Bench Top Lathe

[ham77]

What is a good bench lathe to buy. I will be using it for gunsmithing. Would like to keep price at 1500 to 2000. Thanks ham77

 

[wrmiller]

If you plan on doing long guns, I would recommend a 12x36 with a least a 1.5" bore. You can do with smaller but this seems a common size for hobbyist gunsmithing.

 

[mksj]

The price range will be a bit limiting for anything new, and then you need to figure the chucks, tooling, etc. which can be significant. Up front, probably look at the Grizzly G4003G or PM-1236, also a lot of interest in Quality Machine Tool's PM-1228VF-LB. The latter is not posted on their site, but there is a good discussion/specs of it in a recent thread. http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/pm-1228vf-lb.35363/page-4

 

[ham77]

If you plan on doing long guns, I would recommend a 12x36 with a least a 1.5" bore. You can do with smaller but this seems a common size for hobbyist gunsmithing.

I decided to go with the PM 1127VFLB put my order in today. Thanks all.

 

[wrmiller]

Nice choice. Of course we require pics and a write-up of your impressions.

 

[ham77]

Nice choice. Of course we require pics and a write-up of your impressions.

I will indeed do that . I have a lot of work lined up for this lathe can hardly wait to get it and put it to work. ham77