New Lathe, Wabeco D4000E

[strandbygaard]

I just acquired a new lathe, a Wabeco D4000E, for turning small parts in my prototyping business. It's basically a beefed up mini lathe (8x14, 2HP, 160lbs), it's "Made in Germany", and the make and quality is fantastic.

In Europe the availability of machinery, new or used, is not nearly as varied as in the US, and consequently a decent quality rebranded import mini lathe is almost $2000. The Wabeco is approx. $3000 so that makes it a very attractive alternative.

Some pictures since these don't show up that often:







I put a few more words on it here: http://blog.offcuts.dk/2014/01/06/new-lathe-wabeco-d4000e/

 

[wrmiller]

Very nice! I drooled over the Wabeco mill and lathe for a long time, just never came up with the money for one when I had the space (or I had the money and no place to put it). It was either going to be one of these or a Myford back then.

I have heard very good things about the quality and accuracy of these little German machines. Have fun!

Bill

 

[samthedog]

I started with an Emco Maximat V10 when I first got into the machining hobby and was looking at the Wabeco milling machines. Lovely units and fantastic quality. Congratulations on the lovely little lathe.

Paul.

 

[Ray C]

Nice, very nice. Would you mind showing close-up pictures of the tool holder?


Ray

 

[valleyboy101]

Like Ray C says' I too would like to see more of the tool holder. One question, does it have change gears for thread cutting? Beautiful looking machine with a first quality fit and finish.
Michael

 

[wrmiller]

I've seen that tool holder on larger machines. It's a multi-position tool post. Something like 30 positions every 9 degrees or something like that.

My friend has one of these on one of his lathes, a KDK on the other. I've not seen either since.

I've also noticed upon closer examination, that the saddle/crossfeed/apron design is remarkably similar to that of my SB 8k. Interesting.

Bill

 

[rebush]

I have a D4000E also. Fantastic machine and very accurate. I'm sure you'll enjoy using it. Roger

 

[strandbygaard]

Nice, very nice. Would you mind showing close-up pictures of the tool holder?


Ray

Here u go.

The tool post design is less common than the typical Aloris-style QCTP. The finish of the tool post and tool holders is very nice for an import item. The 12mm size I have retails around €400/$600 with 5 tool holders in EU.

I opted for this type of tool post since it's indexable with a fairly good (claimed 0.01mm) repeatability. I have some parts that have shoulders and tapers cut with dedicated tool bits set at specific angles. I just set aside the tool holder with tool bit mounted, and then those operations become pretty much set-and-forget. So far that has proven very fast and effective to hold the +/- 0.06mm tolerance I need on those parts, so I'm happy

It's 40 position / 9 degree index.

I do think the dovetails on an Aloris-style QCTP provides a more rigid setup, so if heavy cuts were important to me, I might have opted for that design instead. That being said, in my tests I had no problems with chatter in >2mm cuts in a piece of 25mm/1" free machining steel, which is far more than I expect I'll ever need. Wabeco actually claim a 5mm cut in a 50mm/2" steel bar, but that just doesn't seem proportionate for a lathe this size.

 

[strandbygaard]

Like Ray C says' I too would like to see more of the tool holder. One question, does it have change gears for thread cutting? Beautiful looking machine with a first quality fit and finish.
Michael

Yes, it has change gears for thread cutting. My parts are always designed so threading operations can be performed with taps or dies.

Still dreaming of that >500kg lathe that gives me power feed separate from lead screw, cross slide power feed, and electronic lead screw Unfortunately there's no way to get something that size and weight into my shop.