I'm thinking "excavator sized pins" but that seems like splinting hairs to me. I don't actually happen to need a pin for my tractor just at this moment, but I definitely do need one for the thumb on my excavator (which the dealer just doesn't seem to have in the right size). That pin was actually the very first project I intended, and what set me on this journey in the first place. I need a rather large pin for the thumb on my excavator. I can spend a little bit of money and have the local machine shop make one for me, or I can spend a whole lot of money and do it myself. Being the idiot that I am, I opted for the latter.
OK, I already responded to your post once, but now I'm going to do it again (because I loved the "tractor sized pin" which hit so close to home)
From your experience, would you recommend that I go ahead and buy a baby lathe to play around on before buying a big one? ... or would you suggest that I save the money and go straight for the big one?
All I know is I really like the 12 x 24" I picked up for $1100 with major wiring problems so I converted it to a DC treadmill motor -which is what the previous owner must have been working on (since the lathe came with it, and a 5 HP air compressor motor as well) before he passed.
It was sold as Harbor freight / Central Machinery, but is old enough that it came out of Taiwan and is more than accurate enough for tractor/ backhoe pins.
Posted before but here is my first pin it was a 2.5" axle shaft originally out of a heavy piece of equipment and it took a lot of time to just cut off a chunk with the 14"carbide cutoff saw.
I turned it down to 1.707" IIRC and the 12 24 handled it well. The tapered pin laying below in the second pic is what the previous backhoe owner was using as the main bucket pin... needless to say more than a little slop in the bucket.
Once you get into the 12" + swing lathes the weight jumps up substantially to 800 + lb. which helps with rigidity, the width of the bed is about 7 1/2" which also helps cutting harder materials.
I have not used it yet but do plan on trying out the Gap bed as well and facing a couple larger diameter items.
I am not one of the more knowledgeable people on Hobby Machinist, but sure glad I joined, there is a wealth of info here and many much more experienced and Knowledgeable folks, and am sure there are plenty of older American made lathes that would also do just fine on excavator pins etc.
ps. It is CRAZY what some of the larger Pins sell for, two of the pins for the 550 Ford were over 300 bucks each. I figure that "making" those two pins and some other tractor bushings and spacers almost paid to get me into this lathe.
After thinking about your question that is a hard one because the smaller lathe can be a good learning experience cutting smaller softer materials without as much damage to a person if they make mistakes, as the lathe size and HP go up so does the potential to make a painful mistake, like one I made early on with the larger lathe and that was breaking the cardinal rule of the Chuck Key is in only two places your hand or in in its safe place, Never Ever left in the Chuck...
