[Lathe] Morey No. 3 Turret Lathe: Buy, Or Not?

Mr.Haines

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I found a lathe that could potentially be perfect for making the blowpipes I'll be using for glassblowing, as well as the other tools I need. It has been described to me as a Morey Number 3 Turret with adjustable auto feed. Seller says it has four foot long ways and that I can work a 16" wide piece. This thing is really big, much bigger than I was looking into, but the price is right and bigger is probably smarter because I'll probably need longer blowpipes and Pontils than I'm anticipating. The plan is to visit the machine sometime this week.

Can you guys give me an idea of what I'm really looking at here? Again, I'm a newborn machinist, so even inane info is helpful.

The machine comes with 2 chucks, a bunch of collets, and other tooling/accessories.
 
While I'm not familiar with that particular lathe I will say from personal experience that you can never go wrong buying a bigger machine than you think you need. A big lathe will do everything a small lathe will do. Ideally it will have a steady rest as you'll need it for turning long stuff and big steady rest aren't cheap. I frequently see 16" lathes sell for less than 10" lathes at auction simply because the big machine is a pain to move but that's generally a one time expense.
 
If you have the room and the price is good ...and it comes with the accessories you need. And ,as you say, it will do what you need ,why not. Post some photo's after you see it and throw out the price and
you will get a better idea of it's value. Good Luck. I don't know of the availability of parts for it though, or accessories if you need them. But it still might be a great deal!
 
Mr. Haines, while the Morey No 3 lathe you are looking at is a really nice machine, you need to consider what this machine is to be used for, before you buy.

A turret lathe is the todays CNC lathe of yesteryear. A turret lathe is designed and was used as a production lathe to churn out parts on a repetitive basis and could quite easily produce 20 times the parts that an ordinary lathe could, per day, with an experienced lathe operator driving the machine. Once the tooling of the turret lathe is set up, it only took a few minutes to spit out a completed part, with the operator having to make the least amount of movements to change tools, spindle speeds and to carry out measurements, as all final machining operations would be done up to positive slide stops.

In contrast, the ordinary lathe would require a lot more operations and would take a considerably lot longer time to machine the same part to the same tolerances, as the number and time that it takes to change tools, spindle speeds and measure things is a lot longer.

While I'm not trying to put you off buying the Morey No. 3 turret lathe, unless you plan to churn out the same parts on a repetitive basis, you may be better off buying an ordinary lathe. Just my thoughts on the subject. Geoffrey.
 
mor4.jpg Hi from Mike

I just picked up a Morey 2G lathe today .. for free

The data on it says built for War Dept. 4/43- made in New York

Not sure of its rpm range . I'm not familiar with these turret lathes at all , its a strange beast !

It probably got here to Australia under the Lend Lease scheme in WW2 - making munitions

Did anyone find a manual yet ? Mike mor3.jpg
 
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I like my Gisholt #5 Ram Turret.
Like yours, she is a specialty machine and not an engine lathe.
Sometimes I covet the floor space and think about selling her for scrap, as the current market doesn't value these artifacts of power and beauty.
I am still learning to use mine and am slowly tooling her up (on the cheap).

Good luck finding any literature. My cursory search didn't even acknowledge Morey. That doesn't mean you wont find lit, or that she isn't going to work well!

Daryl
MN
 
perfect for making the blowpipes I'll be using for glassblowing
Mr, Haines, Nammer's Morey has a bar feeder, meant to push a bar (repetitively) into the work space, to make (relatively) small part, one after the other. If yours is so equipped this might be an advantage to you making blowpipes and punty rods. You will be working on the end of a four or five foot long piece of steel, The left end needs to be confined so it won't whip around as the chuck turns, this bar feeder will serve that purpose, whereas a headstock even 18 inches long won't keep the blowpipe from whipping.
 
Well, the price was right. And a good size for a semi home shop turret lathe. Good luck!!
 
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