Heavy 10 Good Buy With Bed Wear?

Just buy it, put it together and run it. I would not fret over any wear you see. Are you going to make high tolerance aerospace parts with it? Just run it and see what it can do, you might be pleased. I have seen the ugliest worn out lathes make better parts than a new lathe…Good Luck, Dave.
 
FWIW I have a clapped out 9a that I can work to .001 with if I'm careful, and sneak up to the final dimension. I stoned down the high spots in the bed, and took great care to get the tail stock dialed in, and it's more than accurate enough for me (slip fits, press fits etc). A clapped out heavy 10 would be a dream come true :)
 
I really like my Rockwell so far, but being unable to align the tailstock on it is problematic. This makes the Heavy 10 much more attractive!

I'm new, brand new, to lathes and metal machining so that's part of the reason I'm on the fence about this.

I just bought the Rockwell 2 months ago and have almost completed an overhaul on it including new feed nuts and a cross feed screw. The one thing I can't fix on it is the tailstock being to low. The tailstock is from a 9" or 10" South Bend and is shimmed with 1/16" of sheet metal and is still a bit low for the Rockwell. The only way to fix it is mill a new base or find the correct tailstock; I don't have a mill and haven't found a tailstock.

The Rockwell has variable speeds from 50-1500 RPM without changing any belts and has virtually zero wear except in the never oiled cross feed screw, it was dry as a bone.

The Heavy 10 has a larger spindle bore, and I don't have to fix a tailstock problem. On the other hand, it needs to be reassembled and I don't know the wear conditions of the feed screws. It also doesn't have a thread dial.


My intended use is difficult to say... Immediately, I have a few firearm suppressor parts planned as well as some barrel threading and misc. auto parts I need for an old project car.
 
Maybe you should not give up on finding a tailstock for your Rockwell, you already have it.
The heavy 10 would probably be a good investment for a part out if you are into that.
 
I haven't given up on finding a tailstock for the Rockwell but it may be a long time happening...
 
Bed wear is a huge concern. Ask me. I know :( The concern is not the wear itself. It is how it is worn. In my case, my saddle rocks corner to corner and causes a bumpy surface finish issue. Some adjustment can tighten it up, but the uneven surface removal drives me crazy. I have a flame hardened bed - is the one in question hardened or soft?

I was a noob to a lathe purchase, but got a complete lathe, tool package, newer motor ($350 by itself), and delivery for my purchase price. I'll be reworking this lathe since it is otherwise in very good shape (gear wear, leadscrew, etc.)

At $400 though, I'd be tempted to get it and have the bed reground (if hardened) and the saddle scraped and layered with Turcite. When you're done, the lathe will be great.
 
Well I bought it and had a couple friends help move it from place to place.

The bed wear isn't quite as bad as I remembered; somewhere around 0.010" I believe. I'll try and measure it soon.

It definitely has a D1 chuck/spindle, but I was wrong on the brand. It may be the original chuck, the marking is too faint to read at the moment. Of course, I couldn't get the chuck off either. The bed is also a 48" and not 36" like I thought.

Included for the price, were:
- 3-4" Starrett Micrometer
- 4-5" Starrett Micrometer
- Starrett dial indicator of some fashion in the wooden box with accessories and extra tips.
- Starrett 29* grinding gauge
- Starrett micro bore gauges
- A Victor? carbide insert holder of some size
- About 10lbs of brazed carbide & HSS tool bits and a few boring bars


As moved in, not reassembled:
IMG_20150318_210508149_1.jpg

IMG_20150318_210508149_1.jpg
 
Can you take a pic of the bed wear? I think you did just ducky... when I got mine I paid more and got less, and I'm perfectly happy.
 
I'll try for a pic of the bead wear in the morning. My phone camera wouldn't focus on it, so I'll try a real camera.

I think it's a lot less wear than I remembered, hopefully anyway. Worst case? I may have a machine to part out, dunno.
 
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