The tools are leaving the garage soon. Going into a little 190sq ft room, heavy concrete floor.
The current lathe is a 1340 Asian, 6' long. 1600 lbs. I came across collectors post on CL for a Pacemaker 1430, and had instant lathe lust. Problem is, it is 12' long and 8000 lbs. Can't fit it and can't move it.
Is there an older US made lathe that sort of splits the difference footprint wise? I just don't have the room for much bigger, but would love the quality. Anything else I should be looking for?
Figure 8' long, 4000 lbs, 5 hp more or less, 50-2000 rpm and metric thread capable.
I don't "need" this, but wondering if there is something out there to keep an eye out for.
Is this the sort of size more likely to be found in a Japanese lathe?
US-made Sheldon "R" series can be long and low-mass. Also rare as free Cadillacs.
Otherwise you'll prolly have to adjust yer specifications. Lower RPM for lower mass and ADD metric. Or go to non-US.
South Korean, Taiwanese, or "former East bloc" more likely found.
"8000" series Colchester maybe?
Then there are also OLD Italian, French, Belgian, Dutch, German....Brasilian.... metric or even inch/metric commonly. But? "Projects" usually. Also "orphans", mostly, parts-wise.
"Japan" went near-as-dammit all CNC a long time ago. Mori-Seiki "all manual" => Wacheon, South Korea. A vintage Mori, you MIGHT find, Pacific coast. The Korean copy you can find more easily most anywhere, and brand-new if you have the funds.
US Iron is "OLD Iron", seldom metric - yah have to add that - and heavier, so yah have a "project", even you were to find one of the smaller Lodge & Shipley or a "latter years" squarish not rounded, LeBlond "Regal"
(they are anything BUT "royalty"..) yah could afford.
Bed length is one metric. Center-to-center capability is another. So is OVERALL length.
Which one are you calling "8' long"? If "overall", that don't buy a whole lot of c-to-c daylight, much of anything "modern". If a 13 X 40 has served, how much more do you actually need, work-envelope-wise?
At only 20" (10EE) or 30" (HBX-360) c-to-c, - a lot LESS than what you have now, I've got the HP and RPM, but also about the same O/A length, and already double the mass of yer 1600 lb'er.
An old Hendey tie-bar "cone head" has good space efficiency, workspace daylight for overall length, but even ONE thousand RPM is not easy.
Upgrading your 13X40 can be done, just not by a lot before you are into the space and rigging issue again. Rigging-in a 6,000 or 8,000 lb lathe isn't HARD. It just needs proper skill and care.
Pacemakers, Axelson, DS&G's f'rinstance, are not famous for having SHORT headstocks. There goeth some of yer space. "Grand Old" lathes in general got to be so recognized because they have deep, wide, heavy beds with wide carriages to spread loads and reduce the rate of wear. A wide-winged carriage uses-up more of the bed per useful tool-tip travel versus a very NARROW carriage that then more rapidly wears . .and rocks or TILTS.
Compare the overall carriage span of an L&S, Monarch, that ATW Pacemaker, or a Hendey to a Piss-is-on-yah, Matthews.
Same again a durable and powerful tailstock. Longer ones eat more bed-length budget.
In general?
If you want a longer bed AND NOT "spaghetti"
flex in it?
Yah just hafta accept a HEAVIER lathe as part of the deal. And then? Yah need a longer bed than yah thought yah needed, even so!
Where larger is not possible in available space, one either finds larger space and installs the larger and heavier lathe.
Or finds some
other turner
who already has done to deal with the long parts FOR yah.
That "contract it out" solution has been working well for a VERY long time, already, BTW. See buses, trains, and planes vs shoes, bicycles, and hang gliders..
"190 square foot room?" How long? What ELSE do you have to put in it?
Compromises.. Some folk really DO harbour an old cone-head as a
supplementary lathe exactly FOR those large-diameter or overly long tasks.. and just accept the limitations of lower RPM and metal removal rates the few times they really need it.
Confused yet? Aren't we ALL!
"Wish I had..." A Cazeneuve "Optica". Happier, yet, with no mortgage on the house, though!