Buying your first a lathe...what you wish you knew?

I don't know if this helps, but.... I went round and round for 3 months trying to figure out what milling machine I wanted to get. It seems there were always pros and cons to every machine I looked at, too big for my shop, too small, gearbox vs belt drive, BLDC motor with proprietary controls vs AC with single phase and the need to go 3 phase and VFD if you wanted variable speed, it just went on and on. I think anything you get will be a compromise in some way, unless you have unlimited space and $$. I almost bought a machine that was the size I think I need (727/728) and then decided to go bigger just in case. I learned that hard lesson with lathes.
 
Skowinski said:
I don't know if this helps, but.... I went round and round for 3 months trying to figure out what milling machine I wanted to get. It seems there were always pros and cons to every machine I looked at, too big for my shop, too small, gearbox vs belt drive, BLDC motor with proprietary controls vs AC with single phase and the need to go 3 phase and VFD if you wanted variable speed, it just went on and on. I think anything you get will be a compromise in some way, unless you have unlimited space and $$. I almost bought a machine that was the size I think I need (727/728) and then decided to go bigger just in case. I learned that hard lesson with lathes.
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What lathe did you learn the hard lesson on?
 
Skowinski said:
I don't know if this helps, but.... I went round and round for 3 months trying to figure out what milling machine I wanted to get. It seems there were always pros and cons to every machine I looked at, too big for my shop, too small, gearbox vs belt drive, BLDC motor with proprietary controls vs AC with single phase and the need to go 3 phase and VFD if you wanted variable speed, it just went on and on. I think anything you get will be a compromise in some way, unless you have unlimited space and $$. I almost bought a machine that was the size I think I need (727/728) and then decided to go bigger just in case. I learned that hard lesson with lathes.
Click to expand...
I think even with unlimited space and unlimited money, you will still be compromising something. If there was one perfect machine out there that did everything without any compromise, every company would have a whole bunch of that one machine.
 
If I absolutely had to have a CNC lathe, I'd save up for a slant bed and call it done. But that's just me. ;)

(I probably couldn't save up enough for a slant bed though...)
 
aaronthemeche said:
What lathe did you learn the hard lesson on?
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First one was an Atlas 10100 6" baby lathe. Didn't know anything about lathes and it served it's purpose until about the 4th project I had, when it wasn't big or rigid enough. Started looking for an old South Bend 9" or 10" to restore and use. Found a nice 9A cabinet model which I bought and am now using.

Here I am 4 years after the time I brought that Atlas home thinking I'm going to eventually find a SB 10L or a 13 model, or maybe a more modern PM, or something like that.
 
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BGHansen said:
Or with a little convincing, might have gotten you into a 1660!

Bruce
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Naw, too big. But if I had the means, I might trade up to a PM-1440TL. That would be big enough (and them some) for what I do. Now if I could just get Santa to leave one under the tree this year... ;)
 
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