Hello. Let me first state I am pretty much a novice/beginner when it comes to lathe work. I was a mechanic for 12 years. During that time we had a WWII era Prentice-Reed lathe that we pretty much not used very often. I know some of the basics functions but not much of the terminolgy. I have a car I tinker with that uses lots of custom brackets and hardward that has to be made. I have come to the conclusion I am asking to much of friends that do this type of work for a living. With that being said I have been looking at the PM 1236. It seems as though it has some decent feedback. I have been looking for 2 years now for Craigslist or Ebay deals but nothing seems worth driving 1000 miles to pick up. I have about 4K to spend and would appreciate any feedback on the PM 1236 or any other that might be available. Thanks in advance.
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Help choosing a lathe
- Thread starter BigLar368
- Start date
Personally I really like my PM1236. Matt convinced me to get the DRO for it also and I am glad he did. I think you will like the machine.
Rick
Rick
You can PM RayC on here. He helps Matt at Precision Machine and knows ALL about the machines and he can and will answer any questions or concerns you have. He can also give you info on availability.
Rick
Rick
I looked around a lot and just got a PM1236 its the best for the money and how its equipped, I am happy with it so far but the machine base really should be bolted down to the floor or needs to be about 400 lbs heavier in the base and the bolt location in in to far so the machine is not very stable its top heavy (working on a mod. for this) and still waiting on some missing parts and the DRO. The machine has plenty of power and over all you will be making a good choice. Take plenty of time cleaning the 3 jaw chuck and moving the position of the jaws i got a .0002 at 4"-5" out.
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Yeah...I hear ya on bolting down the stand. I have a dedicated place for it and had already planned on that. I already have a 220V junction box on the ceiling that goes to my lift so running electrical won't be a problem. I am leaning towards the PM 1236 after doing some reading this morning. Thanks for the pics.