Going To Buy A Lathe... Thoughts, Input Solicited By Inexperienced Dufus

Splat said:
Welcome to the board, MarkAmerica, and THANK YOU for your service!

Well, first off... do you think you have the knowledge to adequately evaluate a used machine? If not, do you know someone with that knowledge that can go with you to check machines out? If not then start saving up for a new machine. I've been in your place and have helped friends of friends out that really didn't know enough to not get easily screwed buying a used machine. So do you really need a machine with 2" bore and 48" between centers? I doubt you'll find an old used lathe with 2" bore that isn't huge and really used. I really think you should consider going new. Check out the offerings from Matt @ Quality Machine Tools or Grizzly.
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Splat, thank you for the welcome, but please don't thank me for my service. It was my honor and privilege, and I thank you for helping make it a country worth serving!

As to your question, you're right. I know just enough to get myself into trouble. Do I have somebody close at hand to help me? Sadly, no, the man upon whom I would have relied has passed, as he knew his way around machines and had long experience in such things. So, shorter answer: No. I probably will stumble right into a pitfall. I never succeed until I manage to fail miserably at least once. Is Matt the same fellow being mentioned elsewhere above? I'm not familiar with QMT. I am familiar with Grizzly. Insofar as milling machines, I'm torn between a particular Grizzly model and getting a Bridgeport in the secondary/tertiary marketplace. It's funny you say "huge and really used." Describes a lathe I'm looking at right now. The thing that scares me most is the things I know I don't know, which are numerous. I'm too ignorant to be scared of the other things which I don't know that I don't know...LOL You're probably right about going new, but that reduces quite a bit what I can afford based on the prices I see. Thanks!
 
Splat, thanks, I found the site in question. I didn't fool around and went directly to the lowest priced machine he sells that meets all my criteria. While I acknowledge that in a perfect world, I'd love to have a spiffy new machine like that, I'd have to enjoy looking at it, while wearing the cast iron frying pan with which my wife would crater my cranium. I wouldn't be able to afford even the rotary phase converter I'd need to power it. No sir, as much as there's a lot of wisdom in what you advise, and while I'm sure what I looked at is a very reasonable price for a machine of its class, I'm going to have to abide by the Missus' command, posed ever in the form of a question and answer: "When is a great deal not a great deal? When you can't afford it."

Nice as that machine is, it's out of my reach. Oh, I could probably afford to buy the machine, but then it would be like a statue for some time to come, if not a permanent memorial to me, as the wife would kill me.

Thanks!
 
I have a 20" Lodge & Shipley lathe, I mean boat anchor, that's not too far from you. It has a 1-3/4" hole in the spindle with about 78" between centers. It's wired up with a static phase converter, all you have to have is a 50 amp welders receptacle to plug it into and run. I can make you a screaming deal for you if interested. See my ad in the classified section at the bottom of the forum page, not at the top of the page. Ken
 
4gsr said:
I have a 20" Lodge & Shipley lathe, I mean boat anchor, that's not too far from you. It has a 1-3/4" hole in the spindle with about 78" between centers. It's wired up with a static phase converter, all you have to have is a 50 amp welders receptacle to plug it into and run. I can make you a screaming deal for you if interested. See my ad in the classified section at the bottom of the forum page, not at the top of the page. Ken
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If you can swing it, the above lathe is a DEAL! Old iron, ground bed, all the bells and whistles and HP to spare. if you can get away with slightly smaller spindle bore this L&S would be a top choice. I live in Norway and am salivating over it!

Paul.
 
Getting a used machine everything with a taper attachment and metric threading in good mechanical shape with a tight budget is a tall order. A few forum member purchased a PM1440 LB and PM1640 (there are various versions) from Quality machine tools and they very happy with it, they also make a PM1660 version if you can't live with 40". Otherwise it would meet your specifications. Being mad in China, the pricing is realistic for what you are getting. The first one listed below is a lot of machine for the price. There are also 1640 versions.
PM-1440E-LB http://www.machinetoolonline.com/PM1440.html
http://www.machinetoolonline.com/PM1640.html

I am always hesitant spending a significant chunk of money on a machine that you cannot inspect directly, but something like these might be a consideration and you would need to hunt down a taper attachment:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Clausing-Colchester-Lathe-15-X-50-Gap-Bed-5c-Collet-Drawbar-/262501879259
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NARDINI-15-X-60-GAP-BED-LATHE-MODEL-ND-1560E-INCH-METRIC-/252232909714
 
Just a thought here...

If you back off the 48" and the 2" bore...
You will increase the choices many fold!

There are lots of 40" laths with 1.5 to 1.75 bores available.
 
JPigg55 said:
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but couldn't one find/make a set of gears to convert about any lathe for chasing metric thread ???
May take a little doing, but would widen lathe possibilities.
PS
Curious why the 2" thru hole ???
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JPigg55,
I suppose making gears would be possible, but how the heck I would do that.... I wouldn't know where to start. One would have a mighty chore to re-engineer the gears on one of these puppies. Why 2" or more? Very ambitious future project... I'll leave it there for now.

Thanks!
 
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