WTB Lathe - NJ area

I'm looking to buy a lathe, something in the 10-16" range with a 30-48" bed.

Looking to spend about $1500.

I'm in the NJ/Philly area.

I have a South Bend model O 13" with a 5 ' bed for sale in North Jersey. $650

MilGunsmith said:

I have a South Bend model O 13" with a 5 ' bed for sale in North Jersey. $650

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Unfortunately I think that's gonna be to big for me. Do you have any pictures or more information though?

I found an Enco 111-3310 13x40 gap bed for sale that looks to be almost brand new. I didn't really want something made in china, but its the perfect size and is certainly going to be in better shape than any American made lathe I could find.

Has anyone used the Enco before? Are they just chinese junk or are they decent machines?

If the enco doesn't work out,I have a 16x40 south bend going up for sale. New 8"chuck,new 3hp motor, new quick change tool post. also comes with steady rest,live center,and set of tool holders for tool post. also has taper attachment. I did alot of work to this machine myself,and it is turnkey and accurate too. I just bought an american pacemaker and don't have the room for two machines or else i would keep it.

jaguar36 said:

I found an Enco 111-3310 13x40 gap bed for sale that looks to be almost brand new. I didn't really want something made in china, but its the perfect size and is certainly going to be in better shape than any American made lathe I could find.

Has anyone used the Enco before? Are they just chinese junk or are they decent machines?

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Given that you live in the Philly area, i find it hard to believe that if you waited a bit you couldn't find the perfect american made machine in great condition. It's been said that no matter how big your machine is, someday you will wish you had a bigger one. I suspect there's years and years of wisdom behind this sentiment.

cdindustries said:

If the enco doesn't work out,I have a 16x40 south bend going up for sale. New 8"chuck,new 3hp motor, new quick change tool post. also comes with steady rest,live center,and set of tool holders for tool post. also has taper attachment. I did alot of work to this machine myself,and it is turnkey and accurate too. I just bought an american pacemaker and don't have the room for two machines or else i would keep it.

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Sounds like the enco deal is falling through. Do you have some pictures? Where in NY are you? Sounds like you just put a fair bit of money into it, how come you decided to then get a new lathe instead?

jaguar36 said:

how come you decided to then get a lathe?

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There. Fixed that for yah. You've not twigged to what an ATW Pacemaker IS and a Southbent is NOT.

My Pacemaker just arrived. I haven't even powered it up yet, so other than physical impressions, take my second or third hand information as such.

That Pacemaker is probably twice the weight and a little larger in each dimension than a lighter lathe - they're known hog down material without flinching and still clean up tenths. The earlier ones were over 5000lb for a 16X30, and longer and heavier yet later.

So as Thermite wrote much more concisely, it's easy enough to figure out why cdindustries chose that over the SB.

That still leaves the question: will the SB work for you.

My first hand SB would be occasional hours rather than years on a mid-19something unit, and didn't need either high production or ultra precision, but don't recall a bad experience. Probably be just fine, but you'll want to know what age and model, there are turn of the last century ones around through imports maybe turn of this century and current, sold by Grizzly these days.

So many SBs around that they have their own specific forum here, so you should be able to find good advice should it ever stump you.

Jaguar,
I am located in westbury, Long island. The south bend was in fine shape when I bought it,however I wanted it perfect. Some of the items replaced were from normal wear and other items were replaced for my own peace of mind. I didn't mention in the previous post, but the crossfeed,and compound screws and nut are brand new as well. The south bend is a fine machine, but i needed a more rigid machine to bevel 12" heavy wall pipe,as well as some other parts we manufacture from 4-12' solid stock. I will post the pictures I have on hand. If you like I can take pictures from every angle and PM them to you. Thermite is correct, The pacemaker is likely the last machine i would need to buy until we expand and add another one.


The southbend will almost fit between centers of the pacemaker

I'm still looking for a lathe. Couple other things I'm looking for would be a max RPM range at least 1500, 2000 would be better. I'd also like to look for something less than 3000lbs, above that is getting to be more than I'm comfortable moving. I'd really like it to have metric threading capability, but I realize thats probably unrealistic for most of the older lathes.

Jaguar36,

I have a South Bend Heavy 10, 3 1/2 Ft. bed that I would like to sell if that would interest you. It includes a 6" 4 jaw, hand wheel collet closer and collets (5C), steady and follow rests,taper attachment, dog drive plate, metric transposing gears, threading stop, 4 position cross slide stop, additional chuck mounting plate, live center, spindle sleeve and center and 4 way tool post. I am located in central New Jersey.

I have two 1915ish aged Hendey's for sale.As wel as an entire machine shop of Vintage stuff that I must get rid of. Brown and Sharps, Cincinnati etc. Lots of parts too.

[email protected]

pfiori said:

Jaguar36,

I have a South Bend Heavy 10, 3 1/2 Ft. bed that I would like to sell if that would interest you. It includes a 6" 4 jaw, hand wheel collet closer and collets (5C), steady and follow rests,taper attachment, dog drive plate, metric transposing gears, threading stop, 4 position cross slide stop, additional chuck mounting plate, live center, spindle sleeve and center and 4 way tool post. I am located in central New Jersey.

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How much are you looking for for it?

Go check out Cook Machinery in Sicklerville, NJ 856-629-4900 ask for Jim or Tom. Very nice people who get a lot thes in in your price range....

jaguar36 said:

I'm still looking for a lathe. Couple other things I'm looking for would be a max RPM range at least 1500, 2000 would be better. I'd also like to look for something less than 3000lbs, above that is getting to be more than I'm comfortable moving. I'd really like it to have metric threading capability, but I realize thats probably unrealistic for most of the older lathes.

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There actually IS a superb lathe that fits that - or near-as-dammit. Just over 3,000 lbs, a tad less if the hydraulic tracer is absent and its tank empty. Base design makes it dead-easy to move as well.

Over 3,000 RPM top, and continuously variable, with tasking-driven "presets", yet. Inherently inch/metric. And I have one, but not for sale.

The mystery is why with 30 or 40 THOUSAND made, France, Japan, Spain, and Brazil, they are still as seldom seen as they are. I suspect that many are just still beavering away in their inherent inch/metric role, just not yet on the used market, and they were never as common in North America, as in Europe, LATAM, or Asia anyway.

Have a look at Tony's lathes.co.uk website. Cazeneuve HBX-360-BC.

Quite possibly the best overall system at single-point threading as any general-purpose lathe maker ever made, anywhere. The new "Optica" can even very easily pick-up on a damaged thread and repair it.

It remained in production rather longer than most other high-grade manual lathes, and has not exactly vanished, yet today. Look at the factory You-Tube for the "Optica", recognize the skeleton and some of the muscles of an HBX-360 gone servo'ed and "Teach in" rather than mechanical and hydraulic.

Not for the faint of heart to service, DIY, nor for a poor man to buy factory parts.

OTOH, they tend to be as much as 40 years YOUNGER, use and cumulative wear according, vs many of our favourite "Grand Old" industrial-grade US-made legends be.

As said, "not for the faint of heart". Grab the manuals online and see. They are superb manuals, BTW. SEVERAL very competent PM members have contributed to the knowledge, "right here on PM", but not-only.

30CW

Well a Cazeneuve looks just about perfect. If only I could find one for sale.

I should also clarify I'm looking for something with 30-40" between center, not bed length. I didn't realize that older lathes bed lengths included the head stock.

I'm still looking for a lathe, to recap I'm looking for:

• $1500-$2000
• 10-16"
• 30-40" between centers
• 1500+RPM
• <3000 lbs
• NJ/Philly Area

I'd love to have metric threading capability as well. I'd perfer to stay away from the typical Southbends. Something like a Clausing or a Sheldon would be perfect.