Halcohead
Stainless
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2005
- Location
- Bay Area, Ca
With all this talk of the "bare bones SB models," I thought I'd give my comparison, having just used a competitor's lathe for 6 hours straight.
I had the "pleasure" of running a 12" Sears lathe today (in *perfect* condition... the ways have absolutely no wear, the spindle bearings are pristine). Wow, I cannot say how much more I liked running my 10L. Where to start...
The apron on the sears lathe sucked. It was single walled, and there was no friction longitudinal feed, only halfnuts. The QC gearbox had a small range, and the finest feed was only 0.004" per rev.
The tailstock didn't have way wipers, so I constantly had to clean and oil the ways, which sucked, since with only 2" of ram travel, on most boring operations I had to move the tailstock.
The tailstock locking lever is ont he freakin' back of the tailstock. What awful placement...
The thing used 3C collets. I sure was glad for that 10L and the 5C.
The lathe was just not rigid enough for its swing. I tried knurling aluminum, and it barely had the power to turn the thing, and the knurls were only half depth once I left the position where I set the depth.
I really appreciate the SB's simplicity now. Previously I had considered South bends to be the Model T's of lathes. They may be simple, but all those little features are hard to notice until they're no longer there. For example, the 10L has a huge threading dial. I had to squint to see the one on the sears lathe. The carriage traverse handle on the sears lathe was also smaller and closer to the carriage, making it less precise and harder to run.
I had the "pleasure" of running a 12" Sears lathe today (in *perfect* condition... the ways have absolutely no wear, the spindle bearings are pristine). Wow, I cannot say how much more I liked running my 10L. Where to start...
The apron on the sears lathe sucked. It was single walled, and there was no friction longitudinal feed, only halfnuts. The QC gearbox had a small range, and the finest feed was only 0.004" per rev.
The tailstock didn't have way wipers, so I constantly had to clean and oil the ways, which sucked, since with only 2" of ram travel, on most boring operations I had to move the tailstock.
The tailstock locking lever is ont he freakin' back of the tailstock. What awful placement...
The thing used 3C collets. I sure was glad for that 10L and the 5C.
The lathe was just not rigid enough for its swing. I tried knurling aluminum, and it barely had the power to turn the thing, and the knurls were only half depth once I left the position where I set the depth.
I really appreciate the SB's simplicity now. Previously I had considered South bends to be the Model T's of lathes. They may be simple, but all those little features are hard to notice until they're no longer there. For example, the 10L has a huge threading dial. I had to squint to see the one on the sears lathe. The carriage traverse handle on the sears lathe was also smaller and closer to the carriage, making it less precise and harder to run.