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Rockwell 11" lathe price???

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Hot Rolled
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Location
CA
I am going to go look at a Rockwell 11" Lathe tomorrow.

Owner said it has a 3 jaw, 4 jaw, and some other tooling.
From the picture it looks like the standard PhaseII holder kit, plus a live center and tailstock chuck.

Not sure about a steady rest, and if it has the L-OO mount, from picture it appears to have a taper attachment.

Assuming its in average condition what would you say is a fair price. Owner is asking $1800. Just looking to see what the going price for them is, currently none on ebay and can't find any for sale threads of similar machines anywhere.
 
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I surely hope the truly expert will respond, but until then, I will rush in.

Before you go, do a Google on "Rockwell Lathe", and "Rockwell Lathe Practical Machinist". What pops up? Are the responses of the "I need.......", "Does anyone have...." variety? Not a good sign. When someone does ask, are there responses to the post, or is it simply 'crickets chirping'?

Run a thumbnail/fingernail up and over the ways within the first foot or so of the headstock. Does your nail hang up on any ridges? If Yes, I don't think the lathe is worth the asking price. Others may disagree, but I want to give you very conservative advice.

Are the ways dry, or is there a slight film of lubricant on them? He knows you were coming, seems to me a slight film should be present, even if he put it on as you rang the doorbell.

Has anyone's resting hand worn a spot on the headstock?

Take a look at the gear train, gearbox, etc. as possible.

Have the seller go through the "all speeds, all feeds" routine. What do you hear?


Take a look at the carriage, the chuck, the toolpost etc. and look for signs of a crash. "A new chuck" isn't always a good sign.... Chunks removed and gouges aren't signs of normal wear.

Take a look at the tailstock. Feel inside the taper socket, do you feel any wear rings in there? If yes, someone was spinning a drill bit in the taper socket.

If you can, check the taper on the spindle bore. Check for signs of spun tooling.

How big of a spindle bore do you desire?

Do you ever think you will be cutting pipe threads? If Yes, brush up the TPI of potential pipe sizes, and look for them on the chart.

Is the threading dial missing? That's a real easy $100 to replace, perhaps more than $200....

Crank the tailstock in and out. Does it?


How smooth are the various handwheels? How much play, CW to CCW?

What is bent? What is missing?

Check the lubricant levels, if sight glasses are present.

The 14x41 Rockwell's asking price seems to be $2750 or so. $1800 for that (smaller) unit doesn't seem too bad.

In the future, set up and Save This Search on ebay, under My Ebay. You can get email alerts whenever your search terms are found. Do that for a year or so, and you will have good idea on how often the item comes up, and the typical pricing, and the typical geographic location.


Okay, that's enough from me, others can contribute.

Steve
 
1800 seems a bit high
i don't think there is any parts support other than whats to be found from parted out machines
if you got 2 grand cash put it in something current, and still supported,
unless half the want is for something to shine up and rebuild with your own 2 hands, then 1800 seems a bit high for something in this light duty class, you can find old monarks and such getting much more for the same money.
 
thanks for the help so far guys, I had a feeling the price was a bit high.

I would like to purchase something bigger like the Webb, but space and money are limited, this Rockwell is already at the upper end of both. This would be replacing my South Bend Heavy 10, as that has a very short bed. Although this wouldn't be quite a heavy duty lathe, I feel it would be a step up from my SB-10.
 
thanks for the help so far guys, I had a feeling the price was a bit high.

I would like to purchase something bigger like the Webb, but space and money are limited, this Rockwell is already at the upper end of both. This would be replacing my South Bend Heavy 10, as that has a very short bed. Although this wouldn't be quite a heavy duty lathe, I feel it would be a step up from my SB-10.

That price is a tad high unless it is in very good condition or well tooled. I have a 14" Rockwell and it is a very sturdy and well featured machine, but I don't think the 11" model compares well with it. There are no new parts available for these lathes anymore and the 11" has a weak, complex gear in the apron that can be a PITA to fix if it goes out. The L00 spindle is nice though. I think that if I were in your shoes I would try to find a long bed for a the Heavy 10 and move your parts onto it, or find an entire long bed machine in good shape. They are still out there and $1800 can buy a pretty decent 10L. I am in process of rebuilding a 4' bed 10L with D1-4 spindle. When done it will replace my 12" Craftsman and 14" Rockwell. I can't get the 14" in the basement and the Craftsman is a bit light for some of the stuff I want to do.
 
I have the Rockwell14X40. It is a very good machine equiped with a DC motor. I only paid $500.00 for it. It came with lots of tooling. Yes I know it was a bargain. I think the lathe you are looking at is overpriced by about $500.00 Bob
 
Those are good little lathes,, but they had a few weak spots. The VS drive can be trouble, but not nearly as much trouble as a Clausing. Its a very simple reeves style drive, quite often a new belt will make a world of difference in smoothness. In the worst case, look for badly worn pullies, loose on the shaft etc. They aren't hard to fix, but a bad drive relects in the value. The backgears are very hard to get if they are bad, 2 screws remove the top cover and you can eaisly check them. Another weak spot is in the QC box, there's a brass gear on the tumbler levers thats often worn, again a hard part to find as Delta doesn't support the metalworking equipment anymore. There may be a few aftermarket parts sources though. The lathe has a lot of good points and anyone I know who has one is quite happy with it. I recently rebuilt the drive for a customer, and it cost about $100 for parts and we had to remachine one shaft and make a bushing. Accessories are rather hard to get, things like taper att., steady rests etc. As far as price, its not real bad assuming its in good shape and you can hear it run, then deduct for any faults you find. I have sold many of these over the years and consider them a very good light lathe. The beds hold up well, and they had some nice features. I do have some used parts if you end up buying it and need anything.
 
As a sidenote, I was going to sell the Rockwell 14X40 as it was already on my truck, and I had a Southbend 10 L well equiped.already in place which served me just fine. I put the Rockwell on Craiglist and did'nt get a single call. So I put the 10L on Craiglist and I sold it to the first looker. I could have sold it several times over. Even though the Rockwell is a much more capable lathe. Sometimes I am just confused by people. Bob
 
Bob, its weird the SB-10's seem to sell for alot, and everybody wants them.

SW, no big loss, will keep looking. If I had more space I know I could find alot more lathe, for similar money. Next year this time I will be moving, and should have more space so Im not in a big rush.
 
Aim higher, don't settle for less, settle for more.

I doubt it sold at $1800.

Keep in mind this lathe was in California, I know in the midwest or rust belt $1800. would be too high, but out here if it was working reasonably well they probably got $1800. for it.

Its pretty rare to see any reasonably desirable small lathe out here for less than that price.

I got lucky though, got a pretty nice Clausing 5914 "basket case" that some guy disassembeled then lost interest in and just dumped all the parts in his garage.

Got it for $500. but took some risk and had some added stress. Like a dumbass when picking it up I missed that the "basket" didn't have the top part of the cross-slide in it.

Called him back and he called back in a few hours saying "hey, I found it in a box pushed under my trailer". Cleaned up and assembled it turned out it was in really nice shape.
 
There is a Rockwell Lathe Yahoo group:
RockwellLathe : Rockwell Metalworking Lathe

Lots of good info there including the factory manual in PDF format.

I have a Rockwell 10" so I can't help you much. My Reeves drive is very similar and I improved it a great deal by replacing all the old bearings between the motor and the spindle (not including motor and spindle bearings.)

The worm gear in the apron is a "wear part" and I replaced mine on my 10" by making a new one. The worm gear on the 11" is different but others have made them.

The helical back gear has a tendency to have sheared teeth (I think) and I think there is a guy in VT who has replacements though the name escapes me at the moment.... yep it is:
PLAZA MACHINERY,USED MACHINERY, METALWORKING MACHINERY, WOODWORKING MACHINERY
and he has the repair kit for the back gears for $125.

As others have said $1800 is high. If the power feed or back gears are iffy you should be able to knock that down closer to $1000-$1200.

-DU-
 
No loss at $1800. I picked up one of these at a high school metal shop auction for $200. Could have had the whole lot of 4 for $500, but I didn't have room in the truck.
 








 
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