Are Good Used Lathes Like Unicorns?

I've been lucky and found two good lathes worth the money. This thread reminds me about meeting a guy the other day who is fixing a crankshaft for me. He's been looking for another lathe for polishing cranks and found one on Craigslist. Told the seller what time he would be there and left. When he got there, he watched the lathe leaving on another trailer.

The seller didn't realize he was loading the wrong buyer. The person who actually bought it ghosted the seller and never made any contact. He just happened to show up a little earlier. The seller felt terrible and offered to pay for his fuel. The seller assumed the wrong seller was the guy he was talking to because the buyer showed up around the said time and had a trailer. Some people just have terrible luck.
 
I'm about to have a lathe that would be good for polishing cranks. The gap broke and I don't know that it'll ever come back to me in one piece or three.

Yes, Unicorns are way more common.

John
 
I just spent some time with a 21x40 owned by a machinist acquaintance of mine. He picked it up used a few years back. Says it's the best manual lathe he's ever operated. I'd have to agree - like buttah. So...I've seen a unicorn and they are real (though maybe bigger than I expected).
 
Right now, in my area the machine shops seem to be
dumping the big manual machines on CL, while hobby sized machines ( say 12 inches or under) are
pretty rare and it can take a long time to find anything worthwhile. I noticed that the guys that council
patience on buying older machines are almost always folks that already have a lathe or two in their
shops already. It's tough for the new folks and first time buyers.
 
Nogoingback said:
Right now, in my area the machine shops seem to be
dumping the big manual machines on CL, while hobby sized machines ( say 12 inches or under) are
pretty rare and it can take a long time to find anything worthwhile. I noticed that the guys that council
patience on buying older machines are almost always folks that already have a lathe or two in their
shops already. It's tough for the new folks and first time buyers.
Click to expand...
Yep. That's my impression as well. Sometimes you just need to learn how to run a lathe. For me, $20K all up for a new, top quality machine is not in the cards right now (lots of other stuff to buy). Shopping for something used, excellent and bigger seems a whole lot more fun if you already have something in the shop.
 
@Mgdoug3 I had a similar experience with a milling machine... Before I had one I found out by word of mouth about a 1940s swiss made milling machine, 9X34 similar to the Mako VF1, fully tooled, collets, rotary table... I just had to wait for him to finally stop using it. He refused to let me come down until he was ready... Every 3 or 4 months - for the next 2 years - I'd phone, and it would be "soon..."... The last time I called he sounded confused as he sold it to me a week before. The guy claimed to be me, and even used my name. I think he told his friends that it was promised to me and let leak out my name. Since he never saw me, the guy who showed up used my name and bought it. For 2000 bucks. Sigh.

One month later I bought my first mill.
 
To show that unicorns do exist, I just kept shaking my head - this guy has platinum horseshoes in an unmentionable place!

 
Nogoingback said:
Right now, in my area the machine shops seem to be
dumping the big manual machines on CL, while hobby sized machines ( say 12 inches or under) are
pretty rare and it can take a long time to find anything worthwhile. I noticed that the guys that council
patience on buying older machines are almost always folks that already have a lathe or two in their
shops already. It's tough for the new folks and first time buyers.
Click to expand...

It might also be the fact that the people suggesting patience have been down that road. When I started looking for a mill I was mainly interested in a fairly new Tree brand machine model 2UVR, . I spent well over 2 years searching through various online and printed adds. I found over a dozen machines, but they were either worn out, had little or no tooling, or were outrageously expensive.

I conferred with several machinists at work and they suggested I broaden my search to include Logan Excello, Wells Index, Acer, and Bridgeport among others. I took their advice and continued the search. It took another year to find the Bridgeport I currently have. Mine came from a local high school that had dropped their "Industrial Arts" training program. The machine was bought new by the school in 1974 and retired in 1990 in favor of a CNC machine. It sat in storage another 10 years. When the school dropped their training program both were put on the market.

When I was in the market for a larger lathe I consulted several machinists I knew from work and members of a professional board. I once again began the search and it took nearly a year before I found a Sheldon MW-56-P in the Chicago area that had recently been rebuilt. I contacted the owner and visited him. I asked 2 of the machinists from the shop to go along and help assess the machine. After assessing this machine and nearly a dozen others I once again contacted the owner. We agreed on a price and made arrangements to pick up the machine. The process from beginning the search to bringing the machine home took over a year.

Each machine I have purchased has repeated the same process. It usually takes between 6 months and 2 years to find the right machine and bring it home. The only machine that took less time was the Racine power hacksaw. I happened to find the right machine at the right price on the first time out.
 
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