If you were buying a lathe for industrial use

[HSS]

what would you buy?

My wife is in the market for a new 14 X 60 lathe for her shop and asked me what I would buy. I told her I didn't know but would ask my friends on the forum. Right now she has a Clausing and it is quite old and the company is making up their budget and asked for ideas on what the shops needed. She wants a new lathe and a stationary air compressor for bead blasting.
Thanks
Pat

 

[randyjaco]

Pat,

What does she plan to do with that lathe?

Randy

 

[MarkBall2]

Get the biggest you can afford.

A 14x60 is pretty common size for a production shop, although my motor repair man has a huge Hardige 20x80 that is as quiet as a church mouse.

If possible avoid the Chinese made ones, a Taiwanese is better quality, a 1960's-1970's used US made is better quality, German & Swiss used lathes are even better.

Look at Precision Matthews web site for some fairly inexpensive (for the size) US made lathes.

 

[MarkBall2]

You are probably correct. Although you seem to be fairly happy with your new Jet lathe. Would that particular one be a good option for a production shop?

 

[Tony Wells]

That's a wide question. Much depends on the tasks at hand, and future growth, if any. And budget. If it were a rough and tumble metalizing shop, I'd never buy a new lathe. Shop used. If it were a T & D shop, definitely new. Repair and maintenance, new, but not so heavy. Production, new and heavy. Too many variables for us, really. In my shop, if I were in the market, I don't want to go full CNC on turning at this point, but I'd consider a ProTrak:

http://www.southwesternindustries.com/swi/prod_lathes4.shtml

The last new lathe I bought was a 17 X 60 Acer. It's Taiwanese, and better than any mainland Chinese I've seen. Smooth, quiet, accurate. I'd buy another if I had the need. Jet builds a good lathe, or they used to. I haven't looked closely recently. One clue in my book to a good heavy machine is simple: Spindle hole size. The lower tier machines will have a small hole, and that means small gears and bearings. Not heavy. As I recall, the Jet line in the 16" series has a 3 1/4" hole. That's a good sign that the heft and durability is there. Of course the price is there also. That's likely the ZX series Jack refers to.

14 X 60 is a little bit of a stretch. Long, for the swing. That will limit the choices. Going up in swing will run up the weight, and the cost, but will give a better machine.

I'm partial to IR compressors. For a blasting application, a screw pump is recommended.

http://www.northernsafety.com/Produ...Screw-Air-Compressor-Total-Air-System-Package

A dryer is necessary for a blaster also. Really, any name brand should be all right, Quincy, IR, Curtis, Atlas-Copco, Eaton, Sullair. Best bet is to find one that has local distributor/service center.

 

[HSS]

This is not a production machine, it is for one off repair work in a pump shop.
She and 3 others rebuild pumps, gearboxes and speed reducers for the paper mill here.
One of the guys is a machinist with over 40 years experience and will be using it the most, although she uses it also so it will be a manual machine. The plant machine shop is next door to the pump shop and if they need anything big turned it goes over there. The machine will be new, no used stuff but I don't know about any new machines.

Pat

 

[Tony Wells]

I do think you will have problems finding a 60" machine in a 14" swing. Here's a sampling from one source:

http://www.emachinetool.com/new/categories.cfm?DestinationCategory=Engine Lathe

The Victor is a decent machine, as well as the Hwacheon (duplicate of a Mazak). Whacheon is built in S Korea, and is from the same set of plans as the Yamazaki (Mazak) that is a very nice, but expensive machine.

 

[HSS]

Thanks guys for all replies. She will pick one of the lathes and add it to her wish list. I told her that if she gets one of the new lathes with a large spindle hole, she might have to wait in line to use it. The lathes the machine shop are using now, have been in use continuously since 1959 and are rather loose on tolerance. They have a couple of AP's, a Nardini, and a some others SWMBO can't remember.
The air compressor she is looking at is a Sullair. The compressor they use now is on wheels, like the kind you rent an haul to the jobsite. When they need to beadblast they have to hunt down the compressor or run a hose across the street from their shop to the blasting rack and block off the street to keep trucks off the airhose. A real PITA. In all the years beadblasting out there, they have never had any kind of air dryer or separator on the equipment. They also have a very large blasting cabinet and no dryer on it either. What is the purpose of the dryer when beadblasting? I know what the dryer is for, because I repair them, but why would it be so important for beadblasting?
Anyway, thanks for all the replies.

Pat

 

[Tony Wells]

Sullair makes some fine compressors in my experience. I've used them from 10 hp up to 75, all 480 VAC 3 phase. The only complaint, which is common to most modern screw compressors, is the expense of the lubricant. It is supposed to be trapped by the separator and sent back to the system. If the separator has issues, it goes out with the air product and must be replaced. This is not limited to Sullair, so don't let that hold her back. I've run many thousand hours of 24/7 in the field on Sullair, and can report very few issues.

For bead blasting, the air should be dry for two reasons: The parts being blasted are coming back to white metal and are subject to immediate oxidation and or rust. Also, the media will become damp and not circulate in the suction tube as well. It will clump up. I used to keep large packets of silica gel desiccant in the reservoir of media to keep the moisture down some. Of course, if the metals are stainless, they won't rust or anything anyway, so it's not as important.

 

[HSS]

OK Tony, I just got corrected by the wife. Outside they are sandblasting but using a material called black beauty. They are blasting cast iron and when thru they bring the pump or gearbox inside to be torn down. The parts are then put in the dishwasher and cleaned then beadblasted in the cabinet with glass beads. The only place they want a stationary compressor is at the outside blasting site. The outside site is a loss sand area, used one time and gone. Sorry about the confusion, I have seen all of the above but never paid any attention to the sequence of operation. LOL

Pat