Is an old domestic lathe worth the same as a new import lathe?

Wow, a lot of great responses and personal experiences in just a day. Thanks all for your input. Based on everyone's responses, I think a new import machine will work for me.
 
Not adding anything here, but naturally depends on where you want to spend your time. Pick up new overseas iron and it "should" be functional right away so you'll be making chips within hours. You'll likely have "modern conveniences" of a flat/square compound for gauge blocks and indicators. Likely have the ability to thread both English and metric right out of the chute. You'll have a warranty. Has that "new lathe" smell.

Buy old American iron and you're likely getting a more robustly designed lathe as it was intended for heavy use. It will treat you properly if you treat it properly. Unknown factor is you don't know how it was treated by the previous owner(s). Might be OK, but you might be spending months on a rebuild. Once restored, it'd last your lifetime and probably your kids and grandkids.

I have a Grizzly G0709 14"x 40" lathe purchased new over 2 years ago. Really like the machine. Also have a 1963'ish Clausing 5418 12" x 24" lathe that came out of a high school shop. The Clausing is rock solid and just feels smoother than my Grizzly. But the Grizzly gets 95% of my lathe work. Main reason I bought the Grizzly is for the geared head speed changes and the universal quick change gear box (no quadrant gear changes to go between metric and English threading). My Clausing requires deep knee bends to change the speeds; open the base cabinet, throw a tensioning lever that's on the floor and slip the drive belt on a pair of cone pulleys. The Grizzly also has a brake as I'd gotten into a bad habit on the Clausing of dragging my hand on the collet chuck to stop the spindle. Top speed on my Clausing is something like 1600 RPM, without power feeds engaged it'll spin for about 45 seconds before coming to a stop (it's that smooth and well balanced).

Other question to ask when buying old iron is why is the guy/gal selling it? Are they getting rid of a problem child or just down sizing? You may consider asking some "go to" questions when looking at old iron. I looked at a well used Bridgeport years ago and frankly didn't know what questions to ask or what to look for. A machinist at work suggested I look at the rest of the shop for cleanliness and organization. Also ask how difficult it was to get to all of the lubrication points. Well, the shop was a pig sty and he had to start looking over the BP and his lathe for the lube points. Told me what I needed to know about his attentiveness to the preventive maintenance schedules - no sale that day!

Good luck on the hunt, always a tough call.

Bruce
 
I've owned a Taiwan made 1340 lathe for 20 odd years. It gets cleaned oiled and adjusted. In the time I've owned it, I've replaced the counter shaft bearings (£3)
It replaced an old British made tool room lathe that was built like a battleship but was too small (5 X 20"), too big (1 ton +), too worn and too expensive to repair (It cost about the same to buy the 1340 that the parts would have cost).
I think I must be happy with it, I haven't looked for a replacement for a long time.
I would really like a new, top of the range long bed Myford Super7 on the industrial stand and with the complete range of factory accessories.
Unlikely to happen because they're not made anymore, it would cost 3 or 4 1340s, it would be too small anyway. Nice though!
 
My 2 cents. I was given a 'free' Atlas lathe. It was my grandfathers. Worse than a 'free pony'. As much as I like 'communing with him' when I work on it, I would have been far better off financially and work wise putting the restoration and tooling money into a new 12x36...and I am not 'restoring' it, just getting it back into condition where it can make good parts.
 
New stuff isn't always good. My first purchased new Taiwan 17" made drill press back about 1987 was a total piece of junk. The runout was so bad it wasn't even good for woodworking, the switch failed within a few months and the motor not long after. It was replaced with a 15" 1940's vintage Walker Turner that I still have. Likewise my purchased new around 1989 Craftsman made in USA radial arm saw was total trash and would go out of alignment with a slight bump on the arm, this was replaced with a late 1960s vintage DeWalt which is still going strong. My first bench grinder was an 8 inch from Horror Fright, that was a weak sorry tool, gave that away to a neighbor that didn't anything so it was better than nothing. He has since passed it on.

Thanks for reminding me why I like older tools.
 
Colchester still makes good quality small lathe (albeit likely with chicom casting and that ugly 600 group paint color)
I will go to my grave with this little 11"x30 and count my lucky stars the day I found and "overpaid" for it.
I added the dro and chip guards.
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Dredb said:
I've owned a Taiwan made 1340 lathe for 20 odd years. It gets cleaned oiled and adjusted. In the time I've owned it, I've replaced the counter shaft bearings (£3)
It replaced an old British made tool room lathe that was built like a battleship but was too small (5 X 20"), too big (1 ton +), too worn and too expensive to repair (It cost about the same to buy the 1340 that the parts would have cost).
I think I must be happy with it, I haven't looked for a replacement for a long time.
I would really like a new, top of the range long bed Myford Super7 on the industrial stand and with the complete range of factory accessories.
Unlikely to happen because they're not made anymore, it would cost 3 or 4 1340s, it would be too small anyway. Nice though!
Click to expand...
Check out this guy who is restoring 7 Myford 7's (his second batch):
He is doing very nice work, there are more videos from him newer than this one on the subject.
 
tyronejk said:
Wow, a lot of great responses and personal experiences in just a day. Thanks all for your input. Based on everyone's responses, I think a new import machine will work for me.
Click to expand...

If you can afford it, go Taiwan made. Unlike the one person's experience here, things have changed a bit in the last ~40 years or so.

I bought a 1340GT lathe from PM (Precision Matthews), and have had zero issues with it. Good materials and quality of manufacture, and more accurate than I am. Tried to hit a .580" diameter yesterday and missed. It ended up being .58025" It wasn't the machine, it's the driver. ;)

Bought a 935S 'baby bridgeport' from the same vendor. Taiwan made. Quality of the castings, fit, and finish on this thing is very good. Table and knee movement is butter smooth. And again, more accurate than I am.

Didn't have to repair or rebuild anything. After setup and alignment, they both just start making parts. With proper care, these will outlast me by a long shot. Maybe my step-son will be interested in them by then. Right now he's too busy raising a family. :)
 
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