Building another lathe, anyone know where to look for bed and headstock?

Hello all, and thanks for reading. It's time for me to build another lathe, and I am curious to hear your thoughts and opinions. I am going to start with a good bed, headstock and tailstock (or at least the bed and headstock). After inspecting the headstock I will decide on what bearings I want to use, machine the bearing bores(if necessary), then make a spindle and add a chuck.

What I am most needing advice on is sourcing the bed and headstock. Anyone know where I should look? If eBay is the place to look, what brands do you recommend that I look for? The machine I am building is relatively small, but quite a bit bigger than a parts lathe. I'm looking for a stroke between 20" and 30".

Any and all advice is most appreciated. Thanks for reading!

TorchHypnosis said:

Hello all, and thanks for reading. It's time for me to build another lathe, and I am curious to hear your thoughts and opinions. I am going to start with a good bed, headstock and tailstock (or at least the bed and headstock). After inspecting the headstock I will decide on what bearings I want to use, machine the bearing bores(if necessary), then make a spindle and add a chuck.

What I am most needing advice on is sourcing the bed and headstock. Anyone know where I should look? If eBay is the place to look, what brands do you recommend that I look for? The machine I am building is relatively small, but quite a bit bigger than a parts lathe. I'm looking for a stroke between 20" and 30".

Any and all advice is most appreciated. Thanks for reading!

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A Hendey Tool & Gage should do yah. 9" X 20"-plus. A Monarch 10EE is much harder to find in over 20" center-to-center.

Just part-it out so wiser men get all the good stuff that already JF WORKS.

Or you could save yer time and money and try to find a "Teach in" manual/CNC hybrid such as an Okuma or Cazeneuve "Optica", used, with the Siemens controls.

They have plenty of competition, too!

Used lathes sell for less than their parts total cost.

By a LOT.

So "save your time and money" is the harsh reality.

Masturbation project?

All I know is what the Big Kids tell me ... but you might find plenty of sex toys if you google for them.

Pee ESS;

IF you actually had a KLEW.. Servoed CNC headstocks, linear ways, powered turrets, live tooling, toolchangers.. robots.. and ALL OTHER goods are actually "commodity items".

Purpose-built machining centers are "an INDUSTRY" to serve those OTHER major industries who need something other than tick-the-box general-purpose.

It just isn't one a schoolkid can fund off saving a portion of his peanut-butter sammich rations.

Well.... Ox does it. Earns back the sammiches, too.

But he ain't no schoolkid. Just an off-world alien from a snow covered world trying to get his crash-landed starship fixed so he can fly back to where there is snow all the time and everywhere.

And not often with parts that haven't been well-aged to a vintage of a certain ripeness! You'd have to know starship salvage?

Kinda like making fine cheese?

And then not eating it all at once?

Thanks for the reply thermite. I would certainly buy a used lathe that is complete. But I am going to throw away the controls, motor and carriage as I have motors I want to use that I already have control for. All I REALLY need is the bed and headstock to get started. But if it's going to cost the same to buy the whole darn thing then I will certainly do that.

This machine is going to be used full time in production of our tools. We manufacture tooling used by various manufacturers of military, aerospace and medical industry equipment. This is certainly NOT a masturbation project, I simply need to make another machine to be able to make a new tool. Our current equipment is not well equipped to do what we need it to do. We mill EDM graphite while on a lathe. I didn't know milling on a lathe was a thing when we first started, but evidently it is, and let me tell you, milling on a lathe allows me to hog off material SOOOOOO much faster than turning! Thanks again!

TorchHypnosis said:

Thanks for the reply thermite. I would certainly buy a used lathe that is complete. But I am going to throw away the controls, motor and carriage as I have motors I want to use that I already have control for. All I REALLY need is the bed and headstock to get started. But if it's going to cost the same to buy the whole darn thing then I will certainly do that.

This machine is going to be used full time in production of our tools. We manufacture tooling used by various manufacturers of military, aerospace and medical industry equipment. This is certainly NOT a masturbation project, I simply need to make another machine to be able to make a new tool. Our current equipment is not well equipped to do what we need it to do. We mill EDM graphite while on a lathe. I didn't know milling on a lathe was a thing when we first started, but evidently it is, and let me tell you, milling on a lathe allows me to hog off material SOOOOOO much faster than turning! Thanks again!

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BFD.

"Live tooling". Been around for a while. Very LONG while, actually.

Just BUY it "built for you", then. Modified to suit the need, really.
And not even all that "special", actually.

It PROBABLY already EXISTS.

Or MOST of it will. Extra work to manage the nasty material? There are commodity solutions and specialist integrators for that, too.

I'd want ways that lived entirely inside of fully enclosed BELLOWS, for example.

Everybody and his brother seems to think they are "the first one that ever had to.. <whatever> "

And they are almost NEVER even CLOSE to "the first one.."

How long ago did Union Carbide and CARBON get to making motor brushes?
How long has Helwig Carbon been making a wide range?
Whom has to mill ceramics?
How about glass-filled plastics?

With their girl-friend's fingernail files? Doubt it!

Flexibility of an existing product?

Case in point: Volume production electronics. I'm asking the maker to alter a simple NUMBER Dialing pattern ...if he wants Cable & Wireless' bizness. Serious money.

"We can't DO that! This device is programmed in the forth language!!

So I walk up to his whiteboard and write the code to JF DO IT

"Oh? You know forth?"

"Since before you were born, kid."
"And it isn't even the ONLY thing Chuck and I have in common."

More scouting. Less re-inventing of existing wheels.

Other folks IN the industry already DO this s**t.

You might even get a warranty and a service contract from a recognized maker or at least "systems INTEGRATOR".

We CFO's LIKE that part!

Simplifies taxes and bean-counting. So we cut CAPEX approvals faster and with lesser torture applied to the requestor.

Risk is lower. Even if he is WRONG ... we know going-IN what "wrong" might cost us ... and if it has resale or salvage value!

DIY from scratch? All we know is that there is a portable-black-hole loose in the shop, into which we are expected to throw unpredictable amounts of money, optionally say a prayer that we get SOMETHING, someday... maybe?

What is YOUR bizness? Delivering product?

Or f**king with a collection of odds and sods like a junkyard dog?

Somebody already builds this s**t!

Thanks for your reply. I must admit that I understood basically NONE of your last post. All I am asking is if anyone knows a good place to look for a decent used lathe with a 20" - 30" stroke. I'm an engineer, not a machinist. Up until just a few years ago I have only built and programmed specialty machines for manufacturing. I started making lathes and mills about 3 years ago, and use them currently for manufacturing for my business. I've only been a machinist for about three years. And my only experience with relevant equipment is with machines that I have built, only because no machine that I have found exists on the market that is more cost effective to buy than it is to build. I am OCD not only with the tooling that I manufacture, but in constructing the machines that I use to manufacture them. I can make it better. And why would I spend $250,000 on a machine when I can build something that does the equivalent(for my purposes) for under $5,000? I guarantee that the machine that I need would cost over 100K, and that would be used, IF I could find something used. It's a no brainer. I could understand buying something that is already made if the cost wasn't 5000% higher to purchase as opposed to if I just made it myself. My company never would have gotten off the ground if I tried that, and we are international now. All I am asking is where to look for a decent used lathe. If you have any suggestions on where to look for a lathe I am all ears. I will look at the models you spoke of. Back in the day, what determined weather or not you were a professional machinist was if you made the mill you work on. Have you ever made a lathe or mill? Because that's all I have ever known. Thanks again!

I would look at a spindle supplier like Setco.
The base will be a custom Fab job, burn, bend & weld.
Don't forget a full anneal.
Send it out to a machine shop that can handle large weldments, and have all the linear way area's machined as well drilled & tapped.

Add some features like area's than can be filled with sand/steel shot/lead shot, and capped closed (2"-3"
NPT tank fitting would work well here).

Oversize the linear ways, trucks & ballscrews.

By designing it all on 3-d CAD, you'll be able to send the fab shop your dxf files, lowering your cost's,
as well as showing the full assembly with ALL parts.

Linear ways everywhere,

digger doug said:

I would look at a spindle supplier like Setco.
The base will be a custom Fab job, burn, bend & weld.
Don't forget a full anneal.
Send it out to a machine shop that can handle large weldments, and have all the linear way area's machined as well drilled & tapped.

Add some features like area's than can be filled with sand/steel shot/lead shot, and capped closed (2"-3"
NPT tank fitting would work well here).

Oversize the linear ways, trucks & ballscrews.

By designing it all on 3-d CAD, you'll be able to send the fab shop your dxf files, lowering your cost's,
as well as showing the full assembly with ALL parts.

Linear ways everywhere,

Click to expand...

And own an "orphan" as BUILT? Not cheaply nor "soon" either!

Whywuddjawanna?

When one can JF buy any decent CNC machining center and add carbon debris control if not already THERE?

First guy, ever, with the need to machine nasty materials?

I don't THINK so!

EDM was in the news back in the 1960's already. Sixty years ago.

How TF did they get this far if nobody had built a DIY lathe with a live-tooled cutter-head yet?

"Cheated" and used some other approach, mayhap?

TorchHypnosis said:

I guarantee that the machine that I need would cost over 100K, and that would be used, IF I could find something used.

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Ok, please spell out your machine's technical requirements. All we know at this point is that you want a live tool lathe with somewhere between 20" and 30" of Z, which is a pretty common commodity item. I would also highly recommend hiring an experienced machinist, maybe even just on a short term contract, to get you going.

thermite said:

And own an "orphan" as BUILT? Not cheaply nor "soon" either!

Whywuddjawanna?

When one can JF buy any decent CNC machining center and add carbon debris control if not already THERE?

First guy, ever, with the need to machine nasty materials?

I don't THINK so!

EDM was in the news back in the 1960's already. Sixty years ago.

How TF did they get this far if nobody had built a DIY lathe with a live-tooled cutter-head yet?

"Cheated" and used some other approach, mayhap?

Click to expand...

Man wants to design & build, I'm trying to help.

digger doug said:

Man wants to design & build, I'm trying to help.

Click to expand...

No foul.

You keep on trying to improve the machinery.

I'll keep on trying to motivate decision-makers to improve their own minds.

I don't want to "think more for others". I want "others to think for more"

Many minds make light work. Waste less TIME? Find good use for the new surplus!

"Leverage thing", Doug. Exponentiated leverage..

Guess which approach gets the most appropriate solutions and sooner, most-recent sidereal universe, same as those before?

You didn't think a "Big Bang" was triggered only ONCE didja?

Too many new things to learn.... each go!

This s**t could take a while...

Thanks for your advice thermite. I looked into buying already existing equipment to do what I needed, but it would have cost me $250,000 for the machine. I made all of our machines(that have been work horses for years) and programmed them. Albeit I am an engineer and not a machinist. Only the past three years I have been machining...but I have been predominantly machining on lathes and mills that I have built from scratch. Since the machines that I make are specific to our manufacturing process it was much more cost effective for me to use my skills to build our equipment. For instance, the lathe/mill hybrid that I made 2 years ago cost me about $1200 plus about 50 man hours(give or take) to build. I have been using it daily for the past couple years with no issues. I have looked into buying machinery that would do what I need it to do, but the cost of the machine was $250,000 plus. I made my machine for about $1200. Doing the math it's a no brainer, save $238,000 and get a machine that you know inside and out. The products that we make are far superior to those of our competition, but don't take my word for it, look at our reviews. Don't get me wrong, if there is a piece of equipment that I need to buy, 100% already made to do what I want, I will buy it....provided it doesn't cost exponentially more that it would cost for me to build it. But with my engineering and programming background, I have never found a CNC machine that does what I want for less than $250K. That being said, the most I have spent building any of the machines that we use(and the only machines that we use are machines that I have built for production with the exception of a drill press) is about $2000. I appreciate your input, but all I want to know is where to find a good used lathe with a 20" - 30" stroke. Am I at the wrong forum? It seems that people frown on people making their own machines here...seems when I talk about engineering a new machine people ridicule me. Back in the day the mark of a professional machinist was weather or not they worked on a mill that they made. Have things changed that much since my father and his daddy made their mill?

Your project sounds a little far into the hobby realm to be a good fit for this site.

Lots of graphite is machined, vast majority on CNC mills and lathes designed for metal.

$5000 pays for low end Chinese automation parts.

Used machines in any conceivable configuration are available in all price ranges. Any one of those is a better option than building your own from a junker manual lathe and low end automation parts.

My automation equipment is all Allen-Bradley and Siemens. I buy at auctions and surplus. I think you are a little quick to draw conclusions. You can find equipment for pennies on the dollar if you know where to look.

I would be surprised if a hobbyist machine could handle the daily stress we impose on my machines. I engineer my machines not only to last, but for the user to be able to maintain and work on them. I do this not only because I am also the end user, but because as being a mechanic previously, I hate engineers for making machines impossible to work on. Things might look nice on paper, then you go use them and then....

I made my first spindle, mill and lathe. My machines have been in daily use in production for years now, and my company is an international business with the most precision tools in the market. But that's besides the point. All I am asking is if anyone knows where to find a decent bed and headstock for a decent lathe...something that won't rust easily and be able to adjust tightness on the dovetail guides or linear bearings. If you are only responding to this post to tell me I am a hobbyist when clearly I am not, please just don't respond at all. Ain't nobody got time for that!

TorchHypnosis said:

My automation equipment is all Allen-Bradley and Siemens. I buy at auctions and surplus. I think you are a little quick to draw conclusions. You can find equipment for pennies on the dollar if you know where to look.

I would be surprised if a hobbyist machine

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F**ks sake? 10th grade IIRC. Got an "A" for a spindle that mated to common SB threaded mount tooling. Ran REAL lathes for a crust. I buy cars, trucks, and tires from the major makers as well.

High noon might surprise you, too, but it has been happening every day of every week for a rather long time, already.

"Hobbyist? Both 10EE, the HBX-360-BC and both mills were "pennies on the dollar", but I haven't HAD to earn a dime in wage since August of 1994! Wasn't a "machinist" any longer by the 33rd year of working for others. GM, Special Projects, Finance, HQ Cable & Wireless, plc. London. Global remit.

More than 20 years THEN since I'd ordered a whole damned factory sold-off for poor performance and worse prospects.

I'm the "hobbyist". Now.

You claim to still be trying to earn a crust?

Try more wisely!

Table-scraps have scant predictability. And then the pig gets eaten!

You are on PM.. Small, large, and in-between, Industrial Manufacturing expertise lives HERE!

Manufacture of EXCUSES is the OTHER website!

WTF are you making an inexpensive value-for-small-money Haas VMC cannot be tooled to make ... and pay for itself inside of 12 to 24 months?

You need a SIP?

Call them!

Worldwide Contact - starrag

The product is GOOD?
The biz plan is SOUND?
The fundamentals PROVE you are and HAVE BEEN making your damned bones?

A bank will lend you the money.

If they will not?

Might want to up your game? Or maybe find a NEW one?

Telling folks HERE you can build a lathe out of a parted-out DS&G instead of a tired Sheldon and "with your OWN Bearings!" (WTF? You figure the OEM bearings came out of Harbor Freight hand trucks?) will NOT put a thin dime into your bank account!

Bleed it out slowly, rather!

"Get to the end!"

Good product, fair price, customers buy it and PAY for it, want more?

Do it again, faster, better, at lower-cost. Lather, rinse, repeat, pay your bills and BANK it!

Your NEXT CNC VMC will be better and faster yet!

That's why we CALL it "Manufacturing" instead of "Fiddle-Fucking-Around"

digger doug said:

I would look at a spindle supplier like Setco.
The base will be a custom Fab job, burn, bend & weld.
Don't forget a full anneal.
Send it out to a machine shop that can handle large weldments, and have all the linear way area's machined as well drilled & tapped.

Add some features like area's than can be filled with sand/steel shot/lead shot, and capped closed (2"-3"
NPT tank fitting would work well here).

Oversize the linear ways, trucks & ballscrews.

By designing it all on 3-d CAD, you'll be able to send the fab shop your dxf files, lowering your cost's,
as well as showing the full assembly with ALL parts.

Linear ways everywhere,

Click to expand...

These guys make lathe beds?

thermite said:

No foul.

You keep on trying to improve the machinery.

I'll keep on trying to motivate decision-makers to improve their own minds.

I don't want to "think more for others". I want "others to think for more"

Many minds make light work. Waste less TIME? Find good use for the new surplus!

"Leverage thing", Doug. Exponentiated leverage..

Guess which approach gets the most appropriate solutions and sooner, most-recent sidereal universe, same as those before?

You didn't think a "Big Bang" was triggered only ONCE didja?

Too many new things to learn.... each go!

This s**t could take a while...

Click to expand...

Yes. This post I understand, "Work smart, not hard." Don't re-invent the wheel. I am constantly re-visiting each step in all manufacturing processes to remove step time(do I need to make a different style of jig, develop different control, buy new equipment, etc.) without compromising quality. You speak only in metaphors, it's so hard to understand you!

I have just what you need in Montana, 24x36 L&S with anilam controls, dc servo,s...Phil

mhajicek said:

Ok, please spell out your machine's technical requirements. All we know at this point is that you want a live tool lathe with somewhere between 20" and 30" of Z, which is a pretty common commodity item. I would also highly recommend hiring an experienced machinist, maybe even just on a short term contract, to get you going.

Click to expand...

Really, the most important thing that I am after, is a decent 20" - 30" stroke lathe. I don't need the tail stock, motor, or control. Really just the bed and headstock. It would be nice if there was a carriage present though. I don't want cheap equipment. I was thinking maybe I could get a decent bed and headstock for a better price than buying a whole machine. I already have too much in the area of motors and controls, I don't want to buy more than I need! But if it's the same price...

The only real technical requirements are that the spindle can handle at the very least a (3/4") through bore. So the headstock would need to allow for a bearing big enough to handle holding a spindle with a shaft of, oh, say 1-3/4"? Just to be on the safe side. That would mean probably a headstock that could handle bearings 2-1/2" in OD? Sorry, I cant give you exact technical specifications since these will be based on the actual bed and headstock I acquire.

TorchHypnosis said:

Really, the most important thing that I am after, is a decent 20" - 30" stroke lathe. I don't need the tail stock, motor, or control. Really just the bed and headstock. It would be nice if there was a carriage present though. I don't want cheap equipment. I was thinking maybe I could get a decent bed and headstock for a better price than buying a whole machine. I already have too much in the area of motors and controls, I don't want to buy more than I need! But if it's the same price...

The only real technical requirements are that the spindle can handle at the very least a (3/4") through bore. So the headstock would need to allow for a bearing big enough to handle holding a spindle with a shaft of, oh, say 1-3/4"? Just to be on the safe side. That would mean probably a headstock that could handle bearings 2-1/2" in OD? Sorry, I cant give you exact technical specifications since these will be based on the actual bed and headstock I acquire.

Click to expand...

If you knew more about what you were asking you'd realize just how stupid your questions are.

Non-hobby professional for profit businesses don't build a lathe from scratch unless this was 1865.

If you want a CNC lathe with 30" in Z you go buy a fucking lathe with 30" in Z. By the time you make some pile of shit from your parts bin and a broke dick lathe from 1924 you could have made a pile of money using the real machine made for the job.

What you really need to do is ask what a decent used machine would be for your process, explain what your process actually is, and LISTEN.

"want to be able to tighten up the ways" is not an option on any kind of real machine. Real machines have way covers so the shit doesn't get in them. For graphite machining you expect the mechanical lifespan will be shortened, but so will the electronics. Machines are all disposable, you factor that in.

TorchHypnosis said:

Yes. This post I understand, "Work smart, not hard." Don't re-invent the wheel. I am constantly re-visiting each step in all manufacturing processes to remove step time(do I need to make a different style of jig, develop different control, buy new equipment, etc.) without compromising quality. You speak only in metaphors, it's so hard to understand you!

Click to expand...

You.. should focus.. on. what the PARTS need to be. To please a CUSTOMER!

All you will need to MAKE a definable part.. is a Machinery DEALER!

Parts have been made before! All kinds.

Material to be worked. Starting and ending sizes, "features" to be generated?
To what tolerances. At what target volume and rate of production?

Used and new machinery that can "JFDI" can be identified.

Because it HAS done it! And a f**k of alot more than "just the ONE time"!

If you cannot understand the question, why do you think you can invent a BETTER answer?

Useful training?

Go and make ONE tire for your unicycle. Out of salvaged rubber.

Hard to imagine you'd own a motorcar that some OTHER fool built, ain't it?

Right bitch hand-making FOUR tires to match!