Are Good Used Lathes Like Unicorns?

MtnBiker

MtnBiker

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Got back from visiting a "7/10" Mori Seiki MS 850. Local machinist. On this peach we had an inoperative brake, a threading handle that needed a cheater bar to engage, a cross slide that slid nice one way and felt like it had rocks inside in the other direction, and a carriage handle that seemed to hang up on each tooth. The tailstock spindle had at least 1-2 mm of play. The same machinist showed me .0001" tolerance aerospace fittings he was cranking out on his Hardinge chucker (which wasn't for sale unsurprisingly).

The more I look local (here in AZ) and extend out to CA even, the more I'm seeing the reason why people make new lathes. The value just seems entirely used up. Factoring in reconditioning after the sale, I'm most of the way to a PM-1640 (or equivalent). What am I missing? I want to learn how to use a lathe, not how to rebuild one. I know I live in a literal desert, but the landscape for machine tools seems much the same. Not seeing the value on the used market. Anyone else have the same experience?
 
I think the answer to your question is "yes". I looked daily for over 2 years and could not find anything close to the balance of price, condition, proximity (100 mile radius) and features that I wanted. Ended up getting the PM1236T and my only regret is not making that call sooner.
 
The answer to your question is YES.
As others have pointed out, Unicorns that fart pixie dust into a rainbow are much easier to find.

Seems like everyone recommends Precision Matthews, but I just purchased an Eisen 1440 lathe for about $3k less than a PM. Same machine except for the spindle bore size.
 
I live in the same machinery desert, and only 2 hrs north of the REAL desert.
I searched for, and lusted after, a decent lathe and mill for years.
I was getting really close to heating my credit card to the melting point, but I could not commit.
I did, finally, commit to building the 'boot money' to a useful value.

Being able to haul ass to the machine with CASH in hand made the difference for me.
I followed Craigslist like a nut, and when the machine came up, I got in the truck and WENT.

It really did take 2 years, but I regret nothing else......
 
MtnBiker said:
Got back from visiting a "7/10" Mori Seiki MS 850. Local machinist. On this peach we had an inoperative brake, a threading handle that needed a cheater bar to engage, a cross slide that slid nice one way and felt like it had rocks inside in the other direction, and a carriage handle that seemed to hang up on each tooth. The tailstock spindle had at least 1-2 mm of play. The same machinist showed me .0001" tolerance aerospace fittings he was cranking out on his Hardinge chucker (which wasn't for sale unsurprisingly).

The more I look local (here in AZ) and extend out to CA even, the more I'm seeing the reason why people make new lathes. The value just seems entirely used up. Factoring in reconditioning after the sale, I'm most of the way to a PM-1640 (or equivalent). What am I missing? I want to learn how to use a lathe, not how to rebuild one. I know I live in a literal desert, but the landscape for machine tools seems much the same. Not seeing the value on the used market. Anyone else have the same experience?
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I bought new because I was anxious to get cutting. Even then, there was plenty to do (rigging, leveling, flood coolant, cleaning off “cosmoline” and more).

+1 on the PM-1440 idea. I bought a PM-1660TL & I am super happy with it.

My friend just bought a used lathe, and it has multiple issues that he needs to work through before he can get cutting.
 
The funny thing here is that every person who chooses to buy a new machine helps to solve the problem mentioned in the OP: the purchaser of the new machine is good to go right out of the gate AND leaves one used machine (that he would have bought if he chose used) out there in the used machine population.

Down the line, when the purchaser of the new machine moves on from that machine, you add one more used machine to the used machine population.

If everybody started buying new machines, you’d see the prices of those used ones coming down real fast!
 
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@MtnBiker - I can definitely sympathize with your plight. I'm OK myself, but have been on the lookout for a lathe to suggest for a friend in Surprise. No joy. Pretty slim pickin's out here!
 
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