home shop lathe

[WinterDeere]

Hey guys,

I lost access to the lathe I've been using for small projects over the last 15 years, and I've got enough small jobs on the horizon that I'd better get moving with a quick replacement.

I love the vintage old USA equipment, in fact I have a shop full of vintage woodworking machines, but I don't really have time for a restoration or repair right now. So as much as it pains me, I'm probably looking at import junk.

Any suggestions on where to start? Brands? Retailers? Looking to turn and bore everything from loader pins to aluminum cylinders of a few inches diameter (work stuff). Also looking for something that could make a poor-man's horizontal mill in a pinch, you know the old trick of putting an end mill in the chuck and your work on the tool holder.

I still use a commercial shop for most of my work, so this is really more for one-offs, prototypes, and repairs. Don't need much length, or even a ton of throw, but wanting see what's available before putting numbers to it.

Thanks!

 

[repete]

I make a lot of stuff in my Chinese Enco lathe. I last week turned a new piston for a hydraulic cylinder and turned the end of a chromed rod to accept the piston and nut.
The more time I spend machining the more I have come to believe a poor quality machine can produce reasonable stuff in the right hands. A high quality machine, in the wrong hands, can make junk.

 

[the old grind]

Tell us more about the lathe you're familiar with. Make, swing, chuck(s) length between centers, hp, speeds, whatever. It'll help us somehow, I'm sure.

IMO you could be good to go in the $2-5k range and hopefully including tooling, which can be half of it.

Opportunities exist and the more you shop new or used the better. Don't be in a rush to gear up and look for reviews, videos, forums on models your considering.

 

[bird dogger]

I have a South Bend 10K lathe and use it all the time.
One easy way to search for the brand/model/size of your choice is to "Search All of Craigslist"for your lathe preference. Then you can select to list the results by "Relevance" or "Date". If you select the "Date" option, the new listings appear first. The results will show up from any Craigslist add in the US.

You might get lucky and find some vintage old iron.....South Bend, Leblond, Monarch, etc. near you or within traveling distance. Even shipping can sometimes be reasonable for the right machine!

 

[pmsmechanic]

I looked for a used lathe for years and finally gave up on that idea. About 4 years ago I started to squirrel away a bit of cash when ever I could. Over the last year I was able to purchase a brand new lathe. I went against conventional advice (half lathe and half tooling) and bought what I knew I would be able to use. I can always add tooling etc as I need it but it's a big pain to realize that you didn't buy enough of a machine to begin with. The best advice I got was that I would always be able to sell a descent sized lathe but a hobby lathe would be harder to get rid of, if it came to that.

What I bought was a Modern Tool 14 x 40 with a 2" bore. It came with a QCTP, 4 holders, 7 ceramic bit holders of different styles and a DRO. I've since added a drill chuck for the tail post, a live center, center drill bits and some end mills. I have some measuring tools and will buy more as I need them. The same lathe right now is around $2000 more than I paid for mine so if I had to sell it there is a potential to come out ahead. Some days I question my sanity at what I did but so far I'm not sorry.

 

[MTGreen]

I think Grizzly is the way to go. Their stuff is made in East Asia but they are very good about ensuring quality control and parts availability. Many professional shops buy and run Grizzly machines. My primary lathe is an older Clausing but I've made a number of parts on my father's Grizzly "gunsmithing" model lathe (mostly because mine doesn't have metric threading capability) and it's a nice machine capable of keeping good tolerances. Were I in the market for a ready to run machine I wouldn't hesitate to buy a Grizzly.

 

[fatjay]

All is not lost. I picked up my lathe for $100 on facebook marketplace. It's in excellent condition and spindle is true. Super durable as well.

 

[rScotty]

I was looking for a nice home shop lathe when I ran across this light duty 12" Atlas with the factory underdrive and long bed. It came with a ton of tooling - 3 and 4 jaw chucks, all the manuals, quick change tool holders.... on and on. Like new condition.

It wasn't my first choice - I was looking for something more "vintage" or else more modern. I also like a lot of imporrted machine tools from Taiwan and Japan 30/40 years ago. I seems that any country on its way to becoming a modern industrial power needs to make a really high quality machine tools for their own industry. And as they do so, it is a natural for those tools to become a high value-added export for them. Much the same as we saw in small 4wd tractors from Japan and Asia where an industry developed for a domestic use became a good export item.

The Atlas 12" commercial 3000 series was made in England and sold in the US for many years. Ultimately Sears bought it - Back when the Craftsman brand meant good quality... not TOP QUALITY...... but very good quality for the price.

It is adequate for a home shop. For pins and bushings and making tooling it is perfect. It is more than accurate enough for small motor and pump rebuilds. I use it a surprising amount for cabinetry. A downside is that the bore through the headstock spindle is oddly small, which limits using long round stock. And the old lantern style tool holder and cross slide is not as rigid as it should be for accurate work. That means the micrometer cross slide dials are not dependable and that turning to a thousanth of an inch means constant stopping and measuring - but it doe have a rigid headstock with good bearings there. Upgrading to a heavy Aloris quick change tool holder really helped with the cross slide tooling rigidity.

The quick change gear feeds cover every common Imperial and metric threads.

Atlas 3000s are often inexpensive on the used market because of the flat ways - although that way geometry is a matter of preference as much as anything else on a home shop lathe. When new, both styles are equally good. The OEM bearings, gib adjustments, and bushings are first class throughout. Runs very quietly and powerfully on 110v.


rScotty

 

[5030]

O have one of them, fully tooled with Timken tapered roller bearings in the headstock. Got it cheap at an estate sale. Nice machines. Not as nice as my LeBlond Servo Shift however.

 

[solo machine]

I bought a Precision Mathews lathe two-three yrs ago. 14x40, 2" bore, DRO's, variable speed.
The cost has gone up. You can find good, low cost lathes around. Just a waiting period to find one.
I'm very happy with mine, and Matt is really easy guy to work with.
I always hated the small bore machines. At my old job we bought a Precision Mathews 16x50, 3"bore, DRO's
not variable but now we can cut metric threads. Before I would bring home any threading work needing done.
When the office people found out, they started looking to buy the company one.