Metric Lathes in the USA

[Ray C]

Here's the official word on getting metric lathes through Precision Matthews...

We can in-fact get metric-only machines but, they must come from Taiwan. The Chinese factories have a minimum quantity of 10 machines. FWIW, this is how we ended up with a cargo container of metric machines not long ago. Matt had a special order for 2. He said 2 units -which translated to 20 machines. The Taiwanese won't customize our machines the we would like (he's working on it though) but, they will ship partial orders of the items they make available...



Ray

 

[David Kirtley]

I feel very comfortable with dials, but I appreciate DROs for their accuracy and would use one in production. Maybe it's a pipe dream to have a lathe in the United States with dials and leadscrews not based on the size of the king's toenails from the 14th century, but I still believe in my country!

Just another point of reference. I had converted my lathe over to metric. When I upgraded to a larger bed, I didn't bother. It really didn't make that much difference. I trust the dials to get fairly close but when I need an accurate dimension, I stick an indicator on the lathe. If I am doing something metric, I use a metric indicator and if not, I use an inch based indicator. No conversions necessary. Same with dial calipers. It wouldn't really make that much difference to me if the lathe had no dials at all.

Of course bikes are horribly mixed with inch and metric components. Headsets, handlebars, seatposts and such are all inch based but labeled with metric dimensions. You get stuck with things like 27.2mm seatposts for 1-1/8" tubes.

<just teasing here>

Of course it is much better to have measurements based on one ten-millionth of the length of the earth's meridian along a one fourth of the circumference of the earth in 1799. That is much less arbitrary and so easy to verify.

 

[LEEQ]

I think rough cutting your stock on a decent band saw or something else would alleviate the need to have the huge bore on a shorter lathe. That would make your lathe choices broader and consequently cheaper. If the business is a big success ( hope so)) you can afford to upgrade your equipment.

 

[David Lewis]

My mistake. For reference it wasn't a 9-inch lathe I used, but a 12 - a Clausing 100 MK3a, if I have my research down right. It's not mine.

I absolutely would not use it for production, but for playing around on it's probably okay. For facing tubing, it's maybe okay too, but I prefer four-jaw chucks and this machine does not have one.

On the other hand, I can face a tube with an end mill on my horizontal milling machine. On a complete bicycle frame, it may be necessary to do it that way anyway.