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New Lathe Ideas

bpctcb

Plastic
Joined
Oct 12, 2018
I will be buying a new lathe for hobby gunsmithing; specifically precision rifle work. I have a budget of $12k to buy 1 lathe. Where is what I'm looking at so far for a new lathe:

PM1340 GT, spindle has 1.5625" bore & 13.75" length, 40" between centers, D1-4 camlock, 1350#, made in Taiwan, 5 year warranty

PM1440GT, spindle has 2" bore and 15.5" length, 40" between centers, D1-5 camlock, 1750#, made in Taiwan, 5 year warranty, has foot brake.

SB Heavy 10, spindle has 1.358" bore & 13.625" length, 30" between centers, D1-4 camlock, 543#, made in Taiwan, 1 year warranty

SB Heavy 13, spindle has 1.57" bore & 20.875" length, 30" between centers, D1-5 camlock, VFD appears to be factory installed, 1870#, made in Taiwan, 1 year warranty, has foot brake.

Grizzly G0740, spindle has 1.57" bore & 20.875" length, 40" between centers, D1-5 camlock, 2420#, made in Taiwan, 1 year warranty, has foot brake.

I've also looked at Kent, Sharp and Eisen lathes.

I'm leaning towards the PM1440GT with PM1340GT as second choice.

Is there anything I'm missing here? Any other lathes I should be considering?

Thanks,
BP
 
I bought an Eisen from Taiwan. Save you a bunch of money and same factory as PM. Very happy with mine.
 
I called before end of year and made a lower offer and he took it. Good luck
 
After almost 5 months of waiting my PM-1440gt arrived yesterday. For some reason or maybe of shipping PM locked by engaged 1/2 nuts, I disengaged 1/2 nut, but Z-Axis will not move. Any idea please advise greatly appreciated it.
 
Captain Obvious speaking but have you undone the carriage lock device and, if so, are you sure it's actually released. Some designs won't release if done up too tightly when there it a burr, bit of swarf our a just wrong build up of tolerances acting to jam things up. Usually easily seen with most common designs because the locking bolt rises as it's undone rather than being dragged down onto the saddle by the weight of the locking thingie.

Engaging half nuts for transport makes sense as things are set positively in position. Theoretically disengaged ones could jiggle and perhaps be damaged.

Clive
 
The seller is supposed to detail the machine ,clean off grease,check everything works ,accessories are there etc............however ,by delivering the lathe in its shipping crate as it comes from the 40ft container ,the seller can either increase profit ......or reduce the price .
 
Gunsmithing ... I've done .. a fair bit... truing actions... threading and chambering barrels.

I'm 'anal' about it... but the reality is gunsmithing is not rocket science.

The xx millionths of runout of spindle bearings on a Monarch EE are worth nothing in terms of the quality of the thread .. and far less in terms of a chamber cut with a piloted reamer, even pre- bored.

Consider the length and bore of the spindle... I'd throw it in the worst category for a useful lathe for a 'gunsmith' unless you're doing skinny smallbore barrels 34" long or more ... ;-)

My crappy ... by comparison accuracy wise... Graziano 12S ... is light years ahead ... even with it's 'Pickup Truck' grade tapered roller bearings.

I've put a tenth indicator on it. There's an obvious cyclic runout ... which might matter for NASA shit ...
 








 
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