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- Feb 1, 2015
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This thread seems to have morphed into a discussion of ideal size for a lathe. My two cents, take it for what it's worth.
I used an Atlas/Craftsman 6 x18 lathe for forty years and it pretty well did everything I needed to do. At work, we bought a Grizzly G4000 which is a 9 x 19. and I was impressed with the quality and value enough that I decided to buy a Grizzly lathe for myself. Rather than buy the the 9 x 19, I pted for the 10 x 22 instead. The reasons being a larger bore and swing, greater range on threading , and larger motor for a relatively small increase in price. For my needs, there has seldom been a time when I would have wanted a 12 x lathe. My lathe is also located in a basement shop and space is precious there. I have an outside entrance as well and I could muscle a 12" lathe down but the extra foot in length and 600 lbs. in weight would have presented challenges.
The 9 x19 can use an AXA QCTP, barely. The 10 x 22 works OK with the AXA. Smaller lathes will probably require an OXA QCTP whuch ius non-standard. and more difficult to fnd tooling for. A 12 x lathe would most likely need a BXA QCTP. Tooling for a smaller lathe is less expensive. A smaller lathe has less power and rigidity but, as many on this forum can attest, they can still turn out some amazing work. In some ways, it is more challenging because you have to know your machine to get the best out of it. You can't just bull your way through.
Although any lathe can be dangerous, a smaller lather has less power and less potential to do serious harm. Electrical requirements for a small lathe are less demanding. An important consideration when setting up in existing space. A larger lathe will almost certainly require 240 volt service and possibly 3 phase. Operating costs will be less as well.
As to the choice of brand, I chose Grizzly because they seem to have a reasonable level of quality for the price. I have purchased a number of Grizzly machines over the past decade and although Chinese iron is considered a work in progress, very little of what I have done to the machnes has been correcting manufacturing deficiencies as opposed to imp4roving on design or adding features.
At the time I bought the machines, I was unaware of of PM and I wold have seriously considered them. I did look at Enco, Travers Tool, Wholesale Tool and Harbor Freight though. In my experience, Grizzly customer service has been good to excellent. For those reasons, they have my loyalty.
I used an Atlas/Craftsman 6 x18 lathe for forty years and it pretty well did everything I needed to do. At work, we bought a Grizzly G4000 which is a 9 x 19. and I was impressed with the quality and value enough that I decided to buy a Grizzly lathe for myself. Rather than buy the the 9 x 19, I pted for the 10 x 22 instead. The reasons being a larger bore and swing, greater range on threading , and larger motor for a relatively small increase in price. For my needs, there has seldom been a time when I would have wanted a 12 x lathe. My lathe is also located in a basement shop and space is precious there. I have an outside entrance as well and I could muscle a 12" lathe down but the extra foot in length and 600 lbs. in weight would have presented challenges.
The 9 x19 can use an AXA QCTP, barely. The 10 x 22 works OK with the AXA. Smaller lathes will probably require an OXA QCTP whuch ius non-standard. and more difficult to fnd tooling for. A 12 x lathe would most likely need a BXA QCTP. Tooling for a smaller lathe is less expensive. A smaller lathe has less power and rigidity but, as many on this forum can attest, they can still turn out some amazing work. In some ways, it is more challenging because you have to know your machine to get the best out of it. You can't just bull your way through.
Although any lathe can be dangerous, a smaller lather has less power and less potential to do serious harm. Electrical requirements for a small lathe are less demanding. An important consideration when setting up in existing space. A larger lathe will almost certainly require 240 volt service and possibly 3 phase. Operating costs will be less as well.
As to the choice of brand, I chose Grizzly because they seem to have a reasonable level of quality for the price. I have purchased a number of Grizzly machines over the past decade and although Chinese iron is considered a work in progress, very little of what I have done to the machnes has been correcting manufacturing deficiencies as opposed to imp4roving on design or adding features.
At the time I bought the machines, I was unaware of of PM and I wold have seriously considered them. I did look at Enco, Travers Tool, Wholesale Tool and Harbor Freight though. In my experience, Grizzly customer service has been good to excellent. For those reasons, they have my loyalty.
