Brandenberger
Hot Rolled
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2017
Hi,
Looking for a good quality $10-15k lathe for non-production work... solid but
not absolutely massive. Going into a basement but can be rigged in by
a Bilco door. This would be a 1340 or 1440-size machine.
I've been looking for a nice Clausing Colchester 13 ('70's vintage) or earlier,
and just finding worn machines in the NY/NJ area. So I'm considering new.
I don't really have the time to search out hard to find deals and move on them quickly, and
the machinery dealers I've talked to want a lot of money for questionable condition
machines.
I'll probably get a geared head and then put a reasonable VFD on it.
There are a bunch of older threads on this topic, here's my current research
such as it is, if anyone has pointers that would be helpful.
Considered brands/machines:
- Acer 1440G or V (have some experience with them)
- Lagun Turnmaster AT-1340-G
- Kent TRL1340 aka SunMaster ERL1340
- Willis 1440 aka Jesco Studturn 1440
The Kents (from Sun Master in Taiwan) are also available from lots of other
places. Willis seems to be reselling Jesco machines.
These models (2200lb or so) seem very similar. Anything to differentiate them?
Some are D1-4 and D1-5 spindles. That probably doesn't matter too much for my
purposes.
Acer tells me they're no longer shipping the 1440G/V with a cast iron base, unless
you special order it that way. So the weight on the Acer 1440 is well below 2000lbs.
It seems while the Clausing Colchesters of the 1977-ish vintage had 16 speeds
via gears, all of the above have 8 gears and a two-speed motor (in the geared
machines).
It seems none of the above have matrix-type clutches anymore, the motor is on or
off. It seems these are all oil bath types in the 13-14" category, rather than
a pump arrangement as with the Colchester machines I've seen.
The Lagun Turnmaster 1340-G seems an exception... they're now doing a 3-V design, and at
a significantly higher price ($16k without any accessories, $19k with accessories and DRO),
whereas the other machines are in the $10-12k range with generally some chucks,
steady rests, etc. Lagun seems cagey about saying who makes their machine.
It would be nice to have a taper attachment (telescoping preferred). None of the
dealers seemed to be able to answer whether they're telescoping or not. Maybe as
infrequently as I'd use the taper a non-telescoping would be fine.
So anyone with experience with these machines that could offer input
would be appreciated. I can run a new Acer nearby at the distributor, the rest
I'd not be able to run at all.
I'm leaning slightly toward Acer because I can run it (probably the actual machine I
end up getting), and they've been around a long time and probably will continue to
have parts long into the future. Some of the others are well established and some
are just sales front-ends.
Thanks,
Phil
Looking for a good quality $10-15k lathe for non-production work... solid but
not absolutely massive. Going into a basement but can be rigged in by
a Bilco door. This would be a 1340 or 1440-size machine.
I've been looking for a nice Clausing Colchester 13 ('70's vintage) or earlier,
and just finding worn machines in the NY/NJ area. So I'm considering new.
I don't really have the time to search out hard to find deals and move on them quickly, and
the machinery dealers I've talked to want a lot of money for questionable condition
machines.
I'll probably get a geared head and then put a reasonable VFD on it.
There are a bunch of older threads on this topic, here's my current research
such as it is, if anyone has pointers that would be helpful.
Considered brands/machines:
- Acer 1440G or V (have some experience with them)
- Lagun Turnmaster AT-1340-G
- Kent TRL1340 aka SunMaster ERL1340
- Willis 1440 aka Jesco Studturn 1440
The Kents (from Sun Master in Taiwan) are also available from lots of other
places. Willis seems to be reselling Jesco machines.
These models (2200lb or so) seem very similar. Anything to differentiate them?
Some are D1-4 and D1-5 spindles. That probably doesn't matter too much for my
purposes.
Acer tells me they're no longer shipping the 1440G/V with a cast iron base, unless
you special order it that way. So the weight on the Acer 1440 is well below 2000lbs.
It seems while the Clausing Colchesters of the 1977-ish vintage had 16 speeds
via gears, all of the above have 8 gears and a two-speed motor (in the geared
machines).
It seems none of the above have matrix-type clutches anymore, the motor is on or
off. It seems these are all oil bath types in the 13-14" category, rather than
a pump arrangement as with the Colchester machines I've seen.
The Lagun Turnmaster 1340-G seems an exception... they're now doing a 3-V design, and at
a significantly higher price ($16k without any accessories, $19k with accessories and DRO),
whereas the other machines are in the $10-12k range with generally some chucks,
steady rests, etc. Lagun seems cagey about saying who makes their machine.
It would be nice to have a taper attachment (telescoping preferred). None of the
dealers seemed to be able to answer whether they're telescoping or not. Maybe as
infrequently as I'd use the taper a non-telescoping would be fine.
So anyone with experience with these machines that could offer input
would be appreciated. I can run a new Acer nearby at the distributor, the rest
I'd not be able to run at all.
I'm leaning slightly toward Acer because I can run it (probably the actual machine I
end up getting), and they've been around a long time and probably will continue to
have parts long into the future. Some of the others are well established and some
are just sales front-ends.
Thanks,
Phil
