New tooling on old lathes or mills

[Vincent B.]

Can you use new or modern tooling on older lathes. I am looking at older lathes and some seem to need to have a new chuck or a spindle for the tailstock spindle.
This is the lathe I’m talking about in particular. https://hgrinc.com/productDetail/Ma...tadyne-Sp80-11-480-Gap-Bed-Lathe/03221340005/

 

[dalmatiangirl61]

I see no pics in that link, so no idea quite what you are referring to. A lot of older lathes have slower spindle speeds and may not be suitable to carbide tooling, so you use HSS and grind your own. Are you close enough to HGR to inspect and haul something home yourself?

 

[hvnlymachining]

Depends on what you mean by new or modern.

Not many manual lathes have a tailstock spindle. I believe you are referring to lathes with dual spindles and those are quite rare and very expensive.

If you are talking about carbide tooling, yes it can be used with most machines, even quite slow ones as long as you choose your inserts wisely.

 

[Gordon Heaton]

Just from the pictures it appears that lathe has been beat nearly to death. Personally, I'd not give more than scrap value for it. Perhaps it looks better in person. To actually answer your question, any new quality tooling on that particular lathe would be 'lipstick on a pig'.

 

[Joe Michaels]

A closer look at the HGR photos shows a lathe that was setup for use with a sander. There is no geared feed box to give different rates of feed, nor is there a lead screw for cutting threads with that lathe. Instead, there is a separate motor driving the feed rod (driving the feed gearing in the carriage).

A look at the HGR photo of the controls on the headstock has pushbuttons marked: "sander on", and "sander off".

That lathe was never designed nor used for normal lathe operations such as turning or threading. Instead, it was setup with a power-driven sanding head on the carriage. It may have been used for refinishing rollers or to re-surface rubber rollers used in some printing and paper processing applications.

The lathe is NOT a good choice for a 'manual lathe', cannot do most of the operations done on manual lathes, and is likely badly worn from the abrasive grit from the sanding operations it was built to do. My advice: run the other way and find a better lathe. The price tag of $2900 seems way more than the machine is worth. For 2900 bucks, a person can get a good used LeBlond 'square head' Regal lathe which is a REAL lathe, or any number of other much better choices.

 

[dalmatiangirl61]

Pics are now showing, if you want a metal lathe keep looking, that one looks like it would make a decent wood lathe.

 

[Jim Christie]

I would agree with Joe Michaels .
I missed the sander switches when I looked at first.
My feeling is that the the machine is based on a re- badged variation of a Tos lathe or at least uses the basic parts from a Tos like the Headstock bed and carriage .
I am not familiar with all their models especially their CNC or other earlier types of electronic controls but if you compare the machine to the one in this link you will see many similarities to the basic components

TOS Engine Lathe Variable SN 55

Tos SN 55Distance between centers: 2.000 mmCentre height: 280 mmSwing over bed: 550 mm øSwing over support: 320 mm øSwing in the gap: 800 mm øSpindl...

www.wotol.com

tos cnc lathe - Google Search

It would seem they are now known as Trens lathes and Made in Slovakia .

SN500 Classic | TRENS SK, a.s.

Description Universal centre lathe SN500 Classic is for piece and small-lot production suitable for maintenance and repair divisions as well. SN 500 classic can be optionally produced in an execution with increased spindle bore of 105 mm. It is customers´ classic with main motor output of 7,5 kW.

www.trens.sk

Product lines | TRENS SK, a.s.

Product lines We will provide you with the current, high-performance and innovative CNC turning centers, CNC universal center lathes and universal center lathes that you need for your production. We can operatively adapt to your individual requirements. For trouble-free operation of your...

www.trens.sk

Jim

 

[john.k]

In answer to the original question,on a biggish lathe,with min 10hp,Ive found 500rpm top speed quite suitable for efficient carbide use,and 800rpm possibly excessive for the size of work likely .......one example a 15hp lathe will bog down the motor with red hot 4140 chip flowing off a negative rake cutter so fast you need a garden rake to pull the swarf out of the lathe to avoid a windup.

 

[Andy FitzGibbon]

That lathe was purpose built/modified for refinishing printing rollers. Not a good choice to use for anything else, as it lacks some features that a manual engine lathe would have (like threading).

Andy

 

[Froneck]

I have purchased quite a bit from HGR. Most of the stuff needs work. Usually it's not much. However before I move large machinery I go look at it. Yes they did refund the purchase price (not sure what's done after the buy-out) but the cost of shipping was not refunded! After inspection I have rejected quite a few machines. In my opinion looking at the machine I would stay away from it!

 

[johnoder]

Useful lathes have lead screws for cutting threads - that one in Post #1 has no lead screw.

If you want to learn CONCEPTS as opposed to "old / not so old", here is a place to do some digesting

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/1617/5795.pdf

have fun