Used lathe pre-buy

[SouthernChap]

The 7550 has an .8" through hole in the spindle and an 8.5" swing which puts it squarely in the mini lathe catagory.

I'd have to disagree. It's really more of a 9x20 bench lathe rather than a mini lathe.

I know this might sound like nit-picky but I'm thinking, should the OP search the term "mini lathe", they will see a whole lot of negative stuff. A fair amount of which, will be unwarranted, and also much that likely won't apply to this lathe, it not being a 7x swing with the 3" bed width but having a 4" bed width.

 

[chaisewhiz]

He's had it posted for a year; I suspect he's eager to get rid of it. I'm definitely not committing to buy it.

 

[dabear3428]

I have looked at PMs. A lot. But to get a DRO equipped 1022 with a stand, plus shipping and tax is $4415. I'd actually love a PM-1130 as I really want that larger spindle bore but I don't know if I'm going to seriously stick with this hobby. $1800 is a much more palatable number in my brain to, "risk." I've read enough threads on here to see people fall down the rabbit hole of starting with something small and winding up looking at 1340s!

Good thoughts. Thanks.

its the people that start out looking at 13X40s and end up with 16"ers that you have to worry about. LMS makes good equipment and the 7500 series looks like a good lathe but that is a lot of money for very little lathe, the power cross feed is nice though.

 

[chaisewhiz]

Well, another one falls down the rabbit hole. I thought long and hard about it and realized I wanted a larger bore size so I could easily turn 1.5" stuff for the gym so I ordered a PM-1130. I skipped the DRO and stand to save some cash and as a bonus that will give me a welding project, too. I called and they're running a 5% discount code that's valid through the rest of the 2024. DISC24

 

[wnchstrtnfldvlle]

I don't think you'll regret it. I had the 1022 for a little less than a year. It was a good lathe, I just upgraded for the 2" spindle bore for rifle barrels.

 

[dabear3428]

Well, another one falls down the rabbit hole. I thought long and hard about it and realized I wanted a larger bore size so I could easily turn 1.5" stuff for the gym so I ordered a PM-1130. I skipped the DRO and stand to save some cash and as a bonus that will give me a welding project, too. I called and they're running a 5% discount code that's valid through the rest of the 2024. DISC24

1130 is a solid lathe good decision. and PM is hard to beat.

 

[mmcmdl]

Lititz is machining capital of the country . For $1800 you could find a very nice lathe I'm sure .

 

[455dan]

I'd say go look at the machine but don't commit to buying it. Patience is your best friend when it comes to buying machinery and you're in a pretty decent part of the country for used machine deals.

How much space do you have?

If you can spare the room consider looking for a 12x36 machine, in my opinion that's the sweet spot for hobby lathes. I went through quite a few different machines before I found my Samson (Tida) but now that I have it I'm pretty happy with the size and capability. For reference I paid $800 for mine a few years ago. Regardless of what you get, there will be a learning curve so don't expect that buying new, or newish, will keep you from having to spend a lot of time getting stuff setup right.

I know everybody says to buy the biggest and best you can afford. There is an upper limit for most hobby users, and many do good work with some pretty small machines. But, once you've used a tool with a decent amount of mass you'll hesitate to go smaller.

As others have said, if you do decide to buy this machine get as many accessories as you can. Just go into it with a fair bit of skepticism. Why was the seller so eager to drop the price almost $1000? Is he upgrading because he's tired of the limitations of this machine? There will be other deals that come up and if you're ready at the right time you'll do well.

John

Agree for $1800 a machine with more mass and swing should be available.

 

[BCNU6OF1]

My only advice would be, wait on the DRO. You said you were just starting out with machining, learn to use the lathe itself without having to mess with a computer on top of it. You'll have plenty of fun just making stuff.

 

[chaisewhiz]

My only advice would be, wait on the DRO. You said you were just starting out with machining, learn to use the lathe itself without having to mess with a computer on top of it. You'll have plenty of fun just making stuff.

Yep, that's the plan. I went with the barebones lathe. No DRO, stand, or additional accessories. I know I'll need to buy tooling so that's another fun thing to research.