Help me find a lathe for my small-ish space

[loverollercoaster]

Hi, beginner here looking for a lathe for my barely 1 car garage, assuming the Christmas bonus comes in well this year =).

Location: Washington DC, USA.

Uses: Parts for robots, drones, rockets, and maybe some model engineering. I work with a lot of metric, so metric threading is a plus but not a hard requirement (change gears are fine). I'd like something capable of precision work, so that if I ever become skilled enough in the future I can work on things like custom optical bench tooling.

Space: Garage with a concrete floor. Hoping to keep it under 70" long, ideally 64" or less. Width wise, less than 36".

Electrical: 220 available, and I have a 100amp subpanel.

Condition: I'd like something that's mostly ready to run. A little chipped paint or some smaller fixes are fine, but not a full fixer-upper.

Budget: A tooled up PM 1236T with most of the bells and whistles is about 11 grand delivered, so let's call that the very top end. I don't own anything that can tow, so the used budget needs to consider either machine movers or a truck and trailer rental. So I'm thinking maybe 5-6,000 for a lightly tooled machine, to leave room for moving it and basic tooling.

Right now the front runner is a Precision Matthews 1236T, but I'd like to know what comparable used iron I should be keeping an eye out for on the auction sites.

The things that I'm keeping an eye out for right are Clausing Colchester 13s, and an under priced Hardinge HLV-H (yeah, right).

Are there other relatively small footprint old iron lathes that I should be looking for? The market around here seems to have a lot of pretty beat up looking atlas lathes, and some 14x40 or larger lathes that are just too much for my garage, but not a ton in between.

Thanks in advance,
-Tim

 

[mmcmdl]

I'll keep my eye out being close . Dave has a HLV-H down his place now for under 10K that I've been eyeballing but I'm selling out myself . Neighbor has a Logan I know nothing about yet also . Daughter is moving to Gaithersburg in 2 weeks and I'll be towing stuff down . I'm waiting to verify something these days that would open up alot of equipment .

 

[m1kemex]

Not sure if it is still available, but there was a large geared Chinese lathe, something like 13x24. A designation I know is BL320 but there are many others (AL320G). Not all of them have power cross feed but the ones that have are very serviceable. At 400 Kg it's not a toy, but probably easier to move and more compact, than a 12x36.

CJM320B Small Horizontal Lathe - Bench / Mini Lathe Machine -

CJM320B Small Horizontal Lathe

www.lzcncmachine.com

 

[C-Bag]

Dave is the guy to talk to in your area Tim.

 

[mmcmdl]

There is a steal ( in my eyes ) of a lathe in the area at this moment . One that I would buy for sure .

 

[mksj]

If you are tight on space, you might look at the Eisen 1324GHE (comes with chucks, DRO, floor stand, etc.) is $7K, same company that makes the 1236T/1340GT but more compact and a closed gearbox similar to the 1440GT. I would stick with more mainstream lathes if possible, for parts and chuck mounts that are more common. You can look at the used market for machines, but if you are not experienced in knowing what to look for, you could end up with a boat anchor. You can also save quite a bit on the tooling if you know what you are looking for and shop around and local listings/eBay. You can accumulate what you need over time, and start with the basics.

EISEN 1324GHE Precision Bench Lathe with DRO & Stand, 1.5HP single-phase 220V

Features Digital readout (DRO) unit with X- and Z-axis optical scales included for ease of operation Bed is made of high tensile cast iron FC25. Hardened and ground bed ways Heat treated headstock gears Lubricated headstock D1-4 camlock spindle 18-step spindle speed High quality machine. Made...

eisenm.com

 

[markba633csi]

Be careful with the Colchesters- the spindle bearings are phenomenally expensive. They tend to get sold when the bearings are shot.
Beware.
Hard to go wrong with PM machines, and Grizzly has upped their quality game considerably too in the past 10 years or so. Little Machine Shop has some nice smaller offerings. Good support after the sale is important when buying import machines.
Stay away from the Vevor and Bolton "brands"-- the low price is quickly forgotten when quality issues come up

 

[verbotenwhisky]

Hi, beginner here looking for a lathe for my barely 1 car garage, assuming the Christmas bonus comes in well this year =).

Location: Washington DC, USA.

Uses: Parts for robots, drones, rockets, and maybe some model engineering. I work with a lot of metric, so metric threading is a plus but not a hard requirement (change gears are fine). I'd like something capable of precision work, so that if I ever become skilled enough in the future I can work on things like custom optical bench tooling.

Space: Garage with a concrete floor. Hoping to keep it under 70" long, ideally 64" or less. Width wise, less than 36".

Electrical: 220 available, and I have a 100amp subpanel.

Condition: I'd like something that's mostly ready to run. A little chipped paint or some smaller fixes are fine, but not a full fixer-upper.

Budget: A tooled up PM 1236T with most of the bells and whistles is about 11 grand delivered, so let's call that the very top end. I don't own anything that can tow, so the used budget needs to consider either machine movers or a truck and trailer rental. So I'm thinking maybe 5-6,000 for a lightly tooled machine, to leave room for moving it and basic tooling.

Right now the front runner is a Precision Matthews 1236T, but I'd like to know what comparable used iron I should be keeping an eye out for on the auction sites.

The things that I'm keeping an eye out for right are Clausing Colchester 13s, and an under priced Hardinge HLV-H (yeah, right).

Are there other relatively small footprint old iron lathes that I should be looking for? The market around here seems to have a lot of pretty beat up looking atlas lathes, and some 14x40 or larger lathes that are just too much for my garage, but not a ton in between.

Thanks in advance,
-Tim

I realize you are looking at the Taiwanese machine; but, I have the PM1236 which I like very much and it is a bit cheaper at 2/3 the cost, the only thing you might be looking at is it does have change gears.