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How Much To Get A Serious Lathe? I Have The Answer...

N

Nitromahn

Aluminum
Joined
Sep 11, 2008
Location
Bethel, Alaska USA
Take out a second mortgage on the house.

I know most hate the Oriental lathes, but what they hey, I asked for and received two quotes on shipping for a couple of lathes, and I thought I'd share them with you cats.

1. Grizzly Model 709, a 14x40" weighing about 1550 pounds with stand. I was quoted $3300 for a terminal pickup, or $3600 for a residential delivery.

2. Monarch 16x54" made during WWII, a monster and a Serious Machine at 5480 pounds. Are you ready? $12,380.12 from Austin, Texas to Bethel, Alaska 99559.

AAAnnnnnnddddd....the machines cost the same. No shit. $5000.00.

HHHhhhhhmmmm...which one should I go with?
 
Is the Monark complete, chucks steady rest, all the change gears?

The Monark when new is easily the better machine, but what shape is it in now. Probably 3 phase motor.

I have the g0544 which had a shipping weight of 2800 lbs. A bit heavier than the one you're looking at. More weight is usually better.
I posted this under a previous handle.http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general-archive/g0554-assesmnent-91998/?highlight=g0554

As I noted the cross slide nut mount was a weak spot and I had to fix it.

Grizzly motors seem to be a problem. Not just mine. Some of their machines offer USA made options, take it.

Mine burned out after a couple years of only moderate use.(single phase). I replaced it with a Leeson. What a difference. More power with the same rating and smoother finishes.
I had to rig up my own reversing switch though.

Dave
 
Anything is Alaska is a far way from anything in Texas... It's what 5,000 miles? 12k Sounds pretty cheap to me, I wouldn't want to haul it up there for that. Google maps didn't even want to give me directions from Bethel Alaska to Austin.

Are machine tools so rare up there that your even considering hauling them basically across a continent?
 
Yes.

Here is the dilemma: I could buy a rebuilt machine for around $35k, but it costs $2 per pound to get it here. I can buy the Oriental machines and have them shipped up, and they cost about as much as a used machine.

I am going to wait towards the end of the summer and see what I can get. It is depressing.
 
If you're in Alaska maybe you should be looking in Alberta...Edmonton area, for example. With the economy there in such a turmoil I've seen some pretty good deals on lathes and mills.

Here's one example...

Canadian Standard Modern Machine Lathe | power tools | Edmonton | Kijiji

And don't forget, that 1500 buck Canadian price equates to about 1150 in US dollars. There are lots of machinery dealers in Alberta...a bit of Google searching should turn up some names and I bet some of them are eager to unload some stuff. And Edmonton--or any part of Alberta really, is a lot closer to Alaska than Texas....
 
1. Grizzly Model 709, a 14x40" weighing about 1550 pounds with stand. I was quoted $3300 for a terminal pickup, or $3600 for a residential delivery.

2. Monarch 16x54" made during WWII, a monster and a Serious Machine at 5480 pounds. Are you ready? $12,380.12 from Austin, Texas to Bethel, Alaska 99559.

Besides the question regarding the condition of the Monarch, the question should be do you need a machine of the quality of the Monarch? If the Grizz will do what you want, why buy more? If the Grizz will not do what you want, why buy it at all?

There are much better Oriental machines than those Grizzly brings in but they cost more than Grizzly's market will bear. But shipping would probably still kill you since you aren't buying a boat load.

Do you know anyone in the Air National Guard that flies C-130's? Maybe you could get it flown in on a training mission for a few cases of beer.
 
GGaskill said:
1. Grizzly Model 709, a 14x40" weighing about 1550 pounds with stand. I was quoted $3300 for a terminal pickup, or $3600 for a residential delivery.

2. Monarch 16x54" made during WWII, a monster and a Serious Machine at 5480 pounds. Are you ready? $12,380.12 from Austin, Texas to Bethel, Alaska 99559.

Besides the question regarding the condition of the Monarch, the question should be do you need a machine of the quality of the Monarch? If the Grizz will do what you want, why buy more? If the Grizz will not do what you want, why buy it at all?

There are much better Oriental machines than those Grizzly brings in but they cost more than Grizzly's market will bear. But shipping would probably still kill you since you aren't buying a boat load.

Do you know anyone in the Air National Guard that flies C-130's? Maybe you could get it flown in on a training mission for a few cases of beer.
Click to expand...

1. Yes.
2. That is something you would only see in movies.
 
I recently paid $1500 to get my 6k lb lathe moved 2.5 miles. I can't imagine what it would cost moving it to a place that required transportation through another country.
 
jlrii said:
Ha ha...I have a vision of a C-130 flying low over his neighborhood and the 5500 Lb Monarch being pushed out the back with a parachute.

JR
Click to expand...

Don' laff. There are loadmasters standing in USAF work boots who could rig it for a touch-and-go yank-out, and throw in a case of fresh eggs for proof it hadn't been overstressed.

But Oy, the budget impact..

:)
 
I can't imagine what it would cost moving it to a place that required transportation through another country.

There are no roads into Bethel.
 
I looked it up in google maps .. and could not find roads.
Does everything come in by boat ?

Shipping by sea is, generally, cheap.
Shipping much bigger modern machine tools, is about 3k+3k, from the USA to europe, and then truck to anywhere.
A bit less for the 2000 kg small ones, and a bit more for the 6-7 m/8000 kg sizes (deck freight, wont fit in container).
In the past we ordered/managed/delivered 50 plus, so are somewhat familiar with it.

Call DHL SCS supply chain services, the industrial guys.
I would expect 5-6k delivered to your shop, for the bigger one.

Given reasonable rates/rigger for the final short trip from the harbour to your shop.
It might be you want to organise it yourself with local trucker with lift.

GGaskill said:
I can't imagine what it would cost moving it to a place that required transportation through another country.

There are no roads into Bethel.
Click to expand...
 
There was an older Jet 15"x50" on Craigslist in Anchorage on Sunday. Guy was asking $3,900, and it was already loaded on a truck and he said he could deliver.

The ad was taken down within six hours.

Yeah, Bethel is one of our many remote villages, about 400 miles west of the nearest paved road. Basically the only choices to get a package to the town is either by ship or barge (which has to go a considerable distance out into the Aleutian Chain, kind of like rounding the Horn) or by air. There basically are no other choices.

Air-freighting a ton of lathe just from Houston to Las Vegas would still cost a ton of money. It's no different up here, we just have the extra cost to get it up from the States to tack on.

I feel for ya Nitro. :) I'm not as bad (on the Peninsula) but I still can't count the number of possible buys I've had to miss over the years, because the shipping outweighed the value of the machine.

Doc.
 
I will be getting the Grizzly. Yeah, it sucks, but I will get a nice one in the future. I myself was surprised at the cost. But hey, the silver lining here is I am not shipping up a Bucyrus-Erie truck crane weighing in at 85k pounds with a 100 foot boom!

I would need money for a lathe, say $8-10k, about $2k to have a base built then a plywood cab to protect the lathe, and the $10k to ship. I'd fly down to watch the machinist I'd hire work over the machine and do test cuts, then coordinate the other stuff. But for that cost, I could have a Monarch rebuilt to new! The choices are killing me! Next year for sure. :)
 
Advise:
Dont buy the grizzly - its far too light.

Buy any chicom machine at 300% more mass.
You will be Really glad you did.

Nitromahn said:
I will be getting the Grizzly. Yeah, it sucks, but I will get a nice one in the future. I myself was surprised at the cost. But hey, the silver lining here is I am not shipping up a Bucyrus-Erie truck crane weighing in at 85k pounds with a 100 foot boom!
Click to expand...
 
Many older Monarchs have painfully small spindle bores.... And very long spindles, PITA for gun work.

Most I have seen up here, had short beds, until you got to the 20 inch lathes.

Otherwise great machines...

When I was in the Guard, they were always trying to transfer me to Bethel.

They just did not comprehend, that mills and lathes don't travel to Bethel for fun..

Barge or cargo plane. That's it..

Grizz will get the job done.. Nothing fancy.. or overbuilt. But not what I would call a serious lathe. ATW Pacemaker, Axelson, Lodge and Shiply... That's getting serious..

Since a new machine will be factory crated. An extra tarp would be about all thats needed, for a quick (LOL) barge trip.. As soon as machine arrives, get it out of crate and start cleaning...
 
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