# Mazak Mate Lathe Bed Wear



## will.mcray (Aug 1, 2022)

I am looking at a 1973 Mazak Mate 1440 engine lathe and the pictures they sent me of the bed way closet the chuck looks like it has excessive wear. It could be me or the picture is just giving the illusion. What do you all see?

This is in a fabrication shop and they are the original owners of the lathe. The bed is hardened and ground.

Just not sure if it’s worth the 4 hour drive to look at it.











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## mmcmdl (Aug 1, 2022)

Pic doesn't show the bed !


----------



## mmcmdl (Aug 1, 2022)

FWIW , I have a 13" x 40 " and a 16" x 60 " up here almost ready to go . No wear on either . Heading down thru Fredericksburg in 2 weeks .


----------



## will.mcray (Aug 1, 2022)

Theee at two pictures attached. Do you see them?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## will.mcray (Aug 1, 2022)

Send pics and prices. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## mmcmdl (Aug 1, 2022)

will.mcray said:


> Theee at two pictures attached. Do you see them?


One pic shows the end of the bed , no other pic . Heading in to work .


----------



## markba633csi (Aug 2, 2022)

Only one pic showing, end of bed
Tapatalk can be problematic


----------



## Richard King 2 (Aug 2, 2022)

You need to tell us something about you, hobby or production work, what you want to use the machine for, the price of the machine, and provide us some photo's as the one you show us looks like the machine has been painted.  If you need a machine to do hobby type work and it is worn up by the chuck you can file the shaft to make it straight.  If your going to mostly use the lathe to do short shafts and not between centers then you can twist the bed out of level or alignment so the shaft will turn straight.   There are several tricks of the trade I could share to make an old worn machine useful but I need to know more what you need.  If you can't figure out how to attach more photo's you can email the pictures to me and I will put them on for you.


----------



## Aukai (Aug 2, 2022)

Page 5, and 6 have some pictures.








						So I bought the entire shop .
					

12,000 lb winch is mounted and the Kubota is ready to go on . I'll be loaded for bear tonight . :encourage:




					www.hobby-machinist.com


----------



## will.mcray (Aug 2, 2022)

Richard King 2 said:


> You need to tell us something about you, hobby or production work, what you want to use the machine for, the price of the machine, and provide us some photo's as the one you show us looks like the machine has been painted.  If you need a machine to do hobby type work and it is worn up by the chuck you can file the shaft to make it straight.  If your going to mostly use the lathe to do short shafts and not between centers then you can twist the bed out of level or alignment so the shaft will turn straight.   There are several tricks of the trade I could share to make an old worn machine useful but I need to know more what you need.  If you can't figure out how to attach more photo's you can email the pictures to me and I will put them on for you.



I added additional pictures (not using taptalk).  I intent to use for hobby work, but want a decent machine that I don't have to fight. They are asking $2k for the lathe with accessories.


----------



## will.mcray (Aug 2, 2022)




----------



## markba633csi (Aug 2, 2022)

I've certainly seen worse- I think for hobby use you would probably never notice the wear
Plus it looks as though the worst of the wear is out some comfortable distance from the headstock
Looks like that's a gap-bed lathe (thumbs up)


----------



## will.mcray (Aug 2, 2022)

markba633csi said:


> I've certainly seen worse- I think for hobby use you would probably never notice the wear
> Plus it looks as though the worst of the wear is out some comfortable distance from the headstock
> Looks like that's a gap-bed lathe (thumbs up)


it is a gap bed.


----------



## Richard King 2 (Aug 2, 2022)

It looks rough.  Yikes I haven't seen many Japanese machines that bad.  When you get it in the shop, wired up, cleaned machine and lubrication sump in the carriage, new oil, check the way wipers and then do the 2 collar test and see how bad it is.    



    then lets talk.  If your going to turn out of the chuck and not between centers you can twist the bed so there isn't a taper as Adam does.  If your going to use center to center turning you can only do so much.


----------



## mmcmdl (Aug 2, 2022)

I have a pic of bed/way abuse for a lathe . 2 years of neglect on a 13" Clausing . I'll send them to Mike and maybe he can post them .


----------



## will.mcray (Aug 2, 2022)

Richard King 2 said:


> It looks rough.  Yikes I haven't seen many Japanese machines that bad.  When you get it in the shop, wired up, cleaned machine and lubrication sump in the carriage, new oil, check the way wipers and then do the 2 collar test and see how bad it is.
> 
> 
> 
> then lets talk.  If your going to turn out of the chuck and not between centers you can twist the bed so there isn't a taper as Adam does.  If your going to use center to center turning you can only do so much.



Richard,

I have not bought the lathe. I wanted pictures of the lathe first beucase they did not provide any in their post that showed any wear points.  I requested specific locations of the lathe to view.  They seem not to be hiding anything and the for what they are asking they are being open kimono about the condition upon request. From the pictures, I wanted to make a decision whether to take the four hour drive to see it.  I noticed the wear immediately but wanted other eyes to look at them and validate what I am seeing. I know pictures can be subjective and my eyes are not getting any younger.  I think the bed is certainly a risk and who know what else hides within the functionality of the machine, tail stock quill wear, cross slide wear etc.  I think I have my answer and I should pass on this lathe. 

I do thank you for your opinion and the time to look over the pictures.

Will


----------



## mmcmdl (Aug 2, 2022)

Like I said , a 13" and a 16" are not far away . I have not advertised them yet , but I will in the near future . I just have to catch up on a few things . I will tell you , there is no wear on these lathes . Maybe Friday morning I'll get some pics of the bed and ways . If you have an HLV-H Hardinge lathe , I'm more than up for a trade as this is my goal .


----------



## Richard King 2 (Aug 2, 2022)

I read you or was it someone else saying you bought the complete shop, so thats why I wrote that..  That lathe bed is terrible.  If your going to buy it, plan on filing shafts a lot to get it close.  Japanese lathes are built strong and you can probably cut metric threads and Standard.  The owner knows the machine is in rough shape and I bet your the only one interested in it.  I would not pay much for it. $500.00 seems like a good place to start.


----------



## sdelivery (Aug 2, 2022)

I have spent the last twenty or so years on the road going from shop to shop repairing machine tools, many times I either make the part or rework the part on the customer's machines...many look just like that and are out there in production today making good parts.....most of machine work is the machinist.
Now being that is a quality bed that was heat treated and ground the bed is likely to be pretty accurate still except for the edges raised up by the chips that were inbeaded in the turcite under the slide.
Removing the slide the damage will be more apparent and might even need to be replaced.
That is not crazy difficult, Removing the raised burs on the bed way will take time because ideally you don't want to touch the non raised bur.
Being this is a Mazak, I would be all over it and with patience would be an impressive machine.


----------



## Aukai (Aug 2, 2022)

Richard, it was me that was commenting on Dave's purchase of the shop at his plant that closed. The equipment in the shop has age but little use because it was not a production shop, just a shop to repair equipment on the floor of the plant.


----------



## taiwanluthiers (Aug 4, 2022)

My victor lathe has extreme way wear from the tail stock being rubbed against the ways for who knows how many years. This is problematic when turning between centers, but I guess all this means is I would have to adjust out any tapers with the tail stock adjustment before I reach the final dimension. It's so bad that center drilling at certain positions becomes problematic as it would snap the center drills from being off center.


----------

