time it took to compose my reply, many more of you posted in agreement. Wow. Could you please educate me on these parts I need to look for? I really am 100% ignorant to lathes. I work in a fab shop, but mostly just structural steel. The delicate work I do involves the 2lb ball peen instead of the 4lb.

fomocoforrester · Oct 10, 2012

bad_idea said:
..... Any good online tutorials on how a lathe works and the basics of using one? .....

Check out this guy - Tubal Cain aka mrpete222 - he's a retired high school teacher and he's just the greatest for getting down to the basics of machining ....

ptschram · Oct 10, 2012

Zeke said:
Good points. You can go broke having only a lathe and no tooling.

But what a way to go broke!

I often hear this line and look around my machine shop and ask myself just what they are buying. If you are willing to use Chi-Com stuff, lots of tooling can be had cheap. If you gotta have Starrett, Palmgren and the like, yes, you can go broke.

I have three south Bend nine inch lathes and lots of tooling. I'm not broke (yet).

Take it!!!

ptschram · Oct 10, 2012

Before you do anything further, buy a copy of "how to run a lathe" by South Bend Lathe. There is NO better text.

fomocoforrester · Oct 10, 2012

ptschram said:
Before you do anything further, buy a copy of "how to run a lathe" by South Bend Lathe. There is NO better text.

^^^ This - but it was first published in 1907, so get the 56th edition published in 1966 or later ( if there is a later one ....

).

mrbreezeet1 · Oct 10, 2012

Take it

ar2stp48 · Oct 10, 2012

Another YES; why haven't you gone to pick it up.

And with your luck, stop and buy a lottery ticket

larry_g · Oct 10, 2012

A lot of the tooling outside of the steady rests will be mostly universal to other lathes in the similar size range. Cutters, tool posts, and even some chucks will be useful on your next lathe. All the measuring tools, drill chucks, centers and such will move to other machines. Consider this lathe as a learning tool and if it does real good your good to go. If you learn that soon you've outgrown this lathe or it no longer will hold the tolerances you want then it has served a purpose.

lg
no neat sig line

Jarhead0408 · Oct 10, 2012

This sounds like your arch nemesis....."good_idea"

Sureshot · Oct 10, 2012

You will find all kinds of things to tinker with. I bought a well used machine and will upgrade when I move. I found that it is the limits of what I can do. I may do a rebuild but it is bigger than what I really need. I have a precision level if you need but you can likely borrow one from your shop.
I got a copy of a Sandvik catalog and just browse at times learning the different tooling. I am sure your shop or a supplier would have one for you. I bought all my tooling on Fleebay.
Have fun.

03protege · Oct 10, 2012

Uhh you really had to ask? lol

At the very least even if it turns out bad I am sure you could get a few hundred for it or just scrap it.

chevy3755 · Oct 11, 2012

i say yes ...without even looking at it........

A_Pmech · Oct 11, 2012

I have an extreme dislike of Chinese machines, but you can't beat free with a stick!

:thumbup:

bczygan · Oct 11, 2012

Here are some free copies of How to Run a Lathe:

http://www.wswells.com/data/htral/htral_index.html

Take as many parts off of it as you can before transport and strap it securely. Here's a thing I wrote about how to disassemble a South Bend lathe for moving. May not be totally applicable but might help some.:

http://bluechipmachineshop.com/bc_blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/How-To-Disassemble-a-South-Bend-Lathe-for-Moving.pdf

woody 73 · Oct 11, 2012

If I were in your shoes that lathe would be in my garage asap! What a fantastic way to learn and have fun doing it for FREE... Don't worry where it comes from Chinese, japanese,Korean,Mexico,philippines,India etc. it is a FREE machine run with it!

Years from now you can trade it in for another machine of your dreams. :beer:

bad_idea · Oct 11, 2012

bczygan said:
Here are some free copies of How to Run a Lathe:

http://www.wswells.com/data/htral/htral_index.html

Take as many parts off of it as you can before transport and strap it securely. Here's a thing I wrote about how to disassemble a South Bend lathe for moving. May not be totally applicable but might help some.:

http://bluechipmachineshop.com/bc_blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/How-To-Disassemble-a-South-Bend-Lathe-for-Moving.pdf

I plan on removing the lathe from the stand and transporting it like that in the bed of my truck. I have an I beam in the garage rated to 4000lbs and the lathe only weighs 850. Not a real problem to move it assembled. Do you have a reason other than weight to disassemble it? If I don't have to take it apart, I won't. I really am going to have to get creative on where to put the damn thing though! It is almost 6' long. I don't have that kind of space in my garage. Can it be put in a shed with a wooden floor? I am planning on building a shed and thinking it would be easiest to stick it out there. Probably jam it into my garage for now and move it to the shed later? Sigh. I need a bigger garage.

fomocoforrester · Oct 11, 2012

A wooden floor might be a problem, depending on how it is constructed.

Bear in mind when you are setting up, it's not that critical when you are leveling the lathe relative to the horizon - you could achieve that with a carpenters level. What is absolutely critical is that you get the ends of the bed level relative to each other across the bed. In other words you are getting any twist in the bed down to an amount that requires the use of an engineers precision level to achieve.

If you are not confidant that the wooden floor can keep the bed from twisting, you may need to consider installing concrete pads.

BTW - this is based on the assumption that your lathe doesn't have a three point mounting system as used on some lathes installed aboard ships.

OccupantRJ · Oct 11, 2012

Link for you to peruse.

http://www.americanmachinetools.com/how_to_use_a_lathe.htm

geojag · Oct 11, 2012

Sounds like it is a lot better than your last lathe....
A free lathe would be awesome, endless hours of fun no doubt.

bad_idea · Oct 31, 2012

Dragged the lathe home today. Being Halloween, I had enough time to set it in place and go in the house to spend time with the wife passing out candy (gotta keep the wife happy). Will get some pictures later and give the lathe a once over, see how it works, figure out how to work it, etc, etc. My new toy barely fits in the garage! UGH! I need more space.

Would you take this lathe if given to you?

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