Good Small Footprint Lathe

Dishkid · Nov 24, 2021

Hello I work as an engineer at a small medical device company in California.
Currently we utilize a junk harbor freight lathe for any R&D development and I am looking to upgrade.
The biggest restriction I have is space. we operate in a rather small building so I'm looking for an overall length of about 50". The product we work on do not get that large so a 18" C-C working area would be enough. I have looked at getting a Hardinge HLVh but the 72" overall length is hard to justify. I understand most "benchtop" models are not worth the investment. Cost wise I am flexible but mainly looking for the 10k-20k range. My buying process is a bit restricted so Buying used from a private party is not really an option.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated I have been searching online but haven't been able to come up with much.

sfriedberg · Nov 24, 2021

A 50" overall length is really, really pushing it for any decent machine. While there are probably a number of obscure, unobtainable machines of decent quality that fit that constraint, about the only common one I can think of would be a Hardinge HSL speed lathe, and that's probably not capable of doing what you want. And I don't know if you can even buy an HSL new these days.

Micmac1 · Nov 24, 2021

A used Haas Toolroom lathe can be had for your price range and it would give you CNC ability, and are available from machine brokers instead of private party. New around $30k. if you have the VPS option on the control that would let you program without any Cad/Cam software.
Tormach has 2 lathes in the 10-20k range new but maz z travels is 12-15" i think, no experience with those.
TRAK and OmniTurn have good repuations and a used one is definetly in that budget.
If your looking for a basic manual lathe, the grizzly southbend lathes arnt completely terrible. Grizzly website now has smaller footprint cnc lathes and mills but i can not speak for quality on those, personally would go with something used with a brand name.

drcoelho · Nov 24, 2021

If I were you, I would work really hard to find the space for the Hardinge. You can get a refurbished HLV H in the price range you are looking, and you will be totally set in terms of quality going forward.

Spud · Nov 24, 2021

You could get a Schaublin 102n vm cf, which comes in a tabletop version without the heavy cast iron base. The cast base version is 59" long so the benchtop version should be smaller. Or a Weiler Primus which according to this website is 59" length, but you can't get a new one for $20K

Schaublin
SCHAUBLIN 102N-VM-CF - DB-Machines

Weiler
Center Lathe - KAI-Tec GmbH & Co. KG Technologie - Vertrieb, Bruchsal

Weiler Primus does look smaller than an Hlvh so it may fit your requirements
https://www.machineseeker.com/data/listing/doc/16/1633016.pdf

drcoelho · Nov 24, 2021

Spud said:
You could get a Schaublin 102n vm cf, which comes in a tabletop version without the heavy cast iron base. The cast base version is 59" long so the benchtop version should be smaller. Or a Weiler Primus which according to this website is 59" length, but you can't get a new one for $20K

Schaublin
SCHAUBLIN 102N-VM-CF - DB-Machines

Weiler
Center Lathe - KAI-Tec GmbH & Co. KG Technologie - Vertrieb, Bruchsal

Weiler Primus does look smaller than an Hlvh so it may fit your requirements
https://www.machineseeker.com/data/listing/doc/16/1633016.pdf

Weiler Praktikant is a bit smaller than the Primus, just like mine (see below) but gonna be a LOT more expensive than OPs budget:

tnmgcarbide · Nov 24, 2021

standard-modern . they had/ve a ~ 20-24 swing bench lathe
that was attached to the flatbed of a 4-tonn military truck
which contained a mobile MS

J_R_Thiele · Nov 24, 2021

Emcomat 14 D Emcomat-14 D: EMCO lathes and milling machines for CNC turning and milling

The length is right at 50 inches. The company is based in Austria, and website says they manufacture in Austria, Germany, Italy and Russia. No idea about the price. I am sure it is high- but the quality should be also.

Marty Feldman · Nov 25, 2021

Dishkid said:
...My buying process is a bit restricted so Buying used from a private party is not really an option.

Why is that? I can understand your having a budget limitation, but I would think that a small medical device company would be sufficiently focused on product quality to justify buying from whatever source can provide the lathe that is right.

-Marty-

gustafson · Nov 25, 2021

Marty Feldman said:
Why is that? I can understand your having a budget limitation, but I would think that a small medical device company would be sufficiently focused on product quality to justify buying from whatever source can provide the lathe that is right.

-Marty-

I take it you have not worked at a corporation of any significant size.

Once you need purchase orders at all, there is a level of bureaucracy that must be abided.

I too would try to find the space for the HLVH.

AlfaGTA · Nov 25, 2021

If you can stretch your size requirement a bit i would look for a "rebuilt"
Monarch 10 EE
More capable than an HLVH , better spindle and work holding options (real "D" spindle) with enough power and speed range to turn wide range of parts.

10EE comes in at just under 58" overall length.

There are some quality rebuilds out there that could fall in your price envelope.
Can be found in inch metric versions and the late machines can have modern solid state spindle drives...Worth a bit of looking IMO.

Cheers Ross.

implmex · Nov 25, 2021

Hi drcoelho:
Not to hijack the thread completely, but that Weiler is one fine looking piece of kit.

I believe I may be a tad envious...I have a nice Monarch 10 EE (I agree fully with AlfaGTA...it's an awfully nice lathe for prototyping and product development) but I can STILL have tool lust envy even though I need another lathe like I need a hole in my head.

I know you've recently equipped a really nice sounding shop...care to make a new thread with a shop tour?
I will look with hungry eyes but I'll keep my drool off your nice floor...I promise!

Cheers

Marcus
Implant Mechanix • Design & Innovation > HOME
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining

drcoelho · Nov 25, 2021

implmex said:
Hi drcoelho:
Not to hijack the thread completely, but that Weiler is one fine looking piece of kit.

I believe I may be a tad envious...I have a nice Monarch 10 EE (I agree fully with AlfaGTA...it's an awfully nice lathe for prototyping and product development) but I can STILL have tool lust envy even though I need another lathe like I need a hole in my head.

I know you've recently equipped a really nice sounding shop...care to make a new thread with a shop tour?
I will look with hungry eyes but I'll keep my drool off your nice floor...I promise!

Cheers

Marcus
Implant Mechanix • Design & Innovation > HOME
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining

Marcus, thx for the kind words....you can probably get a good sense about my shop by viewing my various posts of the past 2 years or so.

implmex · Nov 25, 2021

Hi again drcoelho:
You wrote:
you can probably get a good sense about my shop by viewing my various posts of the past 2 years or so.

Yeah, that's exactly how I knew you were accumulating envy worthy new toys...now we wanna SEE them and dream our dreams

.

No pressure or anything...but after that Weiler picture, you can't just leave us hanging....

Cheers

Marcus
Implant Mechanix • Design & Innovation > HOME
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining

dian · Nov 26, 2021

Spud said:
You could get a Schaublin 102n vm cf, which comes in a tabletop version without the heavy cast iron base. The cast base version is 59" long so the benchtop version should be smaller. Or a Weiler Primus which according to this website is 59" length, but you can't get a new one for $20K

Schaublin
SCHAUBLIN 102N-VM-CF - DB-Machines

Weiler
Center Lathe - KAI-Tec GmbH & Co. KG Technologie - Vertrieb, Bruchsal

Weiler Primus does look smaller than an Hlvh so it may fit your requirements
https://www.machineseeker.com/data/listing/doc/16/1633016.pdf

if you get a primus for under $20k it will be 30+ years old.

Thunderjet · Nov 26, 2021

If you can find ANY Hardinge.........

BUY IT!

drcoelho · Nov 26, 2021

They are not that hard to find, there are at least 20 for sale on ebay currently. And an excellent outfit for refurbish is Babin Machine Tools, they will get you very close to original manufacturer spec. Babin could possibly source a machine for you. Last time I worked with them, they had identified an absolutely perfect HLV-V that was brand new in the shipping boxes for around $30K.

MilGunsmith · Nov 30, 2021

I would recommend Babin also. You can have them do the servo threading upgrade before shipping. This gives you a greater range of threads, including metric and multi start, than the standard HLV setup.

Good Small Footprint Lathe

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