I Guess I Got A Little Carried Away...now What?

[MARVIN GARDENS]

Hello all.

I have sort of dilema I have been interested in and planning for my machining hobby for about twenty years. A few of my friends are gunsmith/machinists and moldmakers. I am retired from a major law enforcement agency have returned to private Practice as a Certified Public Accountant. I mention this as an attempt to mention that we are not wealthy. However, we are comfortable empty-nesters. We did not purchase a McMansion as did so many of our friends and now reside in our paid for home.

I have always been a pretty good scrounger. I started buying some equipment last year and seem to have found too many good deals. I now find myself with more lathes than I have space and probably, use for. Taking inventory in my garage shop as well as my storage unit, I now note the following equipment.

South Bend Heavy 10. Excellent condition, four foot bed, very well tooled, 1953 USAF contract model with cam lock spindle. This was my first lathe.

South Bend 12” x 60, well tooled, with a cam lock spindle. Good machine but could use a (mainly cosmetic) going through.

South Bend 12” x 60, older than than the other, both have quick change gear boxes and taper attachments. Good ways and bed, needs to be gone through. Taper has screw on chuck spindle.

Axelson 16” x 30. Good machine, very good condition. Taper and tracer attachments.

Monarch 10EE. 1938 Model. Nice machine but still a restoration project.

I don’t have the space for all of these machines. The 10EE is going to be one that I keep. I am looking forward to the project and hope to make use of it.

I am inclined now to keep the Heavy 10. T is in very good condition and the narrow headstock seems well suited to gunsmith work and chambering.

Part of the work that I am doing and plan on doing more of is building target rifles. This would include smallbore rifles, AR match rifles, and long distance target rifles in chamberings uo to .50 BMG.

My situation is now that I have 5,000 pounds of Axelson lathe with only 30” between centers. I am also concerned is although the 12” South Bends have five-foot beds, are they heavy enough to handle long and heavy barrels such as thoughs used in .50 BMG target rifles?

I am currently weighing options. One being to sell the Axelson and the two 12” South Bends and replace the three with a Monarch, Mori Seiki, or other lathe wit a five or six foot bed. I could do this when finances allow and the right machine comes along. My thought being that one lathe could take the place of three.

Any thoughts are welcome and appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Bob

 

[rrjohnso2000]

Nice collection. Very. It sounds like you have a good overall plan. Keep a big one and another.

You mention using it for the work you do now and the future. You are the best suited to answer if a machine will preform for what you want it do. Use it for what you intend and see if it performs.

Often we can get by with a lot less machine than we would like, but it sure is nice to have too much. I say you get machining and time and experience will tell you what to do. Good luck

 

[itsme_Bernie]

If you have room, you may want to keep one lathe, the least "pretty" separated from the others, and dedicate it to a tool post grinder since noone likes to get their grinder dust on their favorite machines

Bernie

 

[rrjohnso2000]

I like the extra toolpost grinder lathe idea.

 

[John Hasler]

I like the extra toolpost grinder lathe idea.

I've been thinking of doing that with my old lathe, which is really too floppy to cut metal.

 

[MARVIN GARDENS]

Thanks guys.

I already have a tool grinder and using a lathe for one would take up as much space anyway. (-;

Thanks again.

Bob

 

[Strtspdlx]

You can never have too many tools. Let alone lathes. I'd say you have a good start. So
Maybe now it's time to start purchasing mills


Regards-Carlo

 

[MattM]

An ex wife once asked me after I had just bought another gun, " How many guns do you need?". I replied, "How many guns are there?".

I guess same applies to lathes.

 

[Holescreek]

Keep the EE if it meets your future requirements and then keep the lathe with the largest diameter spindle bore for gunsmithing work.
I do the majority of my turning (99%) on a 12.5" x 18" traytop. Seldom do I need extra length or a bigger bore. For the rare occasions that I do, I have another lathe that gets very little use.
The Axelson 30" c-c length isn't a negative in my book, space fills up quick enough in a shop without parking extra iron and the majority of barrels you're ever going to turn will be 25" or less. On the ultra rare occasion you want to turn a barrel longer than 30" there are ways/accessories to make it work. The taper attachment will probably come in handy for some barrel work too.

 

[Reeltor]

Axelson 16” x 30. Good machine, very good condition. Taper and tracer attachments.

Holescreek beat me to it, keep the 10EE and the Axelson. Remember, the "old timers" always turned barrels between centers.
Take a look at some of Keith Fenner's (Turn Wright Machine Works) when he uses his Tracer attachment. The tracer alone is a reason to keep this lathe; plus you would be more likely to need to turn something larger than the SB 12" swing will allow than needing the longer bed.
This is the internet, everyone has an opinion or three

Mike