- Joined
- Jun 23, 2016
- Messages
- 30
A couple weeks ago my wife turned 35. It was a big birthday not only for her but because we survived the first year of parenthood and our son turned 1 years old the very next day. Because of that she decided to treat herself and spend the morning at a Spa getting a massage and manicure or whatever they do there. My mother-in-law was in town for the week and was enjoying the time with the baby. She offered to watch him for a few hours while I went and picked up flowers and ran a couple errands.
So here I am, enjoying a cup of coffee and watching a few youtube machinist videos when I'm compelled to open craigslist. I don't even know why I did it, but I did. No more than 3 lines down I run across an ad that says "Lathe/mill plus - $3000". It piqued my interest so I clicked.
I didn't even give a second thought to the machine 1) because of the price 2) I just finished restoring a Clausing 5914 3) I don't 'need' it 4) wife would kill me. What did catch my attention was the "machinist tool box w/ tools $200".
You never know what you'll find in those boxes and sometimes one item will be worth more than what you paid for the whole box. It was only 5 minutes from my home and hey, I had a few free hours. What's the harm right? So I call, and head over there.
I arrive, chat a little bit and take a look at the box. Unfortunately everything had been taken out and it was basically empty. Just a few screwdrivers, some taps, and wrenches. I thank him for taking the time to show me the box and was about to head out when I saw the lathe. "Very neat little machine, do you mind if I check it out? I'm not the market for one but I've never seen an "Emco" in person" "Sure" he says, and let's me take a closer look.
As soon as I turned the handwheel on the cross slide I knew I was in trouble. Effortless movement and no more than 1 or 2 thou backlash. I'm not even realizing it but I start going through the motions of inspecting the machine and I'm realizing it has essentially no wear. Turns out...1 owner -- hobbyist. I turn the machine on "Wow, I can't believe how quiet this is for a gearhead machine". This is becoming dangerously tempting and knew I was playing with fire. Thankfully I stop myself before I looked at what tooling was included. I didn't need any more reasons to torture myself with this kind of temptation.
So I thank him once again and head out to run my errands. The whole time I'm thinking about that cross slide and how quiet the headstock was. I start taking myself into why I need this lathe. It didn't take long before I call the guy back and make an offer. He pauses for a moment and says "okay, let's do it". I'm shocked. I finish my errands, run home, grab the cash and head over to his place. By this time my wife is leaving the spa any moment. I drive over as fast as I can, hand him the money and explain the situation. He laughs and tells me I can pick it up tomorrow. Thank god! Drive home, beat my wife back by a couple minutes and play it totally cool.
At dinner, after a drink or two and how she's talking about what a great day she had, and how much she loved her gifts, I drop the bomb. "I may have bought another lathe". She gives me the look of death for a split second and responds. "Of course you did" and then just smiles. I have a feeling this is going to cost me. She just tucked it right in her back pocket and I'm just waiting for the "hey babe, remember when you bought that lathe on my birthday?". Oh well. WORTH IT.
When I went back to pickup the machine I was absolutely SHOCKED. This guy was giving me a lifetimes worth of tooling. I can't even list it. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
So here I am, enjoying a cup of coffee and watching a few youtube machinist videos when I'm compelled to open craigslist. I don't even know why I did it, but I did. No more than 3 lines down I run across an ad that says "Lathe/mill plus - $3000". It piqued my interest so I clicked.
I didn't even give a second thought to the machine 1) because of the price 2) I just finished restoring a Clausing 5914 3) I don't 'need' it 4) wife would kill me. What did catch my attention was the "machinist tool box w/ tools $200".
You never know what you'll find in those boxes and sometimes one item will be worth more than what you paid for the whole box. It was only 5 minutes from my home and hey, I had a few free hours. What's the harm right? So I call, and head over there.
I arrive, chat a little bit and take a look at the box. Unfortunately everything had been taken out and it was basically empty. Just a few screwdrivers, some taps, and wrenches. I thank him for taking the time to show me the box and was about to head out when I saw the lathe. "Very neat little machine, do you mind if I check it out? I'm not the market for one but I've never seen an "Emco" in person" "Sure" he says, and let's me take a closer look.
As soon as I turned the handwheel on the cross slide I knew I was in trouble. Effortless movement and no more than 1 or 2 thou backlash. I'm not even realizing it but I start going through the motions of inspecting the machine and I'm realizing it has essentially no wear. Turns out...1 owner -- hobbyist. I turn the machine on "Wow, I can't believe how quiet this is for a gearhead machine". This is becoming dangerously tempting and knew I was playing with fire. Thankfully I stop myself before I looked at what tooling was included. I didn't need any more reasons to torture myself with this kind of temptation.
So I thank him once again and head out to run my errands. The whole time I'm thinking about that cross slide and how quiet the headstock was. I start taking myself into why I need this lathe. It didn't take long before I call the guy back and make an offer. He pauses for a moment and says "okay, let's do it". I'm shocked. I finish my errands, run home, grab the cash and head over to his place. By this time my wife is leaving the spa any moment. I drive over as fast as I can, hand him the money and explain the situation. He laughs and tells me I can pick it up tomorrow. Thank god! Drive home, beat my wife back by a couple minutes and play it totally cool.
At dinner, after a drink or two and how she's talking about what a great day she had, and how much she loved her gifts, I drop the bomb. "I may have bought another lathe". She gives me the look of death for a split second and responds. "Of course you did" and then just smiles. I have a feeling this is going to cost me. She just tucked it right in her back pocket and I'm just waiting for the "hey babe, remember when you bought that lathe on my birthday?". Oh well. WORTH IT.
When I went back to pickup the machine I was absolutely SHOCKED. This guy was giving me a lifetimes worth of tooling. I can't even list it. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
