Beginner Lathe

Johnathans, the lathe that you showed a picture of looks like a Southbend 9C, it's a 9 x 19. This is the bottom of the class of 9 inch for SB. It is called a workshop model. This machine does not have a power cross feed. It will thread and you also use the half nuts to power turn on the longitudinal axis. The spindle hole is 3/4 of an inch. This machine will take collets but only 3C's which are only rated for 1/2 inch. When threading you need to change the gears manually. I believe it will cut somewhere around 45 standard threads. As already indicated, if it is good condition you can get a lot of work done. Even though it is a 9C it is a darn good lathe. It just does not have all of the extras. If you decide to pursue this lathe make sure it has all of the change gears. Also look to see if it has a draw bar, collet holder, thread protector and collets. They are all available after market, but this is where you get nickeled and dimed. If it is decent shape I would expect to pay anywhere from $300 to $650.

Or you could wait and find something with a lot of tooling and capable of larger work and also have a quick change gear box.

Paul
 
keep in mind that its a special situation if you can get it for a REALLY low price..then clean it up, fix anything important, and flip it to make a few hundred bucks. then buy the lathe you really want. in other words, do what we've all done, but get it over with alot faster lol
 
Thanks for that list Chuck! You're quite the miner. That Hardinge turret lathe looks pretty substantive. My problem is that I wouldn't know how to assess its condition or whether all the parts are there. Spaceman, that a pretty cool cnc setup there. Probably too much of a space hog for my shop, but I'll check on the shipping costs just for s**ts and giggles.
thanks for the rundown on the pictured lathe Fastback. The list of what to make sure is included is applicable to any lathe I pick up. Where should I go to learn more about what to look for in a used Hardinge Turret Lathe? I might be checking that one out.
 
well what I would do is find what ever ones you might want to look at. Start a thread in the perspective forum for the make and see what owner of that machine think. They would know best what you need to look for. More or less you need to run an indicator across the ways to check for wear. Most other things are nuts and bolts. The owners of that type machine will know if parts are out there and if they are made of gold or not. Or cruse ebay to look at parts.

That hendy is massive ahahaha. I bet that puppy will peal a nice chunk at a time. You know it's big when you cant hardly move the tail stock ahaha
 
Does that turret lathe have a cross slide and tool post? I thought I seen some that did not
 
It is something you are going to need to decide for yourself. Some people enjoy getting old machines up and running. It is a hobby in itself. Just like fixing up old cars or motorcycles. It really depends on how you want to spend your time. Once restored, they are usually much better than what you can buy new within reasonable hobbyist price.

Just remember that a full restoration can take quite a while. Especially if you are just learning.

Personally, I didn't go that route myself. I just wanted to be able to do some metal work in addition to the other things I do. To me it made more sense just to get a small lathe and mill that just worked out of the box.
 
If you can get a lathe with a quick Change Gear box, go for it. If you're looking at one that uses change gears, make sure the whole set comes with the lathe. Otherwise, drop the price at least $200.
 
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