Advice on lathe for home shop

There may be a backlash adjustment on those screws. If there was any more than a half turn of backlash in the nut it would mean that the nut is completely stripped out with no thread remaining. If you look close you may see that the screw is moving in and out while taking up the backlash, It is just not possible to have that much backlash in the threads. This may be a good bargaining point to get the price down a bunch.

It could be as simple as tightening up a nut on the end of the screw or adjusting preload on the bearings to remove its free play. But there should be an adjustment somewhere.

Once you have that adjusted then you can acess how much backlash is actually in the nut, It could be a nice little project to make new nuts if they are really needed. Always love the concept of a machine making its own replacement parts to make it better.

Unfortunately it is far away so not easy to go check it out further.
 
I don't see the worn screws and nuts on the cross slide and compound as much of a negative. Almost any size and direction Precision leadscrews and nuts are available from McMaster. I replaced the cross slide nut and screw on my Seneca Falls machine several years ago. In this case the original was a 7/16-10 lead screw that's now unobtanium. I found a 1/2- 10 nut and screw at McMaster. I had to reprofile the nut to fit the slide. I then cut off the old lead screw, bored out the threaded handle end, turned a short section of the new screw down to 5/16" and silver soldered it into the freshly bored section of the old screw. The whole job only took an afternoon, and cost less than $100.00

I used the 1/2-10 alloy screw, and platform nut shown on this page. Prices are up a bit since I did mine, but you can still do the job for a little over $150.00. Maybe you can negotiate the price down a bit to include the repairs needed.
precision acme lead screws | McMaster-Carr

On edit: I had a similar situation with the leadscrew on my Sanford surface grinder. In this case the only problem was the bolts holding the nut to the table had literally gotten so loose they fell out. The handle would turn more than one full turn until the nut wedged against a flange on the table. When going in the opposite direction it was the same thing. The only necessary repair was to remove the table, loosen the lead screw from the machine body, back off the nut, find the bolts, reattach the nut to the table and reinstall the screw. Sometimes you get lucky.
 
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Replacing lead screw nuts is a bit of a nuisance, but done with only a small amount of skill and fortitude.

It is an expected maintenance operation after X hours of use, depending on the machine. If the machine is great in all other aspects, it can be a positive: it devalues the machine (good for you) and is easily fixed ( also good for you).

It helps to have a friend with a metal lathe to help make the new one while the old lathe is disassembled.
 
This is good news on the cross feed and compound screws. I read a manual for the early series of traytop’s and there is a provision to adjust the backlash in both nuts. I’ve also read a few threads on practical machinist specifically about 15” tray top compound and cross feed nuts being fabricated by an owner who purchased a left hand acme tap and a hunk of bronze.

so if I can buy the acme screw and nuts from McMaster Carr for 100 clams and the. Add a few hours of my time to sort the backlash out how much should it reduce the cost of the machine? Its listed at $2250, the seller went to $2000 when I was showing him the backlash and telling him my concern about the wear in nuts. I’m inclined to offer 1500 and see what he says, I would want an 8“ three jaw on this lathe and its several hundred more out of pocket for one of those so id like to start as low as possible in the negotiations without pissing him off. if he’s gonna stick to his $2000 price point I’d prefer the LeBlonde, it’s sized better for my space and it’s in as good condition, and if I pay myself a reasonable wage to fix the Cincinnati I’m into either lathe for the same money. In fact I may have just talked myself into the LeBlonde (except it needs the DRO fixed..... )
 
GSweldmech said:
This is good news on the cross feed and compound screws. I read a manual for the early series of traytop’s and there is a provision to adjust the backlash in both nuts. I’ve also read a few threads on practical machinist specifically about 15” tray top compound and cross feed nuts being fabricated by an owner who purchased a left hand acme tap and a hunk of bronze.

so if I can buy the acme screw and nuts from McMaster Carr for 100 clams and the. Add a few hours of my time to sort the backlash out how much should it reduce the cost of the machine? Its listed at $2250, the seller went to $2000 when I was showing him the backlash and telling him my concern about the wear in nuts. I’m inclined to offer 1500 and see what he says, I would want an 8“ three jaw on this lathe and its several hundred more out of pocket for one of those so id like to start as low as possible in the negotiations without pissing him off. if he’s gonna stick to his $2000 price point I’d prefer the LeBlonde, it’s sized better for my space and it’s in as good condition, and if I pay myself a reasonable wage to fix the Cincinnati I’m into either lathe for the same money. In fact I may have just talked myself into the LeBlonde (except it needs the DRO fixed..... )
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You can get a nice new import DRO for $250 or less. High resolution scales and a nice display. So don’t let that be the only thing that stands between you and the lathe you want.
 
If it's good enough besides the backlash I'd say Bob's your uncle, go make a deal. When you get it all fixed up it'll be nice and tight and you'll have one more thing you've accomplished in your hobby machinist career. But, I can only wish that was all I needed to do on my machine so I might not be the best example.

www.hobby-machinist.com

Bolton HA330 Project

Finally had a chance to check out the lathe as yesterday evening was spent helping our daughter with student loans for her masters program. Stuff fits into one of three categories, bent, broken, and just needs improvement. There were a bunch of not very tight fasteners, I don't know if they...
www.hobby-machinist.com www.hobby-machinist.com

Sounds like you have an embarrassment of riches there with two good candidates in your price range. I probably should have held out for something better but when the Bolton came along and all it cost was a trade and moving expenses I had to jump. If you have the space for either my inclination would be to go bigger but those LeBlonde machines are mighty fine....

Even if you buy a brand new lathe you'll be going through it to make it as good as you need. A business that's moving should be motivated, throw them a low ball offer and see if they bite, that thing sure looks like it'll be too big for most hobbyists and a professional shop would have no interest.


John
 
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I'd see if he has any tooling that would work with it. Use that as well as the actual price paid. Taking his $2000 offer and getting him to add some tooling is likely to make both of you happy.

Reading through your posts it sounds like the Le Blond is a better fit for you. The Cincinnati might be a better deal, but so what if it won't make you as happy.
 
Dabbler said:
No need to bore your own You can buy a LG acme lead screw and nut from Roton Corp. Here's and example:

1/2 - 10 Left Hand Acme Lead Screws & Nuts for Power Transmission - Roton Products, Inc.

Shop 1/2 - 10 Left Hand Acme from Roton Products, Inc. View all of our products and shop online for your power transmission needs.
www.roton.com
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The problem as I read it off other threads on other forums is that the screws are 9/16-8 thread and the 9/16 diameter is not available. One guy special ordered a 9/16-8 left hand tap and fabled his own nuts. Another guy went to 5/8-8 rod and nuts from McMaster Carr and made new nuts and new screws . So it’s not as simple as modifying nuts from Roton (thanks for the link) it’s a full on rebuild with new screw sections retrofitted to the originals or machined from new screw stock.
if I’m pragmatic as the discussions stand right now the two machines are 500 dollars apart in price, factor in the cost of materials and my time and it’s very easy to choose the LeBlonde over the Cincinnati unless the seller is willing to reduce his price significantly below the price on the LeBlonde.
 
I would go to a few of the "professional" boards and ask opinions of both machines. LeBlond's are nice machines, but if memory serves correctly the hydro shift models can be problematic and expensive to repair. Having said that they are convenient to those of us who are inherently lazy.

I chose the Sheldon with a Worthington variable speed drive controlled by a 120 volt Merkle Korft gear motor and speed reducer assembly. The final drive speed of the assembly is 1 rpm. This unit moves the sheaves on the Worthington drive to change spindle speeds. It is an excellent and convenient system. The only downside is that it was built specifically for the Sheldon lathes and neither replacement parts or new units are available. Should it fail about the only way to repair it is to make parts or find a used unit from a machine that has been parted out.

I would contact LeBlond to see if parts for this particular machine are still available, and if so what the cost is.
 
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