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WTB: Looking for a good lathe...

Pre64

Plastic
Joined
Aug 6, 2017
Needing another lathe with a larger spindle bore. At least 1 3/8 and one I can work on revolver barrels and full length rifle barrels with. I've looked at some older South Bends and am very leary. Would like something turn key with all the tooling included. I'm near Nashville, TN. Anyone have any ideas? It would be most appreciated!

R
 
Hard to find SB 10L's worthy of the coin these days (looking myself), but don't forget about the 13's ....

I'm not a pistolsmith, but I would expect those barrels could be done in a receiver truing fixture in the 4-jaw.
 
Still on the hunt. Have looked at a newer Jet 1340 and a Precision Mathews. Sellers wanted too much though. 6k is all I'm spending on a used model...
 
I'm always amazed at some of the crazy asking prices- including when they don't even have the Steady much less a couple grand in chucks and tooling with it.

Almost looked at one until close inspection of the picture of the front v-way I asked for showed a wear ridge that would catch a fingernail hard. Seems I'm the only one that looks at a clapped out bed as a parts machine....
 
This could be a nice lathe..or not
A few hundred miles is not that far.. no connection but found it on craigs list...

It has all the right stuff and you can't beat a By Owner Sale..
I would go look at it if I had the room..
Think the spindle bore is 1 5/8" $3250 is a deal if it is good.
Clausing colchester engine lathe excellent shape with a lot of tooling - tools - by owner - sale

Also a china lathe but better than a green machine with a big spindle bore of 2 1/4.
THIS IS A TOP RATED MACHINE DEALER..THEY WOULD LET YOU CHECK IT OUT... I dont know much about Kent lathes.
Kent Gap Engine Lathe - tools - by dealer - sale

Victor 1640 decent price if it checks out. 2" bore.
Victor 16 x 4 Engine lathe - tools - by owner - sale
 
Just a thought. I have bought and owned 8 lathes in my life time. All but one I acquired used and everyone of them I had to disassemble and repair to some degree. None of these were basket cases, but when you buy used, it is just normal and you should do it anyway if for nothing else, but peace of mind. In all cases, even when new, at installation time, the machine alignment and accuracy must be thoroughly validated. So, in my mind there is no such thing as plug and play.
 
Good to check a gear machine for a chatter finish..We bought one and it was hard to get the chatter out.. looks like a pattern rather than a smooth thread like tool path..Light cut on harder stock tells much..Yes it shows on CRS also but not as much.
 
There was just a "Heavy Nine" SB for less than a couple grand on Fleabay that didn't sell. If it were local would have taken a look see. Pics looked OK, but they're from the mid-late 30's and those extra decades are significant. Sure would be cool to fin one that's been stashed and forgotten in a barn somewhere for the last 60 years lol.

Interesting and rare animal, special order Navy item. 9" swing like the proverbial 9A but wider bed, and 1-3/8" spindle bore/5C col!ets like the Heavy 10.

It puzzles me that given the demand for a small swing, large bore lathe perfect for gunsmithing like this that no one manufactures one. The South Bends were so utterly simple, reliable, and easy to manufacture. The hell with technology, give me a simple line-bored hole in a cast headstock like they were made back then. I doubt many of the Chinese lathes today will still be churning out accurate work 60 or 70 years from now like the SB's.
 
A South Bend "Heavy 13" would fit your requirements, and you can find them with 60" center-to-center beds, too.

My only beef against the Heavy 13 is that it is kinda low for a 6'+ man. You spend a fair bit of time stooped over whilst working on the lathe. I'd probably put it up on 8 to 10" pediments if it were going to be in my shop.
 
Needing another lathe with a larger spindle bore. At least 1 3/8 and one I can work on revolver barrels and full length rifle barrels with. I've looked at some older South Bends and am very leary. Would like something turn key with all the tooling included. I'm near Nashville, TN. Anyone have any ideas? It would be most appreciated!

R

Look for a Webb lathe, preferably a copy of a Takasawa TSL-800 or TSL-1000. I had a 1979 vintage model, great lathe, and despite it's age was better than any SB lathe when it was new. The ways seem top be very hard, mine had zero wear, and even well used copies don't seem to exhibit any wear on the ways. and it's got a 1 3/8 bore.
 
A South Bend "Heavy 13" would fit your requirements, and you can find them with 60" center-to-center beds, too.

My only beef against the Heavy 13 is that it is kinda low for a 6'+ man. You spend a fair bit of time stooped over whilst working on the lathe. I'd probably put it up on 8 to 10" pediments if it were going to be in my shop.

I had a South Bend 14 1/2" for almost 40 years. While it is not comparable to the Sheldon I use now, it is a good lathe. The main caveat is that you need to be religious about oiling it. If you let the bronze bearings run dry all you have is cast iron ballast. In my case, the lathe was owned by a company I worked for and only slightly used by a master machinist who took excellent care of it and myself, after a lecture from him. I took it as my last paycheck when they closed and had it in my control the rest of its life. At the end of all those years of commercial use, the bearings only had a couple of tenths more clearance. I finally sold it to a good mechanic with a bottle of Mobile DTE 24 oil for the spindle.

The moral to the story is that before buying, put a dial indicator on the spindle and lift it with a stick for a lever. If it has much more than .002" movement, you don't want it. If it is only a little over that, there may be shims you can remove. If not, then it has been abused.

All the time with me, the lathe sat on a couple of 4X4s. Even that was a little low.

Bill
 
There was just a "Heavy Nine" SB for less than a couple grand on Fleabay that didn't sell. If it were local would have taken a look see. Pics looked OK, but they're from the mid-late 30's and those extra decades are significant. Sure would be cool to fin one that's been stashed and forgotten in a barn somewhere for the last 60 years lol.

Interesting and rare animal, special order Navy item. 9" swing like the proverbial 9A but wider bed, and 1-3/8" spindle bore/5C col!ets like the Heavy 10.

It puzzles me that given the demand for a small swing, large bore lathe perfect for gunsmithing like this that no one manufactures one. The South Bends were so utterly simple, reliable, and easy to manufacture. The hell with technology, give me a simple line-bored hole in a cast headstock like they were made back then. I doubt many of the Chinese lathes today will still be churning out accurate work 60 or 70 years from now like the SB's.

+1

I currently own a 10L which was an upgrade from a much older 10L.

But a poster on this board was selling a heavy 9 in good condition. I could not pass this up as it's an
amazingly cute machine. Basically a pint-sized heavy ten. Same spindle, pretty much the same headstock.
I cut down the chip pan (from a larger machine) so it's a good fit for the smaller machine.

I used to say the heavy ten was the smallest large lathe around. The heavy nine actually beats that
by a bit.
 
For new lathes... Please don't go with Grizzly. They're ok machines but often require quite a bit of work and modification before you can use fun stuff with them (quick change toolpost, etc.)

Precision Matthews often addresses those needed mods and offers them at a slightly higher price (for the same spec as Grizzly) that would shave you hundreds or even thousands in having to buy parts to make those modifications. In that case it's well worth the price. Their version of the G0704 mill for example is so much better than Grizzly and it's only 100 dollars more.

I just bought a Precision Matthews PM1228 lathe. I got it because it's got 1.5 inch spindle, 12 inch swing, quick change gear box (actual quick change, not those 3 speed affairs that requires constant gear changes), and it only weights around 500 pounds so for a 3rd floor apartment it's doable. Grizzly makes some decent gunsmithing lathes (for example G4003G) but that lathe weights over 1000lbs and require a 220v hookup if it matters to you... I'm not sure what your size/weight requirement is. The PM1228 is similar to the PM1127 but that one has no quick change gearbox or camlock spindles.

004.jpg

So far it's worked well but the downside with this lathe is it does not come with as much accessory compared to other lathes (like no live center, so I need to get one)
 








 
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