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Newby lathe advice needed
- Thread starter visenfile
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2013
- Messages
- 4,319
Used lathe prices are all over the shop, but don't forget the price of tooling. A well tooled lathe (3 + 4 jaw chucks, rests, tool post and cutters etc) will save you a lot of cash down the road and get you started right away, although to be fair most of the new import lathes are pretty well tooled as stock. A seig sc8 is a good looking lathe as well. Personally, unless I could find a well equipped lathe for <$1500, I'd seriously consider a new grizzly or PM lathe.
Again, a pleasure to see the supportive nature of this forum. No flame suit required. Good thing cause I don't have one.
LJP-Thanks. Impressed by your ability to move machines around. I will use pipe rollers and a cherry picker up to 1000 lbs? Kinda apprehensive @1500 lbs. What do
riggers charge to install?
David-Thanks . That chuck weight info helps. I can see why 6" may be popular.
dave2176-Thanks . I look closely at Grizz. The freight charge is flat in the US? They seem close to me (Seattle). Perhaps they recoup discounts
with standard fright fees.
mattemuppet -Thanks. The tooling I see on craigslist mostly looks beat up so be careful of "pig-in-poke," right?
LJP-Thanks. Impressed by your ability to move machines around. I will use pipe rollers and a cherry picker up to 1000 lbs? Kinda apprehensive @1500 lbs. What do
riggers charge to install?
David-Thanks . That chuck weight info helps. I can see why 6" may be popular.
dave2176-Thanks . I look closely at Grizz. The freight charge is flat in the US? They seem close to me (Seattle). Perhaps they recoup discounts
with standard fright fees.
mattemuppet -Thanks. The tooling I see on craigslist mostly looks beat up so be careful of "pig-in-poke," right?
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British Steel
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I'd say don't be.afraid of older, bigger lathes - my Holbrook weighs around 4500 pounds, scaffold pole rollers, a couple of prybars and a plant trailer behind a 4x4 made it easy to move - half an hour loading, 15 minutes unloading and.moving into place (aided by my son and one of his friends).
Fitting and removing chucks is a lot easier with Chuck boards (6x2 timber, with a radius cut to fit the chuck and bring it to spindle height, a v cut underneath to match the lathe ways) to line it up for fitting and save the ways from dents and dings, I made mine by rotating the head on my radial arm saw and pulling across the timber, quick and easy and.proved 2 feet of 6x2 CAN fly - then I decided to fit a fence for the second board...
Fitting and removing chucks is a lot easier with Chuck boards (6x2 timber, with a radius cut to fit the chuck and bring it to spindle height, a v cut underneath to match the lathe ways) to line it up for fitting and save the ways from dents and dings, I made mine by rotating the head on my radial arm saw and pulling across the timber, quick and easy and.proved 2 feet of 6x2 CAN fly - then I decided to fit a fence for the second board...
British steel, Thanks. I remembered your encouragement as I looked at machinetool.com's newest offering , PM 1440B with an 8" chuck . Dave Kirtley says that's
probably a 100 lb chuck. There's only me, the wife and a cat. Cheers.
probably a 100 lb chuck. There's only me, the wife and a cat. Cheers.
I was in the the same boat as you visenfile. I went as big as I could handle and install my self in the basement garage. It turned out to be a new well equipped 12x36 gap bed lathe delivered for under $4000. The lathe weighs around 1200 lbs. It was interesting to figure out how to move it around and hoist it safely but entirely possible with common tools and equipment. If you let us know more about your situation I am sure that you will get lots of ideas on that from the folks here.
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2013
- Messages
- 1,791
I have a 9x20 at home an big, bigger, and it will just keep the 3 jaw for ever big at school. I would say for me, it's way easier to use a decent sized to huge machine then the 9x20 and I am just learning. The little one works, but it's just seems like your removing powder coat with 200 grit.
Far as moving one, I moved this bridgeport a few 100ft on some rather thin wall tube. To make it real easy I used a strap around the base and a come along. Few cranks and rotate pipe. Used a engine lift to get it on the pipe and trailer. Pry bar to move it right up on the wall.
We have some pretty nice looking asian lathes and then the big beast of crusty rusty American. Out side of the fact you need fork lift to change chucks and be a weight lifter to move the tail stock more then 5 times, that old beast is hands down at the top of the list.
Far as moving one, I moved this bridgeport a few 100ft on some rather thin wall tube. To make it real easy I used a strap around the base and a come along. Few cranks and rotate pipe. Used a engine lift to get it on the pipe and trailer. Pry bar to move it right up on the wall.
We have some pretty nice looking asian lathes and then the big beast of crusty rusty American. Out side of the fact you need fork lift to change chucks and be a weight lifter to move the tail stock more then 5 times, that old beast is hands down at the top of the list.
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2012
- Messages
- 630
I'm really curious. I see everyone that enjoys the large lathes but honestly, how much of what you are turning that is that big? Not saying there are not reasons to have a big lathe, but unless you are building something specific that is large or running a job shop out of your basement it is usually just excess capacity.
If you are not going to be doing stuff that requires a large lathe, why mess with it? Mine is not that big but I can still pass 3/4 in through my spindle. I can turn things as large as 3 inches diameter in my chuck and as large as a bit under 7 inches on a faceplate. I have been turning things as long as 6 feet long Acme all-thread in my lathe. I honestly can say that I have not come up against much that I couldn't do with my little lathe.
The majority of what most people turn is pretty small stuff. Bushings, fasteners, shoulder bolts, tooling, a little work on the end of a shaft, a bit of screw threading.
If you are not going to be doing stuff that requires a large lathe, why mess with it? Mine is not that big but I can still pass 3/4 in through my spindle. I can turn things as large as 3 inches diameter in my chuck and as large as a bit under 7 inches on a faceplate. I have been turning things as long as 6 feet long Acme all-thread in my lathe. I honestly can say that I have not come up against much that I couldn't do with my little lathe.
The majority of what most people turn is pretty small stuff. Bushings, fasteners, shoulder bolts, tooling, a little work on the end of a shaft, a bit of screw threading.
I moved up to a 14"x40" from my 12"x36" solely because I needed a larger through hole in the headstock for larger rifle barrels. My lathe didn't come with a chuck, so I bought an 8" 4 jaw for versatility and have a 6" 3 jaw on order. My biggest problem right now is figuring out all of the speeds and feeds based solely on the chart, which is about as easy as beating Stephen Hawking at a game of chess with a handful of checkers....:rofl:
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2012
- Messages
- 793
My 2 cents is that you need a good idea of the work envelope required and go from there. There are a number of factors at play when choosing the size of a machine such as:
I agree with what David Kirtley is saying. Most jobs are small and you can get a very nice smaller lathe with a lot more features than a large lathe of the same cost (new that is). Most people under estimate small machines because they are used to seeing anaemic motors bolted to them. You can get small industrial lathes that will stake a hefty cut - you just have to know what you want and be patient. If you are looking second hand, then a lot of other options open up.
I was in your exact predicament as I had a small lathe and I desperately wanted to upgrade to a more rigid lathe that could handle heavier work. I ended up with this:
If I wasn't patient I would have settled for a lathe that was much lighter in construction. My advice to anyone just starting out is go as industrial as you can while sticking to a carefully decided upon work envelope. Your other machines will likely be used on the same projects so this rule will apply to the mill, bandsaw, grinder etc... I now have a shop that can handle work in the 11.5 X 20 range across all the machines. This makes it very convenient when moving a project from one machine to the next.
Paul.
- expected work envelope
- floor space
- transport
- available power
- tooling costs
- size of complementary equipment
I agree with what David Kirtley is saying. Most jobs are small and you can get a very nice smaller lathe with a lot more features than a large lathe of the same cost (new that is). Most people under estimate small machines because they are used to seeing anaemic motors bolted to them. You can get small industrial lathes that will stake a hefty cut - you just have to know what you want and be patient. If you are looking second hand, then a lot of other options open up.
I was in your exact predicament as I had a small lathe and I desperately wanted to upgrade to a more rigid lathe that could handle heavier work. I ended up with this:
If I wasn't patient I would have settled for a lathe that was much lighter in construction. My advice to anyone just starting out is go as industrial as you can while sticking to a carefully decided upon work envelope. Your other machines will likely be used on the same projects so this rule will apply to the mill, bandsaw, grinder etc... I now have a shop that can handle work in the 11.5 X 20 range across all the machines. This makes it very convenient when moving a project from one machine to the next.
Paul.