What Lathe Would You Like to See Built?

gregdammit!

Registered
Registered
Joined
Dec 31, 2013
Messages
17
Hi folks,

I'm new to the forum, so forgive me if this has been covered in the past (and please point me in the right direction if it was).

Let me set this up, after owning a 7x minilathe for the last ten years, i spent about a month and a half checking ebay, craigslist and any other classifieds that i could find for a small hobby/garage metal lathe. During that time i did a lot of research as well. I noticed every used amercian or new chinese lathe that i found lacked a feature or two that another might have, but was lacking elsewhere. i finally settled on a HF 8x12 as the best bang for my buck with most of what i was looking for, but it got me thinking...

what would i really want in a home shop/hobby lathe? what would you want in the same? i know many time i've owned something that i really liked but thought "if only it had this". i'm a designer by trade, so when i get some spare time, i could possibly model "our" lathe up for all to see. i figure this could be kind of fun and give us all a chance to dream a little. let's put our heads together and see what happens.

so, a few parameters to get things going. I'm thinking around/under $1500, small enough that a guy and a buddy or two could move, large enough capacity to be useful for potentially light industrial work... you get the picture, let's try and keep it at least in the ball park.

i understand that no one machine will ever do everything that an operator wants it to (without a lot of figuring out work-arounds) or will be perfect for every application (say gun smith vs. tooling maker), but let's see what we can come up with.

keep in mind that this is lathe currently doesn't exist, it's not a debate about who already makes or made the best. this is a clean sheet design and it's up to you to pick the features that are important to you. be specific where you can, saying "a wide bed" isn't nearly as helpful giving an actual dimension. belt driven, geared head, quick changes, power cross feed... let's hear what you have to say.

thanks for your time, i look forward to hearing from you guys. if nothing else, this should be interesting...

let the games begin!
 
I dont think the perfect 'anything has been invented'. Each one is has the good and bad. Go get ya self some real USA iron, they are out there.
these things won the war right. Many run today. 1500 bucks will get you into the real stuff. Learn it use it. My living comes from way past
the 1950s. they work and work but its all in the operator. South Bend Logan things like that. Go once get it. and I cant tell you who made the
best. I say anything made back then rules, and why cash regester still a rinnin..........................!
here is a 1918 Greavs Klusman mfg. 1918.

make sense 'hah

9124093963_903b4f3d92_s.jpg 112-1263_IMG_2.JPG
 
If you were starting from scratch, I would say to get rid of all the legacy stuff. Beefy (and replaceable) linear rails for ways. Synthetic stone casting for the bed and headstock. Variable speed brushless spindle motor. Electronic synchronization instead of change gears for threading and feed rate. Built in support for CNC use. Provision for taper and pattern tracing. Built in DRO and electronic stops. Long cross slide with t-slots that could actually be used for some reasonable milling.

I don't think size matters as much (I keep telling myself that.) Something in the 8x20 (or 30) range hitting about 250 - 300lbs would be a great size bench lathe.

I think that it wouldn't be hard to hit the $1500 price point but knowing how these things go, a company would try to sell it at 5-8K.
 
Thats a great plan for a machine, from a Machinist/Engineer's standpoint, I like it. Marketing would probably ruin it by jacking the cost up. For my 2 cents worth I would like to see tooling, fixtures, chucks & collets that would be made for the machine, similar to what Joe Martin at Sherline has done, but a heavier machine. I love the little Sherline machine tools and a big part of that is due to the wide range of tooling that is available for them. Aside from that; I would like a variable speed drive, 110 volt single phase (obvious, but it needs to be said). The ability to cut threads too, a threading gearbox would be good, lots more fun than changing gears for different feeds and pitch. An oversize spindle bore, seems like I often need to put something through the spindle and it won't fit. This would make for larger spindle/headstock bearings too.

I apologize if that was more than 2 cents worth.
 
If you were starting from scratch, I would say to get rid of all the legacy stuff. Beefy (and replaceable) linear rails for ways. Synthetic stone casting for the bed and headstock. Variable speed brushless spindle motor. Electronic synchronization instead of change gears for threading and feed rate. Built in support for CNC use. Provision for taper and pattern tracing. Built in DRO and electronic stops. Long cross slide with t-slots that could actually be used for some reasonable milling.

I don't think size matters as much (I keep telling myself that.) Something in the 8x20 (or 30) range hitting about 250 - 300lbs would be a great size bench lathe.

I think that it wouldn't be hard to hit the $1500 price point but knowing how these things go, a company would try to sell it at 5-8K.

That's all fine and dandy but have you ever replaced those linear rail we use blow the bearings up on a regular basis. Yes they are super fast but they wear out quick, you can get a lot of life out of the old iron and if your worried about spindle speeds with all the motors out there now you can change it out. We had an old Lucas Boring mill that was sent out to restore and update it cost almost as much to rebuild it as a new one but it was a solid machine not weldments so it was worth the money.

Todd
 
  • Gap bed to allow large faceplate turning
  • Large dials and a DRO
  • Coolant recovery system
  • electronic microscope mounting system
 
That's all fine and dandy but have you ever replaced those linear rail we use blow the bearings up on a regular basis. Yes they are super fast but they wear out quick, you can get a lot of life out of the old iron and if your worried about spindle speeds with all the motors out there now you can change it out. We had an old Lucas Boring mill that was sent out to restore and update it cost almost as much to rebuild it as a new one but it was a solid machine not weldments so it was worth the money.

Todd

But the whole idea of this was to design from scratch rather than just to recondition or duplicate an existing design.

Replaceable rails and bearings are somewhat pricey but it is going to be more reasonable than what we have now which amounts to disposable machines. Bronze/Oilite bushings on the rails would last well and not be that expensive to change out. Yes, they would be consumables but for a small machine for either a hobby or small shop, replacing them is not that bad compared to getting someone to come in and scrape or send a machine out for grinding. Just pop in the replacement bearings and you are back in business.

It is not just the spindle speeds, it is also efficiency and durability along with being able to go with variable speed. Small machines would be best with brushless motors. They sell 1000 W brushless motors for sewing machines for under $150 with controllers.

On many points, the cast iron is not a bad material but how many places will treat them properly in production and let them sit for months or much more like they did when the old machines were built? Also, the support resources for casting is not readily available as it was back when we had big foundries. Once you have them cast and seasoned, then you need very skilled labor to machine and fit them properly.
 
if i understand this right, you want to know what we would want in a "fantasy" lathe.
nobody said qctp yet, guess thats assumed standard. big hole spindle, power cross feed, variable speed(maybe with a tach?),dro. just off the top of my head. i really like david's threading idea. design it with upgrades in mind, like cnc equiped, easy to add tpg, taper attachment, things that you can add later to keep the initial cost down, but simply add on later easily. how'd i do?

- - - Updated - - -

coolant sytem was mentioned already, how about a lighting setup?
 
If you were starting from scratch, I would say to get rid of all the legacy stuff. Beefy (and replaceable) linear rails for ways. Synthetic stone casting for the bed and headstock. Variable speed brushless spindle motor. Electronic synchronization instead of change gears for threading and feed rate. Built in support for CNC use. Provision for taper and pattern tracing. Built in DRO and electronic stops. Long cross slide with t-slots that could actually be used for some reasonable milling.

I don't think size matters as much (I keep telling myself that.) Something in the 8x20 (or 30) range hitting about 250 - 300lbs would be a great size bench lathe.

I think that it wouldn't be hard to hit the $1500 price point but knowing how these things go, a company would try to sell it at 5-8K.

Didn't think of the stone castings (how would that work?), but had pretty much everything else in mind for a hobby lathe:

Beefy BLDC 1.5 to 2 hp variable speed spindle drive 50-2500 rpm, electronic leadscrew or linear actuator for variable feeds/threading and cross feeds, 3" of tailstock travel, 1.25" spindle bore w/D1 3 or 4 spindle mount, slotted cross slide, 8-9" swing, 20-24" between centers. 300-400 lbs.

If I could find a machine like that, with my lathe's quality level (which is pretty good, but not great), I would pay 5k for it. I came as close as I could with my current lathe, and am adding variable speed functionality to the leadscrew as soon as I design the motor mounting and leadscrew coupling. Changing gears is too old school for me... ;)

I've had similar dreams for a more high-tech version of my bench mill... *sigh*

Bill
 
This is great... Thanks guys, this is how i was hoping this would go! Good ideas all around. Your ideas can be as traditional or as non-traditional as you like (the man made stone is definitely an interesting concept). I'm a big fan of what I refer to as "eminent rebuild-ability", so anything that can keep costs down and maintain your core investment is a good thing. Example: older Harley engines had removable lifter blocks in the engine case... once they were wore beyond the ability to use "over sized" lifters, you removed them, replaced them with new and started back at zero. New Harley's have the lifter blocks cast integrally to the cases, once they're wore, the cases are junk.

I also love the idea of "upgradability", parts and accessories that actually fit because, well, they were made to.

let's see if we can nail down some of what we have already...

for those that said DRO's, where would you like them to be placed? on a plaque on the headstock or next to the handles?

for those that said a large bore, how does 2" sound? i know to a certain degree we're limited to what can pass through the chuck, we may have to design a new chuck as well or at least decide on what would be a good average size and go from there.

for the QCTP, are there any preferences? piston or wedge? I'd have to say for a lathe this size, having it set up for a drop-in off the shelf wedge type AXA would be great. Does that sound good?

Keep going, don't be afraid to dig deep on this one... what mods have you made to make your lathes more user friendly and or capable?
 
Back
Top