Which lathe to buy

Primitive56 · Nov 6, 2017

I am new to working with lathes and was wondering what would be a good beginers lathe? I am looking at the precision Mathews pm 1030v and the grizzly g0752. The pm has a power cross feed, a quick change tool post and a mt2 taper on the tail stock, and rpm from 50 to 2000 and costs 2300 with shipping. The grizzly has more thread options I believe, an mt3 taper for the tail stock no cross feed, rpm is 100 - to 2000, it has a 4 tool post not quick change. Costs 1904 with shipping. Both have varible speed.

Are there others I should be looking at? Thanks for any help.

rons · Nov 6, 2017

You will probably out-grow either one.

Time for the locking dwarf.

Jersey John · Nov 6, 2017

I think you could give us more information like:

How often are you going to use it (Daily, weekly or occasionally)
Are you looking to use it for "One offs" or production work.
Is it for a home shop or business work.

... what about secondhand / used?

Lots of questions to be asked ... tell us more then we can spend your money

John

tdmidget · Nov 6, 2017

in before the lock

DDoug · Nov 6, 2017

You would think a "Retired teacher" could at least read the sticky's up top about "appropriate machines"

JohnEvans · Nov 6, 2017

OP : Those home shop toys are not allowed to be discuss on PM. But my .02 minimum 12X36 gear head, 1.5 headstock bore ,power cross feed,quick change gearbox,1000 lbs min weight. That gets you in to $4K cost area for a import.Probably not to much used of any flavor in your area either.

Monarchist · Nov 6, 2017

What John said, plus 1,500 lbs on the minimum weight. And less than 30" - 36" c-to-c is a major limiter, even on "small goods" working.

Besides geared-head, "some" of the continuously variable Reeves or PIV drive (Hendey, Sheldon, Cazeneuve) or a DC or VFD drive (Monarch 10EE, Rivett 10XX, L&S AVS..) rather than a geared head can work also.

Hobby-grade and Lathe-Shaped-Objects, such as those you mentioned, are widely discussed, I am sure. But in ta da.. "hobbyists" forums. Of course.

PM is largely "industrial", not hobby. Per the stickies, South Bend forum the main exception.

And "anything that goes" in gunsmithing.

mmarquette · Nov 6, 2017

Id rather spend that same amount and buy a less than 1000 $ 12- 30 gear head Hendey an old mill and a bunch of tooling from Ebay and some auction.

Monarchist · Nov 6, 2017

mmarquette said:
Id rather spend that same amount and buy a less than 1000 $ 12- 30 gear head Hendey an old mill and a bunch of tooling from Ebay and some auction.

Good luck with that "less than $1,000" budget. By the time ANY of the "Grand Old" manual lathes, mills, or even drillpresses, have been hauled to home, "enough" 3-P power provisioned, a few basic show-stoppers corrected, and at least minimal workholding and tooling put-by, best figure on four, six, even ten or twelve thousand large.

Not just ONE. DAMHIKT.

mmarquette · Nov 6, 2017

I did mean just for the lathe and the rest of the budget for everything else.

sealark37 · Nov 6, 2017

Unless you only plan to turn wooden ink pens, forget those lathes. Look for a used South Bend, Myford, or Delta lathe. There are several other likely machines, but these are commonly available and tool-able. Regards, Clark

ezduzit · Nov 6, 2017

Look for a quality, used lathe, in excellent condition, with a comprehensive set of tooling.

Primitive56 · Nov 6, 2017

I don't know how much I will use the lathe, but I don't plan on getting into any production work. Just something to mess around with in my retirement, just something to do to pass the time and keep me busy and learn something new. Maybe I am in the wrong forum and this is more for professionals, and I need to find a hobbies forum. Thanks for the input.

comstockfriend · Nov 6, 2017

Primitive56 said:
Maybe I am in the wrong forum and this is more for professionals, and I need to find a hobbies forum.

The Home Machinist! - Index page

comstockfriend · Nov 6, 2017

Lots of good info here; a lot of your machining questions can be answered. Don't mention the 'forbidden machines' and just ask the machining question. Have a thick skin if it's a basic question that the 'old timers' will expect you to already know.

Chaski as mentioned above will give you input to the lathes you mentioned.

John

hanermo · Nov 6, 2017

Almost all the negative comments were WRONG in this particular case.

The PM lathe before others, and perhaps another option before the PM.
The rigidity of a lathe is working length pwr 3.
So if You increase length 100% it needs to be 8x more massive to have the same rigidity.

The worlds best small lathe Monarch10EE, or Sharps, Feelers, Hardinge 10xxx, Similars, is due in a big part to heavy mass/high rigidity vs short length.
Increasing the length about 25% needs about double the mass for the same practical rigidity / surface finish.

E.g.
I have a Very Good light industrial import lathe of 12x24. 450 kg mass.
Short, rigid.
It is about the same rigidity as a 2000 kg 42" lathe. Ie excellent.

My lathe is also a testbed, and probably about the most modified and most high end CNC refit 12x lathe ever done by an individual.
Mine is more/less at the top, but certainly close.
C axis, ac servos on everything, 0.2 microns (theory) step size, 32 mm ballscrews, etc.

The only thing I would buy in a lathe is mass / rigidity / brand.
Anything else pulleys, gears, drives, motors is Very easily and very cheaply made or refit later.

The only exception is very high end stuff of immediate need ... that will then have appropriate budgets.
In any rigid more/less lathe - like mine- or any rigid lathe - high-end bearings or add-ons are easily fitted.
( E.g. Up to air-bearings at spindle end. )

Mikel Levy · Nov 6, 2017

Buy yourself a working 9 or 10 inch South Bend or similar lathe for $1000 or less off your local craigslist. Make sure it has some basic tooling--3 and 4-jaw chucks, a quick-change too post (or buy a set for $150), tailstock drill chuck, live center. Use it for a year or two to get your feet wet. Then put it back on craigslist and buy yourself a machine you can now really appreciate.

Mike

metalmaster10 · Nov 6, 2017

Hi Primitive,
You will hear a lot about Grizzly... here is a little from experience.
I got a 16x40 several years ago and I was pretty pleased. I did a pretty fair write up on it a year after I got it and would still stick by it.
HOWEVER, due to being pleased with that, I got 3 more, but the smaller 14x40.
Let me say it this way... OMG, NO!!!!!!
Don't do it!
Along with the "rules" here, as go their machines. The 16" and over might be ok, but smaller are crap.
You may not need, want, of have the option of a 16" lathe, just choose something other than the griz.

Bobw · Nov 6, 2017

Primitive56 said:
I don't know how much I will use the lathe, but I don't plan on getting into any production work. Just something to mess around with in my retirement, just something to do to pass the time and keep me busy and learn something new. Maybe I am in the wrong forum and this is more for professionals, and I need to find a hobbies forum. Thanks for the input.

Getting "professional" advise is probably a good idea.. I've owned and used some of those cheap little chinese
pieces of shit... And they are pieces of shit.. Frustrating as all hell... You know what you want it to
do, and you think it should be able to do it... And either it won't do it, or the F'n thing breaks...

Part of being a "professional" machinist is doing stuff with machines that they were never meant to do..
Also using old clapped out crap and making that work... So using a crappy little chinese lathe should
be no different.. But it is, its frustrating, even knowing the limitations, and having the experience and
the knowledge to work around less than ideal situations.

I couldn't even imagine how frustrating using an absolute piece of shit would be for somebody that
doesn't have the experience or the knowledge... YET...

If you just want to mess around and learn, don't dump 2 grand.. Just go get one of the little 7x14's. They USED
to be $400, I don't know what they are now. I actually used to enjoy that shitty little lathe more than
the bigger (yet still small) shitty lathes.

Or hop on Craigslist and see if you can find a small Southbend or even a shitty little Atlas... You will
enjoy life a lot more if you do..

Primitive56 · Nov 18, 2017

After doing a lot of looking around I have these two options right now. A Grizzly 0709 it is a 1440 gear head gap bed lathe, or this used KBC 14 40 gear head gap bed lathe that is used. I tried posting a link but would not post it.

It is on craigslist Bend Or in search type KBC lathe and it should come up.

I called and talked to him and he made an offer on another bigger grizzly lathe and the guy didn't get back to him so he bought this lathe. Then the guy on the first lathe called him back and accepted his offer and so he bought the biggr lathe and is now trying to sell this one, and just get his money back.

The KBC latne is about 10 hours away it has some tooling but it is 3 phase so I would have to get a phase converter. By the time I got the phase converter and gas and motel room it is about a wash on cost. Both laths would be around 5000. I called KCB and they said getting parts might be an issue. The KCB comes with a DRO and a taper attachment and some othe tooling. Grizzly would come with a warranty but I would have to buy tooling and gear oil, which would make the grizzly a little more expensive. What is your oppinion?

Thanks,
Randy

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