I want a lathe.........

[gearheads78]

Pretty sure my next shop purchase going to be a lathe. I don't know where to start. Use will be spacers, bushings, tooling for bead roller and general odds and ends in my personal garage building cars, trucks hot rods ect. I know I don't need anything huge (nor do I have the room) and not super concerned about being able to make parts to the .0001 clearance

The last time I used one is 25 years ago in HS shop class so my knowledge I still remember is very minimal. I keep seeing ones like this for sale priced $500-1000 I can fix / rebuild anything but don't want to end up paying $800 for $50.00 worth of scrap metal.

Any and all advise welcome.

 

[crguy]

Good old US made lathes like south Bend, Logan, etc. should work just fine for your needs.
The Atlas/Craftsman lathes have square ways and are considered to be a step down from the lathes with V ways.

 

[LXCam]

My first lathe was one of those POS HF miniature ones. I used the **** out of it and once I learned its limitations was able to make some pretty decent stuff, just not quickly. That one made me enough money to buy my next one, old american vintage iron that was completely wore the F out. But once again, after I figured out to work within its limitations made me enough coin to buy a almost new import brake lathe.

Most everyone here is going to preach buying old iron. But ****, it just doesn't make sense for most guys if your needs are minor and occasional. I know when I went looking for my second lathe, just about everything within my budget was clamped out ****. So what did I do, bought one with the intention of reworking it. Problem was I just didn't have time to perform all the details to make it a decent machine.

So point being, find what will do what you want for the price you're willing to pay and enjoy it. The beauty about most machining tools when bought second hand is you can normally sell them for what you paid later on if you want to upgrade.

 

[kabinenroller]

I bought my first lathe years ago. It was a small very old South Bend or Atlas. I fixed it used it and eventually found a little better unit and sold the first lathe for what the larger one cost. I repeated this over the years and bought and sold about four lathes to get the South Bend I now have. It is old but is in nice condition and I have accumulated quit a bit of tooling for it. I like the old equipment because it is built very well and will out last me.
Look for a guy who has a home shop that is moving or just getting up in age and would like the equipment to go to a good home. My area was a large industrial hub at one time so there is a good chance that someone has equipment hidden away in their garage or basement.

 

[larry_g]

Use will be spacers, bushings, tooling for bead roller and general odds and ends in my personal garage building cars, trucks hot rods ect. I know I don't need anything huge

Any and all advise welcome.

You were doing fine on the small lathe till you said bead roller... Now your talking some hard steel and what 4" diameter? This is horsepower and size. If your turning steel this big you have to have clearance over the cross slide, not over the ways. A 10" lathe is going to work you perty hard to get this done.

That said if you get a good lathe to learn on you will find as your skills improve you will be able to set your own standards of what you need in YOUR machine. Consumer lathes hold their value so if you get a fair price on your lathe you will be able to recover your investment easily unless you tear it up or way overpay in the beginning. Keep a lookout for a well tooled lathe package as tooling can easily double the your investment on a bare lathe.

On edit, it seems Jim above has traveled the same path I did, start with a learning lathe and trade up till you have what serves the needs of the shop. I think I have lathes 5&6 in the shop now.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[LXCam]

You were doing fine on the small lathe till you said bead roller... Now your talking some hard steel and what 4" diameter? This is horsepower and size. If your turning steel this big you have to have clearance over the cross slide, not over the ways. A 10" lathe is going to work you perty hard to get this done.

I don't completely agree. I've made several dies for my bead roller out of 6061 which have worked just fine. Granted they'll never last a lifetime, but have done what I needed the design for without issue. But the largest die my roller uses is 2.25" dia.

And he is right about the smaller machines getting worked hard if you're trying to take a heavy cut. You can make anything you want on a small machine, but you need to take your sweet *** time doing it.

 

[A_Pmech]

Those Atlas machines are miserable excuses for lathes.

Have a look for a Claus ingredients 5900 or similar machine. Not much more money for a LOT more machine.

 

[Jim Johnstone]

Those Atlas machines are miserable excuses for lathes.

Have a look for a Claus ingredients 5900 or similar machine. Not much more money for a LOT more machine.

Agreed. I've never been impressed with those atlas lathes.

Another good option would be a standard modern if you can find one. Excellent lathes, canadian made and parts available.

 

[gearheads78]

You were doing fine on the small lathe till you said bead roller... no neat sig line

I might be wishful thinking on that part. But still want to be versatile as possible without taking up 1/4 of my shop.

 

[gearheads78]

Those Atlas machines are miserable excuses for lathes.

Have a look for a Claus ingredients 5900 or similar machine. Not much more money for a LOT more machine.

Is this a good one? Wants $700.00 for it. Was his grandfathers that passed away and he knows nothing about it.

 

[Jim Johnstone]

Is this a good one? Wants $700.00 for it. Was his grandfathers that passed away and he knows nothing about it.

That's a REALLY tough call from just the pictures. My concern is how deep is that rust on the ways. Might be as simple as stoning the ways with a fine stone and some honing oil, or they might be pitted and garbage.

 

[larry_g]

Is this a good one? Wants $700.00 for it. Was his grandfathers that passed away and he knows nothing about it.

I'd suggest you keep looking. That is quite rusty and missing the selector handle. It is also a reeves drive machine which if working good is great but worn it is not so great. I looked at you local CL and one that looks to be the same machine fully restored just showed up. You can see some of the details the one you pictured is missing.

For a project/money pit it is a good start but I would not personally touch it. Hold out for one in better shape, with more tooling.

lg
no neat sigline

 

[S4cruiser]

Not necessarily close to you but this seems like a good deal!

http://greenville.craigslist.org/tls/5773555243.html

 

[Jim Johnstone]

Don't kow how far you are willing to travel, this one is in Oklahoma and looks clean.

http://tulsa.craigslist.org/hvo/5702614080.html

 

[pstemari]

...
The Atlas/Craftsman lathes have square ways and are considered to be a step down from the lathes with V ways.

Which is a polite way of saying that they are about as rigid as a wet noodle and a royal pita to work with. It's possible to do good work on small pieces with them, but in general I would steer clear of them.

 

[Whitworth]

I'd want a 12" or greater swing lathe to be standing at. 1000-1500 lb range. Either a good condition used or new import if you don't want a project. With used expect a fair amount of clean-up, adjustment, searching for missing accessories and dealing with 3 phase motors.

For me, (used) a newer machine with more modern features beats an old tin lizzy.

 

[mikegt4]

My advice is to not jump into buying a lathe without some knowledge of what you need to look for: make and model, wear points, accessories and tooling. Join some hobby lathe forums and read up. There are a lot of very good lathes out there besides South Bend which everyone seems to want and therefore you pay a premium for. Buying the wrong lathe (read cheapest on CL) can be a very expensive mistake.

I lucked upon a Weiler Matador a few years back, it was on CL for a week w/o any interest (again everyone wants a SB). I picked it up for the same price as a basic SB. Weiler is a high end German toolroom lathe on the same level as a Monarch or Hardinge.

Lathes.com is a great resource for checking makes and models.
http://www.lathes.co.uk/page21.html

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/forum.php
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/

Just for fun here is a Matador, more feeds, speeds and threads than I can use in a lifetime.
http://www.lathes.co.uk/weilermatador/

 

[gearheads78]

Not necessarily close to you but this seems like a good deal!

http://greenville.craigslist.org/tls/5773555243.html

That looks like a monster

 

[gearheads78]

Don't kow how far you are willing to travel, this one is in Oklahoma and looks clean.

http://tulsa.craigslist.org/hvo/5702614080.html

Not afraid to travel a little. Thanks for the link

 

[gearheads78]

My advice is to not jump into buying a lathe without some knowledge of what you need to look for: make and model, wear points, accessories and tooling. Join some hobby lathe forums and read up. There are a lot of very good lathes out there besides South Bend which everyone seems to want and therefore you pay a premium for. Buying the wrong lathe (read cheapest on CL) can be a very expensive mistake.

I lucked upon a Weiler Matador a few years back, it was on CL for a week w/o any interest (again everyone wants a SB). I picked it up for the same price as a basic SB. Weiler is a high end German toolroom lathe on the same level as a Monarch or Hardinge.

Lathes.com is a great resource for checking makes and models.
http://www.lathes.co.uk/page21.html

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/forum.php
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/

Just for fun here is a Matador, more feeds, speeds and threads than I can use in a lifetime.
http://www.lathes.co.uk/weilermatador/

Thank you. I am in my knowledge gathering phase. That hobby machinist looks like a great site. I registered just waiting on confirmation from an admin.

 

[G-ManBart]

Good old US made lathes like south Bend, Logan, etc. should work just fine for your needs.
The Atlas/Craftsman lathes have square ways and are considered to be a step down from the lathes with V ways.

I think the Atlas/CM also have bronze bushings for the headstock rather than bearings, right?

 

[Ign]

I have to agree SB's are over-rated and really just have a cult following. I like AP's suggestion of Clausing 5900 series. I'd be looking for geared head and QC gear box.

Monarchs, LeBlonds, Webbs, American Pacemaker (drool!!), and even *some* Acers (in the import realm) would be contenders. Personally, I skip over SB's.....you can generally find more machine for your $$ elsewhere. But I'm in the minority on that OPINION, and someone here will want to lynch me for having dared to utter such blasphemy......for the Branch South Benders are strong, and must wear Nikes as the comet passes overhead

 

[macgyver37]

In my opinion a new person to machining should get a machine that is both in good enough condition and large enough to accomplish a project without getting frustrated. If it is more of a chore to use the worn out or too small machine than to take it to someone else, then what is the point of getting your own? Most times though we have to learn this the hard way....

The problem with a small and lightweight lathe (doing normal size work, not miniatures) is that the person has to baby the operations because the machine is too small and you have to do weird setups that may not be safe or poorly held and it causes chatter or the part comes out or you run the carriage/tool post/cross slide into the chuck etc.

The other problem with a little (atlas/craftsman) lathe is they are typically not rigid, which means a person can't easily take the proper depth of cut to allow the cutter to do it's job vs pushing off and rubbing.

I have had 3 SB lathes, first one was a 9", then got a 14.5 and 18", they have all been upgraded to a higher class machine. For me the 9" was just too small to do the automotive/motorcycle type parts and tools that I wanted to do. It was fine for its size, but did have limitations. My favorite of them was the 14.5, it had the proper ergonomics and such, was just nice to operate. Made a ton of parts on that one.

One nice thing with a SB is that it has brand recognition so when you go to upgrade or get out of it, as long as you don't pay too much to buy it, you can easily sell it and get your money back. They are pretty common to find parts and accessories for them as well.
With that said, condition is more important than brand in apples to apples comparison.

 

[pstemari]

I think the Atlas/CM also have bronze bushings for the headstock rather than bearings, right?

Depends on the model. The 12" I had had Timken bearings. A bit of a pain to adjust, and changing the belt required pulling the spindle and therefore complete readjustment of the bearings. Older ones had babbitt bearing IIRC.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Ign]

And avoid thread-on chuck mounts.......as they said in South Park, "dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb"

 

[gearheads78]

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=331748

nice

 

[My Old Tools]

I have a nice 10" Sheldon for sale. D1-3 spindle, taper, Phase II quick change, follow and steady rests. Powered up and ready to test. 30 miles east of Dallas.

 

[My Old Tools]

Is this a good one? Wants $700.00 for it. Was his grandfathers that passed away and he knows nothing about it.

No parts availability for Delta Rockwell.

 

[gearheads78]

I have a nice 10" Sheldon for sale. D1-3 spindle, taper, Phase II quick change, follow and steady rests. Powered up and ready to test. 30 miles east of Dallas.

pm sent

 

[MDK22]

I would say South Bend or Bridgeport. Get one that is used you can normally still find parts or machnists can make parts for them because they are everywhere. They work good for someone doing small stuff at home. Make sure you get the metal cutting style. These are what I see on all the machinists forums for starter lathes.

Buy it used because of the name you can resell later once you have gotten things down and know exactly what is what. I would recommend 18+" because anything smaller then that is not that useful.

Also the motor and motor controls make the most difference on old lathes. You want something that has enough hp to power through things. The gears in the South Bend and Bridgeport are good the power is what is important. You also want to make sure you have your belts adjusted right and you are using good quality belts that are meant for the application.

If you get one that needs to be freed up Sili-Kroil by Kano Labs will do it. It is what i used to get my SB freed up. Took 1/4 of a gallon and 3 applications over a week and I also used a space heater and heat gun to help it along.

 

[Jim Johnstone]

I would recommend 18+" because anything smaller then that is not that useful.

Are you suggesting 18" between centers or 18" swing?

 

[ptschram]

Wow, all the years I've had my nine inch South Bends (I have three) and all the parts I've made, it's a good thing I didn't know all of the shortcomings they had.

 

[larry_g]

I have a nice 10" Sheldon for sale. D1-3 spindle, taper, Phase II quick change, follow and steady rests. Powered up and ready to test. 30 miles east of Dallas.

I have two Sheldons and will give them a good lathe to have. I've had Craftsman, a couple of Logans, and Emco, and Have settled on the Sheldons.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[K13]

And avoid thread-on chuck mounts.......as they said in South Park, "dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb"

My lathe (Logan) has thread on chucks and has been used by my grandfather, my father and myself for over 75 years with zero issues.

 

[MDK22]

18"+ between centers. Sry should have specified. Mine is either a 9" or 10" its currently buried in my parents garage from having moved back from virginia to help take care of them. Got it from my grandfather everything was seized. Silikroil fixed that. Before I had a chance to use it, it got buried.

I know it is good though being a mechanic and looking at how it all goes together you see right away its good. I used lathes a lot in highschool both metal and wood. I have been a mechanic/technician for 5 yrs now and my dad who was a millwright for 35yrs were both surprised when we removed the gear cover to lube it.

What ever you do don't get the Sili Kroil on the plate for switching between ratios it will take that paint right off.