Buying your first a lathe...what you wish you knew?

It's like buying your first boat. All I need to do is....so a 16' will do, then you learn some about boating, and buy a 20' because it would be better, then you buy a 30' because you know what your doing, and the 30' is so much better than a 16 footer.
 
Aukai said:
It's like buying your first boat. All I need to do is....so a 16' will do, then you learn some about boating, and buy a 20' because it would be better, then you buy a 30' because you know what your doing, and the 30' is so much better than a 16 footer.
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But that 16 footer would be a nice runabout for your 300 foot yacht. :grin:
 
I bought my first lathe about 47 years ago. I got incredibly lucky in that it came very well equipped. My biggest regret was waiting over 40 years to buy a quick change tool post. When I bought my second lathe about two years ago, I bought a quick change before I even had the machine wired in and running!

Richard
 
My first lathe was big enough, and in fact was eventually considered needlessly large after ~15 years of use, so I "downsized" (shorter bed length) to a heavier duty machine, going from a Grizzly 12x36 to a Takasawa 14x30. Point being, think long and hard about what you'll be doing with it, and how much floor space you have. For me, the latter won out.

And yes, I pretty much doubled the cost with tooling. That said, I always hear about how important it is to the deal to get tooling. Well, keep in mind that depending where it came from (like a shop), there's a chance that they kept the good stuff and are giving away the worn-out stuff. In my case, both the 8" and 10" chucks were in such poor condition that they were replaced. There is something worse than buying a machine with no tooling, and that's paying for tooling that needs replacing, so you're spending money twice for the same things.
 
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I knew what I wanted when I was shopping for my 'last lathe', but there was no way I could afford one, so I had to compromise on cost vs. features and ended up with a 1340GT. It's too long (my tailstock has never seen the end of the lathe bed), and it is a bit light, doesn't have a enclosed gearbox, and a few other things, but it's the best I could get at the time. Life's a compromise. :)
 
I waited a long time before I purchased my first lathe. I wanted a bore big enough for 5C drawbar. or 1" black-pipe to go through. My wish was for a 14" x 40' gap bed. But I ended up with a used Sheldon EXL.

The EXL is a 10" lathe similar to SB Heavy 10. But has tapered roller bearings in the headstock and bed is a bit heavier. Bed length was close to 36" between centers. Lathe was nearly fully tooled with Steady, a full set of collets, and 5C hand collet closer. The collets turned out to be Ames collets. I didn't recognize the difference at the time of purchase. Doh! Still, I traded them for a set of 1/8ths 5c and a chuck for my SG so that worked out. Got a bunch of other nice tooling with the machine so I think I did ok at $1200 delivered in my area.

If I had it to do over again I would look for a heavier lathe with a non-threaded spindle. The 10" is good for 90% of what I need for my hobbies. But that last 10% turns into a pain (Setting up Rube Goldberg risers and second spindle etc.) A gap bed would have been nice. And more mass is usually a plus.

Also my lathe came with partial taper attachment. I have several projects that would benefit by having a working taper attachment but they are not available except on Ebay for gold reserve pricing. I did find one that is not a match for my lathe and have yet to retrofit it.

So if you can swing it, I would recommend 12"-14" gap bed, with a taper attachment. Length of bed is less important. But you want the biggest bore you can get your hands on. Roller bearing, cam-lock spindle would be nice and hardened bed added bonus. The newer the lathe the easier it is to get parts and accessories.

Hope this help with your choice.

Best Regards,
Bob
 
wrmiller said:
I knew what I wanted when I was shopping for my 'last lathe', but there was no way I could afford one, so I had to compromise on cost vs. features and ended up with a 1340GT. It's too long (my tailstock has never seen the end of the lathe bed), and it is a bit light, doesn't have a enclosed gearbox, and a few other things, but it's the best I could get at the time. Life's a compromise. :)
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When I bought my 1340 GT I thought I was buying a bigger lathe, and it is compared to the 9-12" lathes. It was a good price, high quality, and is about perfect for fitting and chambering rifle barrels.

What it doesn't do it make heavy cuts very well. I refused to make a bushing for my new reloading press because of the time it would have taken for me to turn down 2.75" to 1.5". I wish I would have got the 1440 GT or even larger. However, 95% of what I do is chamber barrels so it wouldn't really make sense.....
 
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INTJ said:
When I bought my 1340 GT I thought I was buying a bigger lathe, and it is compared to the 9-12" lathers. It was a good price, high quality, and is about perfect for fitting and chambering rifle barrels.

What it doesn't do it make heavy cuts very well. I refused to make a bushing for my new reloading press because of the time it would have taken for me to turn down 2.75" to 1.5". I wish I would have got the 1440 GT or even larger. However, 95% of what I do is chamber barrels so it wouldn't really make sense.....
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I'd just take a 0.1" at a time and have a few extra sips of coffee. No biggie, as I'm not in a rush to go anywhere. ;)

I don't do rifle barrels, yet, although I suppose there may be a LR-308 barrel or two to do down the road. Maybe.

I'd really like a digital threading Hardinge copy with a 3 and 4 jaw chuck, and a full set of collets and I'd be good.
 
wrmiller said:
I'd just take a 0.1" at a time and have a few extra sips of coffee. No biggie, as I'm not in a rush to go anywhere. ;)

I don't do rifle barrels, yet, although I suppose there may be a LR-308 barrel or two to do down the road. Maybe.

I'd really like a digital threading Hardinge copy with a 3 and 4 jaw chuck, and a full set of collets and I'd be good.
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I can go .020" at a time when turning a barrel tenon at the slowest feed rate and 200-300 rpm. Any faster and I get too much smoke.
 
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