Help with lathe choice for my purposes (NS, Canada Stores?)

[great white]

Hello, new guy here.

I've been reading the forum all day and to be honest my head is starting to spin. Hopefully no one gets offended, but I'm going to do the "new guy looking for a Lathe" thread.

I'm not a hobbiest machinist, I machine for my hobbies like building cars and motorcycles. Currently, I use the machines at work and the ACS Techs let me do it with lots of supervision. Basically, they set it up and I run it while they do other jobs.

But I'm tired of asking and I'm tired of trying to get stuff done at work (where I shouldn't be doing it anyways). So a home lathe seems to be the solution.

The work I do is nothing really larger in OD than 6" (wheel rim spacers in 6061 AL), although I might have need of 8" (larger wheels). It's actually fairly rare that I work that big of an OD and usually am doing spacers/bushings in the 1-3" range. Length is rarely more than 2-4", but I can end up working on axles about 13" (motorcycle axles, steel). Almost everything I make is either AL or mild steel, have yet to have a need for things like brass or stainless but wouldn't mind trying to make a few projects like brass faced hammers or similar things.

I'm stuck in a single car garage, where all my tools and projects have to reside (there's a 1962 Thunderbird and 1985 VF750F Honda in there) so size is important. "Benchtop" is about all I can manage where I now (and will) reside. I can move 150 lbs around without a lot of trouble, but 300+ lbs is a bit too much. maybe 20 years ago I could swing around 300 lbs, not so much these days.

Lastly, I'm in Maritime Canada and would prefer to drive to the showroom and pick up a machine vice order one online. I'm currently in NL, but will be moving to NS (Annapolis Valley) in the next month. I wouldn't be adverse to driving as far as NB to get a decent machine.

It seems like I'm pretty much hemmed into buying from Busy Bee or maybe a King model due to my location. I really don't want to ship something like a lathe as it would likely cost as much as the tool. Shipping out of the states is definitely a deal killer, customs and shipping costs would be outrageous.

King Canada - http://www.kingcanada.com/Products.htm?CD=116&ID=2369 - seems to run around 2 grand at most places and the smallest they seem to sell is the 10X22" in the posted link. The size is nice (1" bore is also nice) but I find it hard to justify spending that much on the occasional use a lathe would get in my shop. The near 400lbs also isn't very attractive to me in my small space (hard to move around), although I understand the more weight more stable machine argument.

Busy bee has a store in Burnside (Dartmouth), or at least they used to when I lived in NS last time. The 7X12" they offer - http://www.busybeetools.com/products/lathe-mini-7in-x12in-1-2hp-cx-series-csa.html - is a CX704 (Craftex). The size is attractive for my small shop and the price is also attractive. However, I'm a firm believer in the "you get what you pay for" mantra and I'm worried it might be too small for my uses or.....well, "you get what you pay for"....:whistle:

Busy Bee also offers a 7X8" Craftex - http://www.busybeetools.com/products/lathe-metal-cutting-mini-metric-7in-x-8in.html- at a similar price, although I can't determine which is the better choice. Or if either one of them is the better choice at all.

Next up in the line is their 10X18", but then you're back up into the $1500-2000 range and lots of size/weight.

Then there's always used, but that's a "you get what you get" deal. I'm not adverse to buying used, and I've gotten good deals that way before on lots of stuff. But there doesn't seem to be much show up on Kijiji (Think: Canada's Craig's list) for lathes and anything that looks decent is usually quite expensive. One does show up from time to time that is worth a look, but it usually disappears like a f@rt in the wind before I can get a chance to even look. There's also the fact that I need metric threading for motorcycle work and older units don't look to be able to do that.

So it looks like I'm kind of hemmed in to the CX704 or the B1979C from Busy Bee Tools. I guess the biggest concern is whether or not the chuck and 1/2HP motor can handle a 6" OD chunk on 6061 AL, as that's the largest I'm likely to ever turn. I'm also having a hard time seeing the benefit of one over the other, if there is any beside the way length.

The length is sufficient for now and it's likely I'll never need more than the length they offer. It would just be nice to have the capacity ''just in case". I've also seen way extension projects on the forum and that would likely get me well out to where I could work axles and such. Extending the ways looks like a fun project in itself that I may do just because I can.

I've even toyed with the thought of risers to get a little bigger chuck on there or maybe more swing, but that's likely not going to be cost effective after buying an 8" or 9" chuck. Also, asking the 7" headstock and motor units to deal with it is probably not going to do much for accuracy or longevity.

Threading and eventually things like gears would also be bonus, but again, I'm pretty limited by my circumstances on the machine I can house.

None of these lathes seem to come with any accessories, so that's going to be added cost for sure. Unless I can make some of them that is.....:thinking:

A lathe is one of those things I don't need all the time, but when I do need one nothing else will do. That's also why I'm having a hard time swallowing approx 2 grand for an infrequent use tool. That much on a machine that would spend most of it's life idle would irk me, about as much as not having one when I need it. Talk about a catch 22.....

I would appreciate any advice anyone can give me regarding a lathe for my uses, keeping in mind the rather strict parameters (geography, space available, etc) I'm stuck with.

The more I type and the more I think composing this post, the more I think I'm probably going to have to go with one of the Craftex units.....

Advice?

Thanks in advance.

)

(sorry, that was a little longer post than I intended)

 

[David S]

Hi Bud from the Rock,

My friend went through this not long ago and was going to get one of the Busy Bee smaller ones 7 x 8 or 7 x 12. When he saw it he decided that the best thing was to jump up to the B2227L which is 10 x 18. I think 7 x 8 is pretty small by the time that you get long drill bits in the tail stock. I limits your work zone big time. I have an Atlas 618 and really like the 18" between centres. I have only used my friends B2227L a couple of times while I am helping him build a two place experimental airplane, but it seems ok to me, especially compared with my little Atlas 618.

If you are considering Busy Bee I recommend you go there and check them out.

This is a great question, and you will get many responses I am sure.

David

 

[great white]

Hi Bud from the Rock,

My friend went through this not long ago and was going to get one of the Busy Bee smaller ones 7 x 8 or 7 x 12. When he saw it he decided that the best thing was to jump up to the B2227L which is 10 x 18. I think 7 x 8 is pretty small by the time that you get long drill bits in the tail stock. I limits your work zone big time. I have an Atlas 618 and really like the 18" between centres. I have only used my friends B2227L a couple of times while I am helping him build a two place experimental airplane, but it seems ok to me, especially compared with my little Atlas 618.

If you are considering Busy Bee I recommend you go there and check them out.

This is a great question, and you will get many responses I am sure.

David

Given my druthers, I would go for the larger B2227. But twice the price, twice the weight and larger physical size are all negative points for me. Pretty big ones....

 

[David S]

Then I would say go for the 12" between centres. If you go to a store to look at it, take a drill bit that you might be using in the tailstock. Now I also have stub drill bits and screw machine drill bits that give me more work space and that could be an option if you have to bore a large hole at some point in the future.

Let's see if other owners contribute here.

David

 

[rmack898]

Given the work envelope that you have described, I think you might be a little disappointed with either of the BB units you listed. They both are limited to 2-1/8" swing over the compound, where the King will swing 6" over the compound. The King has a 1HP motor verses the 1/2HP motors on the BB's.

A 400# lathe is not as difficult to move around as you might think (2 strong boys from the neighborhood could put it anywhere you want). The King has a QC gearbox and the BB you have to change gears. Not considering cost, I think the King is a much more capable machine of doing the type of work you need to do.

 

[great white]

I was sitting here and started "upselling" myself to a 10" lathe when I remembered I'm also buying a new welder.

Wanting a millermatic 211, I realized that a 10" mill is going to cost twice as much (with accessories) as my welder and probably won't get 10% the amount of use.

It kind of put the cost vs return into stark perspective.

If the objective was to get a lathe as a hobby, it might make sense. But that's not what I want it for. I want to spin a couple small bits once in a while and it'll spend the rest of it's life under a cover in the corner. That just doesn't make sense.

I think I will keep watching the "buy and sell" places for a decent used unit. Maybe get lucky and another decent 10X36 QC Atlas will turn up or a southbend. Perhaps a used Asian mill like those I'm looking at new will pop up (not that it's my preference). Never know when someone will get tired of looking at that hunk of steel sitting in the corner of the shop.

For me, as much as I don't want to admit it, it just makes fiscal sense to buy used. Might even find a unit with most of it's accessories in the $500-1000 range.

Oh well, back to the classifieds......and another serving of patience.......

 

[drom68]

If the objective was to get a lathe as a hobby, it might make sense. But that's not what I want it for. I want to spin a couple small bits once in a while and it'll spend the rest of it's life under a cover in the corner. That just doesn't make sense.

Not trying to talk you into a lathe now, but once you have a lathe you will find that a lot more jobs will come up. Just saying….

 

[Maddogmech1]

Not trying to talk you into a lathe now, but once you have a lathe you will find that a lot more jobs will come up. Just saying….

+1 to that. When the machine is sitting there, and it's yours with no restrictions on when or how you use it, you will be looking for projects to do with it. Heck, maybe can even do some on the side pay jobs. My atlas QC54 sat for years after my grandfather bought it at an auction, he did a few wood projects on it. When he died, my father inherited it, and it sat in the barn for more years. At some point I needed to make a shaft for something, so I decided to try and do it on that lathe myself, I was hooked from the first curly to come off it. Now I can't imagine what I'd do without that machine.
To your problem, for $2k in the states you could buy a pretty nice used machine, heck I just bought a nice Monarch 10ee for $1k. I would def go with a used, atlas/craftsman lathes are on the cheaper end of quality lathes, but I've done a lot with mine, and it really has a small footprint for what it can do.


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[great white]

This thread kind of got orphaned, but to wrap it up I've bought an atlas 10x36 from the classifieds.

Just waiting to go pick it up.

 

[stupoty]

I'm sure were all looking forward to pictures when it arrives,

stuart