WTB CNC flat bed lathe

[austin136]

Looking to buy a CNC flat bed lathe With at least a 2.5in spindle bore 3in would be better. Somewhere between 40 to 60in center to center. Swing doesn't really matter as parts are 3in diameter or smaller. And ideally a 12 hour drive or less from northern Virginia. Id like to stay in a 20k budget. I'm ready to buy today but willing to wait to find the right machine. A tool turret would be great. Like the looks of the Mazak m4 and romi but haven't found one close enough but not set on those.

Thank you
Austin

 

[EmGo]

Looking to buy a CNC flat bed lathe With at least a 2.5in spindle bore 3in would be better. Somewhere between 40 to 60in center to center. And ideally a 12 hour drive or less from northern Virginia. Id like to stay in a 20k budget.

This is a long shot but can't hurt to tell you :

These have a great reputation, 3" bore, 3,000 rpm, 20" swing 10" over the cross, hardened ground replaceable steel ways, very dependable, based on the famous pacemaker, yes turrets I never heard of a production cnc lathe that didn't have turrets. I think it's got a retrofit control - the cabinet is General Automation but the display certainly is not .... the problems with this one are two ;

I don't think the guys who are advertising it even exist. They have never replied to any request I gave them. And they are on the other side of the country. But Mohawk in Cincinnati was advertising this in their warehouse and they wanted 6k. I don't know what the current story is but it's worth a phone call ? The machine itself is top notch. Control, don't know, location, don't know, price is definitely going to be good but if they scrapped it or no ? Telephone time.

20" x 78" American, lathes engine, 3000 RPM, 3-Axis, 3" hole, A1-8, 12 turret for Sale | Surplus Record

Find many great new & used machinery deals and get the best price for 20" x 78" American, lathes engine, 3000 RPM, 3-Axis, 3" hole, A1-8, 12 turret at Surplus Record. Trusted by machinery dealers & buyers for 100 years!

surplusrecord.com

Mohawk is in Cincinnati, Mike Harpenau is the main sales guy

 

[austin136]

This is a long shot but can't hurt to tell you :

View attachment 395021
These have a great reputation, 3" bore, 3,000 rpm, 20" swing 10" over the cross, hardened ground replaceable steel ways, very dependable, based on the famous pacemaker, yes turrets I never heard of a production cnc lathe that didn't have turrets. I think it's got a retrofit control - the cabinet is General Automation but the display certainly is not .... the problems with this one are two ;

I don't think the guys who are advertising it even exist. They have never replied to any request I gave them. And they are on the other side of the country. But Mohawk in Cincinnati was advertising this in their warehouse and they wanted 6k. I don't know what the current story is but it's worth a phone call ? The machine itself is top notch. Control, don't know, location, don't know, price is definitely going to be good but if they scrapped it or no ? Telephone time.

20" x 78" American, lathes engine, 3000 RPM, 3-Axis, 3" hole, A1-8, 12 turret for Sale | Surplus Record

Find many great new & used machinery deals and get the best price for 20" x 78" American, lathes engine, 3000 RPM, 3-Axis, 3" hole, A1-8, 12 turret at Surplus Record. Trusted by machinery dealers & buyers for 100 years!

surplusrecord.com

Mohawk is in Cincinnati, Mike Harpenau is the main sales guy

Thank you i will try to get ahold of them. Bigger then i need but sounds like the price will be right.

 

[austin136]

This is a long shot but can't hurt to tell you :

View attachment 395021
These have a great reputation, 3" bore, 3,000 rpm, 20" swing 10" over the cross, hardened ground replaceable steel ways, very dependable, based on the famous pacemaker, yes turrets I never heard of a production cnc lathe that didn't have turrets. I think it's got a retrofit control - the cabinet is General Automation but the display certainly is not .... the problems with this one are two ;

I don't think the guys who are advertising it even exist. They have never replied to any request I gave them. And they are on the other side of the country. But Mohawk in Cincinnati was advertising this in their warehouse and they wanted 6k. I don't know what the current story is but it's worth a phone call ? The machine itself is top notch. Control, don't know, location, don't know, price is definitely going to be good but if they scrapped it or no ? Telephone time.

20" x 78" American, lathes engine, 3000 RPM, 3-Axis, 3" hole, A1-8, 12 turret for Sale | Surplus Record

Find many great new & used machinery deals and get the best price for 20" x 78" American, lathes engine, 3000 RPM, 3-Axis, 3" hole, A1-8, 12 turret at Surplus Record. Trusted by machinery dealers & buyers for 100 years!

surplusrecord.com

Mohawk is in Cincinnati, Mike Harpenau is the main sales guy

interestingly looks like it was auctioned off in 2019 https://www.bidspotter.com/en-us/au...0142/lot-1cea6eb0-a86b-499c-9919-ab490187459f

 

[EmGo]

interestingly looks like it was auctioned off in 2019

Yeah, that place, there's something weird about them. And they still have it listed as for sale .. but I am pretty sure Mohawk actually physically had it in their warehouse since that time.

Probably scrapped now, actually, too bad, they were awesome flatbeds but who knows.

Can I ask why you are set on a flatbed ? There are slantbeds that are just as beefy. From your requirements, a Cincinnati 10 CU or CC would maybe fit. (Sometimes the CC had a swingup tail, and the length was about three feet. No idea why that didn't make it a CU).

(This is old-style lathe, 10" chuck yes but 25,000 lbs, 30hp DC percheron-size horses continuous duty which means you can run it at 45 for 15 minutes an hour without overheating, three speed helical gearbox, 3" bore 3,000 rpm, the turret is beefier than an entire modern 10" lathe. Hell, the tailstock would crush a Haas. They can take a cut.)

 

[austin136]

I'm coming from manual lathes. Need to be able to run a steady rest and between centers. Seemed like most turning centers were to short and most of them in my budget were trashed. Flat bed just seemed like the right fit for the kind of work I do. If i could find a turning center with the features I need id be open to it just have no experience with them. Also not sure how chamber reaming would go in a turning center. The turrets repeat close enough for that? On a flat bed i just planed on mounting a reamer holder straight to the cross slide.

 

[EmGo]

I'm coming from manual lathes. Need to be able to run a steady rest and between centers. Seemed like most turning centers were to short and most of them in my budget were trashed. Flat bed just seemed like the right fit

You don't really need a flat bed then. Turrets repeat fine, all the longer ones have tailstocks, steady rests are equally unusual on flatbed and slantbed cnc lathes, have to make one, no biggy, and anything you get at that budget will need work. Maybe expand your requirements to "2 axis 40"+between centers 2.5" bore lathe" ... should be several to choose but maybe you'll have to do a control retrofit. Definitely some maintenance, unless you get lucky.

Hardest thing to find is going to be the 2 1/2" bore, unless you go bigger than you really need.

I'd probably be looking at Cincinnati's, they are reasonably common, but then, I like American stuff ....

 

[austin136]

Retrofit doesn't bother me done a couple mills in linux cnc. Thank you for the suggestions.

 

[Garwood]

OP- have you looked at any cnc lathes?

Reason I ask is because a huge majority will meet your specs. A lot of cnc slant bed lathes have exposed, flat tailstock ways that you can easily fab a steady rest to fit. If you're running a manual chuck you can pull the drawtube and actuator to get another 1/2" or so through the spindle. The 40-60" centers is the least common cnc slantbed attribute, but they are out there without being huge.

Mazak M4 is a good flatbed machine, perfect for steady rest work. Some slantbeds that would fit the bill as well- Mori-Seiki TL series is very common to find with longer centers and steadyrests. All Leadwell LTC series machines have large, flat tailstock box ways and longer centers are common on them.

 

[alan speyrer]

Milltronics is what you need, I have one 1540 ML. Solid machine, spindle bore is 2.188”. The larger Milltronics flat bed lathes have 3” bore, plenty of used 18” Milltronics flat bed lathes, although your budget will need to be increased

 

[jhov]

There is a Milltronics ML17 with a 3.1" spindle bore on ebay right now in Wisconsin listed for $16.5k. I have it on my watch list and the seller offered $12.5k so he's willing to deal. Not sure of condition though as I haven't seen it in person or even any video. I was considering upgrading from my T17 for the newer control, two handwheels and 20" longer Z, but I just can't justify the expense.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144774330477

 

[Garwood]

Those Milltronics things don't look like much of a lathe.

 

[jhov]

Those Milltronics things don't look like much of a lathe.

They're about the same as a Romi or Nardini. They do their job and they're handy to have around, but you're right, they're not a real production machine. They're about half the weight they should be for their work envelope and chip management is a pain in the ass.

 

[Mike Henry]

ABOM79 seems to be thrilled with his Miltronics lathe and mill, though I'm not sure if he actually paid for them or has them on loan.

 

[alan speyrer]

They're about the same as a Romi or Nardini. They do their job and they're handy to have around, but you're right, they're not a real production machine. They're about half the weight they should be for their work envelope and chip management is a pain in the ass.

Milltronics also makes slant bed turning centers, I just bought a Milltronics SL6.

 

[alan speyrer]

There is a Milltronics ML17 with a 3.1" spindle bore on ebay right now in Wisconsin listed for $16.5k. I have it on my watch list and the seller offered $12.5k so he's willing to deal. Not sure of condition though as I haven't seen it in person or even any video. I was considering upgrading from my T17 for the newer control, two handwheels and 20" longer Z, but I just can't justify the expense.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144774330477

My Milltronics ML1540 has a Pragati 8 station turret. I have never understood a cnc lathe without a turret. What’s the point?, your tied to the machine for every tool change.