Craftsman lathe is it a good deal?

98rangerll said:
Ok we'll I'm passing on this lathe what does everyone thing about the grizzly g0602 lathe
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I would try to find a decent American machine if you could.

No offense to Atlas owners (I am one myself.. my second one.. currently have an Atlas commercial 12/36 which is decent.) but I would find a heavier machine. I am restoring a SB 10L. Just finished the compound/apron.. very heavy assembly.. The same assembly on the Atlas is so light and small compared to the SB.. in my opinion, this is what makes the lathe, and of course the ways which on the Atlas are flat and lighter compaired to the SB vee'ed ways. I purchased both for about the same price.. I certianly don't regret buying the Atlas.. as a matter of fact, if need be, I could sell it and get all my money back, but plan keep it, hinging on having room for it (I am running out of space in the garage).. It has been good to me.

My thoughts on imports.. kind of like motorcycles.. imports are good, but with a poorer resale value in general, exceptions exist.. Old american machines tend to hold their value. Of course you have to weigh in how long you want to wait to find a lathe. Decent import's are readily available and NEW or used will preform side by side with an American machine. Hindsight: Try to find a decent American lathe, at the right price during your first purchase.. I have had three lathes and if I knew what I know now back then and happen to be low on funds, I would purchased a single machine, probably a SB 10L, that no doubt woud be heavily tooled from the funds used to purchase the other two.. but then again, if I could do it over, based on my situation, I still would have purchased the 2 Atlas lathes and will no doubt keep my current Atlas.

This is just my amature opinion. I am sure others will vary.

Read this link before buying a lathe, no matter what brand you buy:

http://www.mermac.com/advicenew.html

But If you do so, read this one also:

http://www.mermac.com/klunker2.html
 
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From way back,when I had to had to turn stuff for very old car restorations, trying to learn how as I worked, I couldn't figure out why chatter was always imminent. I fiddled with tools, speeds, angles,etc. and with a lot of filing made what I needed. My lathe was an old , loose Atlas, and I knew no better. Now that we know more, we can say that all chatter problems are resonance -related; if the circumstances are unfortunate, everything has resonant frequencies.In mechanical circumstances ,we can raise or lower those frequencies with tightness, stiffness, weights added at nodes, stiffening plates,etc. Let's think about how to analyze these resonances using cheap modern electronics. No Tektronix scopes, etc please! BLJHB , and thanks for your time.
 
This is 'way off subject and off the purpose of this site, but what's wrong with Tektronix oscilloscopes? Aside for a couple of collectible US military WW-II vintage Dumonts, I've never owned nor bought for my department anything else.

Robert D

The Liberal Arts Garage said:
No Tektronix scopes, etc please! BLJHB , and thanks for your time.
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wa5cab said:
This is 'way off subject and off the purpose of this site, but what's wrong with Tektronix oscilloscopes? Aside for a couple of collectible US military WW-II vintage Dumonts, I've never owned nor bought for my department anything else.

Robert D
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Dear Robert, Tektronix are the best- Iused to work with them at the SYLVANIA applied research lab. Only meant to exclude such high- end stuff from my project suggestion........BLJHB
 
Uh-oh. I just bought one of these. The price was just too hard to resist. It is missing a few parts, but the chuck runout does not look bad. It does not pass the front bearing lift test. I am going to try to get it working at a minimum expense. The first think that I wanted to make was RC car parts from 1/4" aluminum round. If it is too weak for this stuff, then it is indeed a bad purchase.
 
As you already have it, if you fix it back to original specs it should do those parts OK. I won't say "don't have a crash" because the only valid excuses are stroke, heart attack, and anything in excess of 20 kiloton yield nearby. :) There is a manual on one variant of AA in Downloads now.

Robert D.
 
I had one and it should be fine for aluminum. The biggest issue you will have is the lack of graduated handwheels. I have seen workarounds using dial indicators, digital readouts, or making/ fitting proper graduated dials. Without them the work process involves a lot of stopping to check and working to tolerances in range of. 005 to. 010.

Sent from my SGP311 using Tapatalk
 
ericc said:
Uh-oh. I just bought one of these. The price was just too hard to resist. It is missing a few parts, but the chuck runout does not look bad. It does not pass the front bearing lift test. I am going to try to get it working at a minimum expense. The first think that I wanted to make was RC car parts from 1/4" aluminum round. If it is too weak for this stuff, then it is indeed a bad purchase.
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The front bearing is adjustable- jus tighten(gently) the giant nut inside the headstock.If that won't don't despair. $160 will buy the whole kit; if the shaft is straight and 0.255+001 - 000, just bearings for about $48, plus two suitable beat-up deep sockets and a piece of threaded rod, etc. Just look on eBay.......BLJHB
 
ericc said:
Uh-oh. I just bought one of these. The price was just too hard to resist. It is missing a few parts, but the chuck runout does not look bad. It does not pass the front bearing lift test. I am going to try to get it working at a minimum expense. The first think that I wanted to make was RC car parts from 1/4" aluminum round. If it is too weak for this stuff, then it is indeed a bad purchase.
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I have one of these. I saw a comment once that said if you're going to use it, clean it up, learn and USE it! Don't bother painting it. If its a restore to look at, then by all means, paint it pretty and put it on the shelf!
I use mine to cut plastic and aluminum (no steel). I have a full set of gears and then some, and have made a few spares for it including a spindle gear.
It was a 'little' lathe sixty plus years ago, and still is. It is a 'baby' lathe, but
mine was good enough to make a couple of parts for my new to me 12 x 37 lathe when the 12 x37 was unable to 'run'. I probably will sell mine in the near future, but I may just give it to the grandkids (they are old enough now).

Have fun, it didn't cost you much. I use mine also to check straightness of misc bars and stuff with a dial indicator.

cheers
 
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