I'm interested in replacing my very old metal lathe. I'm looking for a lathe that will turn a large 8-10" diameter steel piece without chatter. thread cutting is important. I don't need a very long bed but at least 36". Small South Bend lathes are found but usually are the 9 variety. I want something larger. What brand Lathe would be ideal for me or what are some brands to stay away from. I would like to own an old lathe that parts and support are available. I'm interested in only the older style lathes. I like the South Bend. Would there be a similar lathe.
"8" to 10"
without chatter, yah need skill, patience and/or around a 16" to 24" industrial lathe of about 6,000 lbs avoir.... or twice that.
TANSTAAFL
Be more patient and clever as to tooling-up, a War One era or later Hendey tie-bar don't much NEED "parts". None you cannot make right on it, anyway.
Wide, HEAVY beds, long carriages, no more parts than they need to do the job hanging-on as passengers, they are about as hard to HARM as any lathe ever built, are already perhaps twice or more your age and ain't ready to quit for "a while", yet.
Ya learn nothing more than how to fit simple-dumb bearings about once every decade or five? They just run.
Think of it as what a South Bend might have wanted to grow up to be if there hadn't been folks like Muncie transmission works using up all the good Iron as was smuggled into Indiana. Poor South Bend grew up starved nearly to death for Iron Deficiency enema. Or something of similar persuasion.
Problem with truly industrial geared-head lathes - Monarch, Lodge & Shipley, ATW, and a whole menu of others - is they need commensurate POWER, are harder to MOVE, and want seriously good decks UNDER them. Also do not take prisoners, you screw up, even a little bit.
A tie-bar Hendey can make chip off single-phase farm-duty motoring, be leveled even on an ignorant dirt floor in a barn or shed with a bit of ingenuity.
Iron, they got plenty of at birth.. Mollycoddled with delicate treatment thereafter? Not so much. Tough as cut-nail sandwiches, Hendeys are.
"Braggin' rights?" Seek a Herringbone Sidney or an Axelson Tool & Gage.
Even the search should keep you out of pubs and brothels for many a year.
Longer yet. you actually FIND one, rig it in, then have to find power to run it.