Buying A New Lathe - Need Advice

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krprice84

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Ok, so I'm pretty new to machining in general, but I want a lathe. Currently in Alberta there isn't much used.

I have the option to buy a King 10x22 lathe that's almost brand new, for a good price. 1" spindle kind of sucks, change gears for threading kind of sucks but not that bad I guess.

Other choice is to save up anther month or two, maybe sell a gun or two, and buy the Craftex 12x28 cx701, or a similar lathe.

What I'd like to eventually get into is doing some gunsmith work. I fully realized that both these lathes aren't ideal for this, but I'm ok with that. Maybe upgrade later, but I guess the big question is, is it worth buying a new lathe? The price is obviously way way higher than used, but used isn't really a good option as there aren't many to choose from.

The kicker is, I have no garage. Whatever I buy needs to be able to be taken downstairs. I could get three people to help, I can put a ramp on the stairs (only about seven steps), etc. But I don't think I can take a thousands pound lathe down there ;)

Thoughts? Need help, as the king is ready to be sold to me tomorrow, and if I pass it up I don't know another good one will come up soon. I've been watching kijiji (like craigslist) for a while now and not much of anything has come up.

Keep waiting and pass up the king? Or deal with a small spindle and short bed for now?
 
While not familiar with the King it's presumed to be one of the inexpensive clones. If it were me and the wait would be a short one for the Craftex then wait would be my choice. That said, there is a lot to be learned on any lathe and I've seen some remarkable work done on the King type lathes. As far as moving a heavier lathe one can unload a bunch of weight by removing bolt on components such as the chuck, motor, tail spindle, stand, tool holder etc, that alone can turn them into a manageable weight. I had to disassemble a Bridgeport type mill to get it where it needed to live years ago, it's still there and some time in the near future in need of moving again :(.
 
Hi krprice,


If you want a decent sized, full featured machine, that doesn't weigh too much and is reasonably priced – that is a pretty tall order. If you stay in this game very long, you’ll end up with a number of machines.


The 10x22 King machine? It is a small machine – the work envelop can get eaten up pretty fast. You identified a number of short comings for the machine you are considering – all machines have something that makes them not quite perfect (some less perfect than others). All that said, it is very useful to have more than one machine, where each one has features that address short comings of the other. The little King will still be useful when you have the larger machine (or sell it on). The other examples you spoke of are still small machines and will likely address some of your criteria.


I don’t know that having to swap change gears is a big deal, but the small spindle hole is a bit tough.


I don’t really buy into the “bigger is better” idea, but I can say that I usually needed a bigger machine than I thought I would. Often you can work around the issue, but if you have a decent sized work envelop – life is easier.


I encourage you to bide your time, looking for a machine which addressed more of your criteria – but don’t wait for perfect. I’m in Alberta, and I have purchased a number of good used machines: a lathe, a saw, 3 decent drill presses, 2 good sized pedestal style grinders, 3 milling machines (that is if you count the one I wrecked, also got a 4th mill from out of province). I should point out that for nearly everyone of those machines, when folks see my set up they are wondering how I got such awesome machines, yet everyone of those machines had lots of people pass them by because they were far from perfect (really dirty, generally rusty and usually broken). I have been able to track down a number of machines for friends of mine (3 individuals, 5 machines). The machines are out there.


Get your ducks in row (cash in hand, transportation lined up, where you are going to put it, and the electrical power requirements dealt with), so when an opportunity shows up you can move quickly. “Opportunities” are not going to come to you all shiny and wrapped in a bow (unless you buy new – however, I don’t think of that as an “opportunity”). It takes time & experience to recognize “rough diamonds” – I have found it to be a lot of fun. I encourage you to stick with it. Develop your networks. Keep asking questions (lots of good info and support on this site).


Regards, David
 
Myself being budget minded,I would work on having cash in hand and watch for a lathe in the used market but of better quality than new/cheap.Buying cheap would kinda create disappointment and maybe discouragement.Luckly for me I found a Sears/Atlas lathe that I went through and love it.But now come across a Colchester and now going through it using the Sears to make some bushings.
Either way its fun,so the hunt continues.Have fun looking
 
my thought is buy once cry once. in other words why buy a toy when you intend to do gunsmithing? a 9" southbend with the 54" bed will do nice for gunsmithing. I know a real pro. that made a good living with the long bed atlas.
 
krprice84 said:
Ok, so I'm pretty new to machining in general, but I want a lathe. Currently in Alberta there isn't much used.

I have the option to buy a King 10x22 lathe that's almost brand new, for a good price. 1" spindle kind of sucks, change gears for threading kind of sucks but not that bad I guess.

Other choice is to save up anther month or two, maybe sell a gun or two, and buy the Craftex 12x28 cx701, or a similar lathe.

What I'd like to eventually get into is doing some gunsmith work. I fully realized that both these lathes aren't ideal for this, but I'm ok with that. Maybe upgrade later, but I guess the big question is, is it worth buying a new lathe? The price is obviously way way higher than used, but used isn't really a good option as there aren't many to choose from.

The kicker is, I have no garage. Whatever I buy needs to be able to be taken downstairs. I could get three people to help, I can put a ramp on the stairs (only about seven steps), etc. But I don't think I can take a thousands pound lathe down there ;)

Thoughts? Need help, as the king is ready to be sold to me tomorrow, and if I pass it up I don't know another good one will come up soon. I've been watching kijiji (like craigslist) for a while now and not much of anything has come up.

Keep waiting and pass up the king? Or deal with a small spindle and short bed for now?
Click to expand...


Get the larger lathe and hire a rigging company to get it in the basement.I have a Grizzly 10x22 myself and like it.The lack of a real QC gear box is a pain but not a deal breaker. I rarely turn long work over 1" diameter so the 1" bore doesn't bother me. If I had to do over again I would have bought a lathe with a quick change gearbox.Also the 10x22 has a reverse but left hand threads can only be done by modifying the lathe with a tumbler gear.The lathe spindle will reverse,but the lead screw travel will feed towards the TS.
mike
 
So I've decided against the king.

As for a rigging company, I don't understand how anyone could get a real big lathe into a basement m.
I mean, I can disassemble it, sure, but at some point it's still going to be too heavy.

I'm thinking of saving for either the Cx701, or the grizzly or craftex 12 or 13 by 24 to 36

I would love a south bend, but the 9" swing models have a small bore, and the heavy ten and other one like it are a) too expensive, b) heavy, and c) I can't be sure they aren't worn out.

I don't know how to verify the wear on ways, so it makes me nervous going for something that's five decades old.
 
bob308 said:
my thought is buy once cry once. in other words why buy a toy when you intend to do gunsmithing?
Click to expand...

Bob and Kwood, know of what they speak. I probably did not really think it through, but I ended up in the same place that they are recommending.

I spend more money on my first machine - a 15x60 lathe, than on the next 6 machines all combined (walked into a machinery dealer and paid the likely inflated asking price - with no haggling on my part. In retrospect they were probably shocked.). It required going down 5 steps into the basement. I learned a great deal with that machine and 30+ years later, it is still a solid contributive part of my set up. That first lathe is not a much sought after, top name brand machine - just a good performer.
 
krprice84 said:
So I've decided against the king.

As for a rigging company, I don't understand how anyone could get a real big lathe into a basement m.
I mean, I can disassemble it, sure, but at some point it's still going to be too heavy.

I'm thinking of saving for either the Cx701, or the grizzly or craftex 12 or 13 by 24 to 36

I would love a south bend, but the 9" swing models have a small bore, and the heavy ten and other one like it are a) too expensive, b) heavy, and c) I can't be sure they aren't worn out.

I don't know how to verify the wear on ways, so it makes me nervous going for something that's five decades old.
Click to expand...

I accidentally made the repeat mistake of very hevy tools into a basement, opps, :) you need lifting gear and people it turns out. It's true about disasembly, it only gets so small when it starts out so big.

Stuart
 
I just don't understand how you can rug up lifting equipment.... I mean, there's only so much room, and there's no where to attach or anchor to?

I might end up saving up for the cx701 or the ct089, or maybe think about bringing up the grizzly g4003

But that's a lot of money if I won't be selling services for gunsmith work.....which I won't be because you need another license for that
 
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