Enco 9x20?

[David2011]

The gear box is primarily for the power feed, it will do a few different threads on a set of gears, so potentially you could get lucky and find your most popular threads fit into a set of gears, but you will not get away from change gears.
This is going to be the case with pretty much anything in this size class, you have to go vintage USA or 12" and larger to get a full gear box.

There is a 10x24 that was sold under the Jet brand and several other brands that is a real full function lathe. It has a standard 2 lever quick change gearbox that cuts its full range of Imperial threads without gear changes. It also has back gears that take it down to 75 rpm, a tumbler to reverse the feed/left hand thread and power cross feed in and out. It’s much heavier than most sm bench lathes at 700-750 pounds.

 

[Paul Fithian]

Looks rusty.

A new Grizzly G4000 is $1,195 with all accessories, warranty, and supported with a US staff/spare parts

9" x 19" Bench Lathe

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[Ultradog MN]

There is a 10x24 that was sold under the Jet brand... It also has back gears that take it down to 75 rpm...

Ouch.
I'll keep my American iron.
My old bruiser goes down to 24 rpm. More leisurely when you're cutting those 1.5 TPI threads

 

[JustTrimitaLittle]

There are two different machines shown in those pictures, appear to be same model
They don't appear to have had much use, just dirty. The grinding / buffing wheels might be a problem, go and have a look, take a small bottle of kero and some rag with you, and clean off a section of ways near chuck and saddle. If the gunk on ways is just old oil and dust stay with it, iff it's gritty take your money and run. Price seems fair if they are in good nick.

Yea he’s got 2 machines at $900 each. After I I asked about their use, like if he had a machine shop or something I stopped getting responses. Idk if I just asked too many questions or he just got busy.

 

[JustTrimitaLittle]

Ouch.
I'll keep my American iron.
My old bruiser goes down to 24 rpm. More leisurely when you're cutting those 1.5 TPI threads

The more I think about it the more I’m leaning towards just waiting for a nice old us one. There are a few but they are all 3-4 hours away. That’s a tough one for me if it’s a bust.

 

[Ultradog MN]

The more I think about it the more I’m leaning towards just waiting for a nice old us one. There are a few but they are all 3-4 hours away. That’s a tough one for me if it’s a bust.

When I was looking for the lathe I have I hooked up my trailer and drove 12 hours one way from Minneapolis to Cincinnati for an older Leblond. It was a very nice machine, had a pile of tooling and was just as the seller described. I had even arranged to have a local tow truck guy meet me there to lift it onto my trailer.
I got there and didnt want it. It was just smaller that what I had pictured in my mind's eye. I paid the tow truck guy the C-Note we had agreed upon, turned my truck around and came home.
About 6 weeks later the one I have showed up at an auction 90 miles away and I bought it.
Even if I include the $600 for fuel and the tow truck driver that I wasted going to Cincinatti the cost of this one it was a much better deal than the one I didn't buy.
You may go off on a few wild goose chases and waste some time and gas but If there is a lathe in your future and you wait for the right one you Will find it.

 

[savarin]

I am not seeing a lead screw so you can thread on that machine. No half nut lever on the apron either.

It has an imperial lead screw and two levers on the apron, one for threading and one for travel.
The half nuts on these machines can wear very badly so check those. Spares are available.
It cuts imperial threads and metric threads with a 120/127 gear set which the two large ones in the box look like.
The left hand gear box allows a multiple of threads to be cut but the change gears along with this gearbox need setting.
It has no tumbler reverse but its a very simple matter to make one.
If you will be a heavy user then replace the top slide with a solid plinth to remove a huge amount of flex from that area.

 

[Aaron_W]

There is a 10x24 that was sold under the Jet brand and several other brands that is a real full function lathe. It has a standard 2 lever quick change gearbox that cuts its full range of Imperial threads without gear changes. It also has back gears that take it down to 75 rpm, a tumbler to reverse the feed/left hand thread and power cross feed in and out. It’s much heavier than most sm bench lathes at 700-750 pounds.

Yes, I was referring to current production, but there are a few early imports like the Jet 1024 that did offer a qc gear box. All are long out of production. The Grizzly "South Bend" Heavy 10 was another very expensive option, but also seems to have recently gone out of production.

The PM 1228 is the smallest lathe I know of with a qcgb that you can actually order, vs shopping the used market.

The more I think about it the more I’m leaning towards just waiting for a nice old us one. There are a few but they are all 3-4 hours away. That’s a tough one for me if it’s a bust.

A South Bend 9A or Logan 9B-17 or 28-21 would be a big step up from the Enco / Grizzly / Jet etc, as that would give you a power cross feed and quick change gear box. If you were able to find one of the shorter bed models they can still be pretty compact, although they will be at least 100lbs heavier and the foot print is probably a foot deeper thanks to the motor hanging off the back side.

All are 50+ years old, so require a search and good looking over, but in my mind are some of the best options for a small lathe having a decent swing and all of the desirable features of a bigger lathe. Unfortunately the short 17" and 22" versions seem to be less common than the 28" and 34" versions.

Advantage to the 9x19/20s is availability. They are available new for about the same price as a decent used USA lathe, parts are available and tons of them have been sold since the 1980s so they are common on the used market. They also have an active support network of users who have figured out ways to work around some of the bigger faults.

 

[David2011]

Ouch.
I'll keep my American iron.
My old bruiser goes down to 24 rpm. More leisurely when you're cutting those 1.5 TPI threads

If you’re cutting threads that coarse it’s not on a 10” lathe.

 

[Aaron_W]

The more I think about it the more I’m leaning towards just waiting for a nice old us one. There are a few but they are all 3-4 hours away. That’s a tough one for me if it’s a bust.

I've had very good luck on going to see machines and I've had to drive 2 hours + for most of mine. If the seller is evasive or doesn't seem to know anything about the machine, that can be an indicator that it isn't the machine to make a drive for.

I don't even waste my time on the sellers that can't bother to include decent photos or answer basic questions. Of course some of those may also have been the greatest deal ever because the seller has no idea what they are selling, but I've not been willing to waste my time chasing them.