Is it worth it

[COMachinist]

I been looking for a home shop lathe for a while. Found this Clausing with ever thing on the lathe bench you see. The owner is asking 1800.00 USD for every thin and the lathe. I have no idea is this lathe is worth that, or if it will do threading and stuff for the home shop. My other choice right now is the G0602.

Oh and this is only 40 miles form my home. So shipping or tax is not an issue.
Thanks for any help.
CH
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[Terrywerm]

Placing a value on a used machine is difficult, especially without the opportunity to examine it closely first hand. To give any kind of opinions (and they would be just that, opinions, not an appraisal) some more information would be needed. Even then, proper evaluation is nearly impossible, because some things have to be felt or checked with an indicator, not just looked at.

Swing of lathe
Length of bed (distance between centers would suffice)
Detailed photos of the ways
Detailed list of accessories.

From the photo it appears that this lathe comes with a 3 jaw chuck, two 4 jaw chucks, a faceplate, a dog drive plate, an assortment of collets (maybe not a complete set), a collet chuck, a drill chuck, and a quick change tool post. I assume that it probably comes with some dead centers, drive dogs, and live centers as well, but you will need to look.

This lathe does have a quick change gear box, so yes, it is capable of threading. I cannot tell from the photo if it has a taper attachment or not.

There are plenty of accessories which will help with the value, but the real indicators will be the condition of the ways, condition of the backgears in the headstock, and the spindle and spindle bearings. The ways should be smooth and free of nicks and gouges. The gears should not have any teeth missing. The bearings should all be smooth and quiet, and not allow and side play or end play in the spindle. The spindle should be free of nicks and gouges on the inside Morse Taper, and the chuck mounting threads should be clean a free of damage.

In addition, without cutting a test bar, it is impossible to tell how much wear there is on the ways. You should also check to see how much backlash there is in the cross slide and compound rest.

This lathe with all of its accessories might well be worth the $1800 that the seller is asking, especially if everything is in good shape and does not show excessive wear, but don't take my word for it, as I have not been able to give it a thorough examination. It might be a good idea to see if there is someone in your area willing to go with you to evaluate it.

If you choose to purchase this lathe, and it is in good shape, you will not be disappointed with it.

 

[Dave Smith]

CH--If the lathe is in good working condition and he is asking $1800 with all the extras--he will probably accept a little lower cash offer of maybe $1400 or $1500 cash---it is very close to you so that is worth a lot and it is worth $1500 for sure--I would make my cash offer fast or it will be gone quick---Dave

 

[rafe]

That lathe will do everything you need it too....limited only by the swing.....Can't really tell the condition or what all is on the table, so can't help with the value ....but if the condition is good and a lot of tooling is included ....$1800 is a fair starting point ....go look and see what he has to sweeten things up see it work if you can ....bring 1200 in one pocket 300 in another ....and the rest in your shoe
See Wermie's post ..There also appears to be a set of telescoping gauges....not real expensive but all the little things add up if you don't have them ...what's in the red box? Also has a quick change that's not cheap !!

 

[drs23]

So did you go get it/look at it?

 

[Pacer]

That would seem to be a Mark III Clausing possibly/probably from the 1940s - the Mk III was the top of the line in that series. I had one just like it from 1946, mine was a 12x36 so that one is most likely the same . Like SB and others there were 2-3 or more versions. What made this the top one was a spindle clutch - that handle with the round knob on the top of the spindle cover, this allowed you to disengage and brake the spindle without stopping the motor. A pretty neat deal but likely to have problems if never rebuilt - mine was trashed and it required making the parts from scratch. They are pretty nice lathes, at least comparable to a SB, and better than say an Atlas/Craftsman. Like most of the others in this grouping of lathes it is a bit on the light duty side, youre not gonna go taking big cuts. In other words it would make a good choice for a home shop.

I rebuilt mine from the ground up and sold it for $1800 in very good condition, so I would think this one is a bit on the high side - but with the excellent grouping of accessories its not far off. If you are really needing/wanting a lathe consider paying the asking price -- otherwise you are getting into the price range of a decent Chinese lathe and wouldnt be facing the unknown problems with an old piece of machinery.

 

[GK1918]

Is this worth it? $1800 bucks every two months for home heating oil and nothing to show for it- all up in smoke?

at least you can touch it, make things with it, even if it dont run, at least you can look at it, instead of smoke!

 

[COMachinist]

So did you go get it/look at it?

Get points all and I really want thank you all. Well the weather was great and I drove up and took a real life look at it this weekend. It is in a CNC shop and the owner said he uses it on regular bases to do small parts. Best as I can tell it is a Series 100 MK3 it has the V gear change front. I'm not an expert on how to check out a lathe but it seams to be fully working. It feels tight and everything moves smoothly. It runs fairly quiet with out any strange noises. I did not take a DTI or any test tools to measure anything. It does not have the cabinet like Pacer's but has cast iron legs. There is not a taper fixture on the lathe but it does have a QC tool post. I hoped he would take $1500-1600 for it but he was set on the price. I have a budget of 1500-1600. Grizzly G0602 was right in that price range and as bad as I hate to buy Chinese stuff it is in the price range with shipping to my shop door. I'm just a hobby machinist and there is a lot hobby machinist that use the G0602 with lots of neat mods for it. I don't plan to do any for hire jobs just home stuff.
Thanks again for all your input everyone.
CH

 

[COMachinist]

Well it looks like I'm going to bite the bullet on this one. He called and wants out of his shop and he came down to 1700 and he will load it in my pickup. for me. Yes it does come with the collets and the holder. It was rebuilt about 5 years ago. The commies wont get any more of my coin. The owner told me it will repeat to .001 and most of the time hold +-.0005. I'm not sure I believe that but. Oh and yes the clutch to disengage spindle works with out flaw.
So I told him I'll take it!
CH)

 

[xalky]

Well it looks like I'm going to bite the bullet on this one. He called and wants out of his shop and he came down to 1700 and he will load it in my pickup. for me. Yes it does come with the collets and the holder. It was rebuilt about 5 years ago. The commies wont get any more of my coin. The owner told me it will repeat to .001 and most of the time hold +-.0005. I'm not sure I believe that but. Oh and yes the clutch to disengage spindle works with out flaw.
So I told him I'll take it!
CH)

I think you made the right decision. It looks like it comes with a lot of tooling. It's a nice lathe. )