Nardini or Victor lathe?

I've been looking for a decent sized lathe, and have come across two potential candidates. The first is a Victor 1630, and the other is a Nardini-TT 1230 E. Both look to be in about the same condition, except the Victor comes with a little more tooling. It has both the 3 & 4 jaw chucks, as well as a collet system, whereas the Nardini only has a 3 jaw chuck. The real positive with the Nardini is its set up for single phase 220v, with the Victor being a 3-phase 7.5hp motor. I know its possible to run the Victor with a converter, but I am not sure I will have enough power...looks like the phase converter will need at least 50-60a. The other option would be replacing it with a 7.5hp 240v motor, but that will likely add a minimum of $500 to the cost.

Before I even consider that, is one necessarily any "better" than the other. My understanding is the Victor is Taiwanese, with the Nardini being from Brazil. Both will present challenges as far as replacement parts are concerned, but that is pretty much the same with a lot of the older imports. Is it just a matter of whichever one is in better condition? The Nardini will likely be around $1k cheaper ($2k vs 3k), is already set up for single phase, and is probably 1k lbs lighter.

Any suggestions?

I think you are mistaken about the converter. I had a 21 inch Colchester that ran off a 15hp converter powered on a 40 amp circuit.

I have a Nardini 1230E that now runs off a 7 1/2 HP phase converter fed on a 30 amp circuit. Never had a problem with either converter.

Interesting, looks like I may need to do a little more research on the coverter.

How do you like your Nardini?

Victor is still in buisiness, most parts can still be had .
Nardini parts are hard to find.
Victor Machines | Lathes, Mills, Drills, Grinders, Bandsaws | CNC Machine Tools

All other things being equal " Victor " every day for me.

Regards Tyrone.

I think the power availability (max amps) and then the convertor sizing would relate to the kind of work you would do. Maximum current draw would only happen when taking off maximum material/time. If you're mostly doing modest work you could get away with theoretically insufficient power. If you were running from a smaller VFD it should flag a problem and cut out. If you're using another route for 3 phase (home grown large motor rotary) you could fuse it for your actual availability. And of course your breaker box should tell you if you ever cross the line.

I have a victor 16x60 with the 7.5 motor. My RPC runs on a 50 amp circuit only because my whole shop is 50amp but IM sure it could run on a 30. I have a home built 10hp rpc btw.
Victor is still in business, parts can be had, and its a solid machine.
The guy I bought it from replaced it with a 20" nardini. Says he never should have let it go.

No experience with Nardini, but we have a 1630 Victor in our shop and it has been a trouble free, accurate, solid piece of machinery for the last 30 yrs.

They had a nardini in the shop but got rid of it before I got here. Traded it for a monarch.
have fun
i_r_

I've run both machines, id say the victor is a superior machine. The headstock was smoother with a better finish potential.

Here are a few pics of the Nardini...

Jason280 said:

Interesting, looks like I may need to do a little more research on the coverter.

How do you like your Nardini?

Click to expand...

I got my Nardini as a broken production machine. Lots of wear on ways, bad spindle bearings, and shifting issues with apron. I just finished with the repairs and refurbish but havo only done small, quick jobs. All said, I have run more pleasing lathes.

Nardini lathes were rather marginally built machines. Alot of them seem to have problems with cracked gibs especially in the compound. Victors have been around along time and most people have been pretty happy with them. Fairly well built and parts are available from Fortune machinery in NJ.

We have a Victor 1118DCL Toolroom lathe, which is an obvious Hardinge copy, and it's a nice machine that does exactly what you'd expect.

Nardini was a cheap machine from the start.

If you want a HSM machine, have at it. If you want a tool that returns a profit on your efforts, choose the Victor.

I like victor
English speaking support in New Jersey

I’ve never used a Nardini so I can’t comment on them. From the photos they look a little “cheap”er than a victor. Boxy headstock, little less beefy.

My main small lathe is a victor 1630 that I’ve rebuilt, and it’s the best lathe I’ve used so far, with a brand new Morton Lathe coming in a very close second.

I’m a big fan of the 80’s era Taiwanese machines, direct drive,
No clutch, foot brake etc.

All seals and bearings are very stock standard parts easy to find and the machine is very simple to pull apart.

I’ve yet to need any of the special parts like half nuts and etc.

The screws and nuts for the slides are basic and you could make them easily yourself.

I did have to adjust spindle bearings a little to ease the chatter when parting off, but since then no dramas.

Mine is still rock solid and accurate. I’ve just finished a batch of 1020 steel hydraulic pistons where I needed to drill a 50mm hole through the guts. The victor doesn’t even flinch.

M56 x 2.0 internal thread x 150mm deep, done at 600 RPM absolutely no issues - no chatter.

The previous job was some small 420 stainless hydraulic spools with sub thou tolerance and it held tolerance with no trouble.

It’s my favourite lathe and I will never part with it.

At my old day job we were given a victor 1640 that had been in a maintenance shed in a Coke works for 30 years. After a good clean and replacing a key for one of the gears/shafts deep in the headstock, it didn’t miss a beat until I left that department. No quick change toolpost, no boring bar holders, just set it up with the bare basics and the very few wrenches and Allen keys needed to use the machine, and I’d walk the length of the shop with my small machining toolbox and I’d have everything I needed. I spent many a night shift on it knocking out all our spare bronze bushes and pins etc while the other boys watched football (on company time, again large union steel mill) - my only wish is that I got them to dump the machine on the back of my truck and I took it home in the depths of the night when the security guards are asleep. I work in one of those big business’ where machines are liabilities and people are just a cost - they wouldn’t even notice if it went missing before I brought it there. I kick myself from time to time for not doing so.

So in summary, THE VICTOR ALL THE WAY!!!