What are factors for what "class" of lathe to buy?

[skcncx]

On quick thought. I bought a 12X37 on a recommendation from a Tool and die maker, and I kinda thought he was a little crazy, becaue I wanted the 12X28, thinking my projects were mostly in the 2X2X2 envelope. Withing a year I was cantilevering the tailstock past the end of the bed to accommodate a wood turning project. A year later it was the same again for an aluminum project.

Since then, I've used the full bed length about 6 times. It saved me trying to locate someone else with a larger lathe to do my projects. This is over 43 years now. So the number of occurances is quite rare, but valuable when it comes up.

I have a friend that has a used Standard Modern 12X28, and he loves it - won't part with it, even though he has a 12X40 Colchester Toolroom and an Italian 16X50 lathe.

Yea, hard to know on length. The EISEN 1324 might be a bit short if I'm up sizing from my 618... but looks like EISEN has a 1236 w/DRO. Seems like they give you a bit more than PM... but it's similar, no drastic savings over PM's 1236T in the end... Still pushing the $8500-9K by the time it's shipped... For me the PM's are local pickup in an afternoon.

Basic knowledge, but I understand center to center length on these lathes to be the distance between tail stock (fully retracted inside the quill and the spindle nose on the headstock (not including any length lost from any chuck you have mounted.... Not sure how much you lose on a given 6" 3 or 4 jaw chuck with a D1-4 mount. I just subtract 8-12" from the stated spec when chuck and drill chuck in tailstock is in play (not including the given drill bit length stickout) for the max length of stock I can actually turn.

 

[Ischgl99]

For your uses, the 1228 is probably just fine and will last you years of service, we’re here to spend other members money vicariously while we dream of upgrading our equipment . I haven’t really heard much in the way of negative comments about that lathe. For me, the biggest issue was I did not want a DC motor. I have a lot of industry experience with VFDs and controls, so for me to add that to the 1236T was a no brainer. Saving a few grand helps pay for a lot of tooling too. As I mentioned earlier, I love my 1236T, but not sure I would have bought it at these prices.

The Eisen machines get very good reviews from users, and are the same machines as the PM 1236T and 1340GT, so there should be no difference in quality.

I can’t recall if it was mentioned in this thread or not, but there is someone here that made a rolling stand for either the 1236T or the 1340GT mounted to a rigid plate that could then be adjusted based on where he moved it in his shop. I don’t think he had storage under it, but if you haven’t seen that thread, it might be a useful idea to adapt to what you are considering.

 

[matthewsx]

This kind of decision may come down to what you're comfortable with in your budget rather than any technical issues.

400 lbs. makes a significant difference in capability no matter where the lathe was built. All machines will require some tweaking to get them where you want and if you can build a CNC router you are more than capable of installing a DRO or converting to VFD.

If I were in your position I would go bigger/heavier to have capabilities for the future. You can add accessories but not iron and none of us know the future....

John

 

[skcncx]

This kind of decision may come down to what you're comfortable with in your budget rather than any technical issues.

400 lbs. makes a significant difference in capability no matter where the lathe was built. All machines will require some tweaking to get them where you want and if you can build a CNC router you are more than capable of installing a DRO or converting to VFD.

If I were in your position I would go bigger/heavier to have capabilities for the future. You can add accessories but not iron and none of us know the future....

John

I hear ya!

Hypothetically... for turning aluminum, 2" diameter or less, say, 2" to 10" lengths... does a 800 lb. over a 400 lb lathe, all else being equal, change much? What I'm getting at is based on what you turn is there a point of diminishing returns on what the extra weight can do?

If you are slinging heavy objects I can see where the extra mass to dampen and absorb the cutting and rotation of a heavier mass is absolutely critical. Contrary to turning smaller diameter and lighter objects I would logically think that once you overcome a certain mass and rigidity of the lathe... more isn't of that much more benefit.. On my Atlas 618 weighing in at less than 150 lbs... seems like it has turned small stuff pretty good and by all means to anything in the 10x to 12x range... it's pretty darn light.

 

[skcncx]

For me, the biggest issue was I did not want a DC motor. I have a lot of industry experience with VFDs and controls, so for me to add that to the 1236T was a no brainer

I don't have any history either way... other than most cordless power tools the brushless dc motors are always an improvement, though a lot of that is better efficiency with the battery and other benefits are of no concern for a plugged in lathe of much different characteristics.

The BLDC thing on the PM1228 is how proprietary it is, how easy (or rather how hard) to replace when/if it brakes.... to bad they don't standardize some of this to make getting a replacement, throw away BLDC motor easy. I have purchased a few of the consew BLDC sewing machine motors (currently have one on my Atlas 618) and it's pretty good... if it goes bad, it's only $150 to replace. It's small, powerful and cheap to replace... but the electronics and mod of it is unlikely... I'm just glad I could put a potentiometer on it and toggle switch. Has good breaking when stopped on my Atlast 618.

 

[Aaron_W]

I hear ya!

Hypothetically... for turning aluminum, 2" diameter or less, say, 2" to 10" lengths... does a 800 lb. over a 400 lb lathe, all else being equal, change much? What I'm getting at is based on what you turn is there a point of diminishing returns on what the extra weight can do?

If you are slinging heavy objects I can see where the extra mass to dampen and absorb the cutting and rotation of a heavier mass is absolutely critical. Contrary to turning smaller diameter and lighter objects I would logically think that once you overcome a certain mass and rigidity of the lathe... more isn't of that much more benefit.. On my Atlas 618 weighing in at less than 150 lbs... seems like it has turned small stuff pretty good and by all means to anything in the 10x to 12x range... it's pretty darn light.

Mostly it is just how fast you can remove material. The bigger heavier lathe can remove more at a pass.

 

[matthewsx]

That and parting.

 

[matthewsx]

Yea, there is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to mass and rigidity but I doubt you’ll get there with hobby class lathes.

Also a big difference going from aluminum to stainless steel so materials have an effect too.

John

 

[matthewsx]

I have one of those sewing machine motors on my mill drill project. Think it will mostly be used for plastic and aluminum. Definitely a good bang for the buck but no comparison to a 3ph motor with VFD.

John

 

[skcncx]

Also a big difference going from aluminum to stainless steel so materials have an effect too.

No doubt, I've been in 6061 aluminum and some mild steel so far... my guess is on stainless DOC becomes less with a smaller machine. The price of material is starting to get frustrating as well... aluminum is crazy... not sure about stainless stuff.

Think it will mostly be used for plastic and aluminum. Definitely a good bang for the buck but no comparison to a 3ph motor with VFD.

My guess is the PM 1228 is more of a powerful BLDC sewing machine electronic setup (hyper specific for given lathe it's installed) overlapping feature for what's needed on a lathe, variable speed, breaking, reverse direction etc... but nowhere near the durability and configurability of a true VFD setup.

I spent $1500 for a Tecknomotor spindle and 110v Delta VFD on my CNC and have had zero issues since install... I plugged in the port to see all the config options via PC software and realized after 200+ settings... I just closed it and glad it's doing everything I need... like two operations, on/off and speed based on frequency output from my controller card.