Another 'What should I do' question

Hi All,

I am in the process of setting up my retirement shop - as in I am about to retire, want to replace the 9" SB A lather with something bigger and better.


One option is the SB Heavy 10 esp with the 2 1/4" 8TPI spindle. I like SB because parts and information is available everywhere, BUT I know there are a lot of good other choices.

What I want is to be able to reliably (repeatably) hold .001" or perhaps better, a ~4' bed, 11-14" swing, and very good quality - this is the most important aspect to me. Tools and parts should be reasonably available

I guess my budget is ~$4k + the value of a very well tooled 9"A - I am assuming optimistically that it might work out to ~$6K. BUT I would like this to be reasonably well tooled...

I would love a Hardinge HLV - but suspect that for my budget I would get a boat anchor, Rivett seems to make a nice small one. Monarch seems a bit large WRT footprint. I live in the NE so shipping a big ol' piece of metal 3000 miles might eat up a bit of my budget. 3 phase power is not a problem.


I have been searching for a while, and it is not easy to wade through the information.

I am really looking for guidance on what to look for. I am currently in a basement - it does have a 6' slider

Thanks

Ray

I tell people on here to support the advertisers of PM. Surplusrecord.com is one of them. They have a "wanted" section that is free. You can write a wanted ad asking all the dealers in the USA your question too.

I'm not positive if Machinetools.com advertises here, but that is another "dealer" based website geared for buying and selling machine tools. Be specific in you ad's and your budget. Also tell them what your not interested in as along with the good replies you will get a lot of unwanted quotes from high buck salesmen. You might get lucky and find a bargain. Also take a peak in the "reconditioning" forum as we have a thread of what to look for when buying a used machine. Oh and you have the right to negotiate on quotes. If you were another dealer inquiring and selling another dealers machine you would get a 10% discount. Also be sure the to say "loaded on your truck".

You can also say quotes from NE dealers only. If you buy one I would recommend you go take it for a test drive. Good Luck. Rich

PS: You need to go to advanced setting and edit and include South Bend or Lathe wanted in your title or they may delete this.

if you aren't putting it in a basement, bigger machines get cheap. A neighbor had a reeeeeaally long bed lathe, and the whole back end of it was usually workbench

south bends get too pricey because of popularity, and movability.

We have tons of machines in NE so for the price of a ramp truck move you can get a lot of machine.

If a 10EE will work for your needs, I have a nice one (mid 60's) at my shop that I've been considering selling. X-Z DRO, taper attachment, 5hp VFD retrofit. It would be more than the $4K you mentioned, but not the crazy pricing that some of the Ebay guys want.

It's about 80 miles from you, if you want to take a look at it you can pm or email me.

If you want the larger bore spindle avoid the HLVH. That one is smaller than the southbend one.

If you want a larger swing, the 13 inch SB lathe has the same bore spindle as the 10L.

I always pine for a 2 inch spindle bore. How many things I could do rather than need a long bed.....

gustafson said:

I always pine for a 2 inch spindle bore. How many things I could do rather than need a long bed.....

Click to expand...

It's never big enough. I have a Heavy 10L and just turned away my first paying job. Trailer brake drums needing the magnet contact resurfaced. They were 10.63 OD

Rbahr, sent an email reply to your pm.

I know what I'd do but no one here would like it.

Ok, Ok, I'll bite - what would you do?

I am looking for suggestions and thoughts...

Thanks

Ray

If at all possible, if it was me, I would keep the 9", and get a 13" Or 16". A 9" is much easier to set up for small work than the larger machines, + If you need to make any parts to get your new machine running you have a machine available.

Stay safe and have fun.

Joe.

I'll offer something for you to consider given your situation and cost constraints:

Keep your 9" SB. Look seriously at the Grizzly 12" Gunsmith lathe which has a 1.56" dia clearance through the spindle. It's not a perfect lathe my any means but it is pretty sturdy and quite accurate. Right now the price is around $3600 and if you add in shipping it brings you to your $4000 limit. My son's business has two of them and I have quite a few hours running them. To be fair, they are not of the quality and life expectancy of something like a Monarch but in a home environment one of them should last quite a while. I do not like their spindle speed selections so we converted both of them to VFD. That conversion is not a difficult one but does involve quite a bit of messing with the control cabinet in order to maintain all of the original buttons and functions.

Just a thought. I have no affiliation or particular loyalty for Grizzly

I'm in Holden, MA and picked up an SB13 last year. I have it in the basement and also have a walk-out basement. Was able to get the machine in from the back, bolted to a narrow skid, using the tractor with pallet forks. Moved the machine around inside rolling it on pipes borrowed from my bar clamps. I think your choice of machine depends heavily upon what you can find, but the 13 is a great choice with a good sized machine that's not too hard to move around.

rbahr said:

Hi All,

I am in the process of setting up my retirement shop - as in I am about to retire, want to replace the 9" SB A lather with something bigger and better.


One option is the SB Heavy 10 esp with the 2 1/4" 8TPI spindle. I like SB because parts and information is available everywhere, BUT I know there are a lot of good other choices.

What I want is to be able to reliably (repeatably) hold .001" or perhaps better, a ~4' bed, 11-14" swing, and very good quality - this is the most important aspect to me. Tools and parts should be reasonably available

Click to expand...

I know this is not quite as popular, but I think you should consider a South Bend Fourteen. They were made from maybe 1969- early 80's, and in two bed lengths, the shorter of them fits the foot print you mention. They all have hard beds, cam lock spindles, and variable speeds up to about 1800 rpm. Parts and machines are around, though not as common as say a 13 or 16. I have had mine less than a year and am very impressed.

The 13 is a great choice too. And Lord knows I love 16's. Late versions of both have hard bed and spindle options, but I certainly would not rule out an earlier machine that was nice. The longer bed versions of both might be outside the size you are looking for, but a 5 foot bed 13 or 6 foot bed 16 might be easy to accommodate.

The specs you mention cover many, many lathes built in the last 70 years. Given your budget you will have many machines available to you. I have run a Hardinge HVL-H, what a machine... And I have been humbled many times by what experienced operators do with them.. But, they are small and maybe not as versatile in your type of environment. The 10EE is a masterpiece of engineering. The one thing I dislike is the short center distance, especially given the size and weight of the machine. If that is ok for your needs, by all means buy one if you can. There is a long bed version, if you can find one, they are quite rare. I've no experience with the Rivett, but it seems like the capacity is the same or similar to the Hardinge and the 10EE.

I also think you should keep the 9, especially if it is tooled up. Your budget will buy you a lot of machine, and it seems like one is never enough. There are many choices in the way of Clausing, Sheldon, South Bend, and any number of Imports that will suit your needs.

Enjoy the hunt!

Marc

Hi All,

I do appreciate the feedback.

Qestion on the tolerances you can manage with the 13/14" SB - what is reasonable to expect?

Thanks

Ray

Hmmm, You mention a 4 foot bed and then talk about an HLV-H so I think that shouldn't be in the discussion.
Most monarchs are fairly large but capable of the most demanding accuracy and would never rule one out if the room is available and a good one shows up.
For a modern machine I like the Harrison M300 13" lathes, about as simple to run as a Southbend but gear head and 2500 RPM with inch metric feed and threading built in. As with any machine, finding one used that hasn't been abused is the trick.
Really in the NE being the rust belt I think there should be plenty of machines in retirees work shops and someone somewhere selling one most of the time.
Dan

rbahr said:

Hi All,

I do appreciate the feedback.

Qestion on the tolerances you can manage with the 13/14" SB - what is reasonable to expect?

Thanks

Ray

Click to expand...

My 14 runs under .001 in ten inches. It is more than accurate enough for lathe work.

You are lucky/blessed 'up-north' with your availability, retrieval distance and prices of machines. Not quite the same in the South.. Craigslist has some on it especially around the big cities. Anything American-made tends to get an 'antique/collectors-item' premium. An acquaintance was given a Standard lathe that had sat unused for 20 years(sob). My qualification is how to get anything bigger than a 9"SB moved! When I was an appie in Africa the local engineering clubs bought Colchester Student lathes at government auctions. They had a 'standard' Colchester headstock, saddle and tailstock and a very short bed(about 4"). The place I worked at had the same lathe with a 15' bed.

The commercial used machine sellers certainly have a great selection, although I am sure there are a lot of widows/adult children wondering what to do with 'Dad's machines.'

I have 3 lathes and my middle machine is a 13x40, but if I was in the market for a 13/14" machine, I would seriously consider a new LeBlond RMK or something like that. They are very nice machines with a D1-6 spindle (just under 2" thru hole), lots of spindle speeds and threads. Check their website.

Hi All,

My hunt continues. I 'think' I have refined my search terms a bit, and have discovered that there are a lot of nice lathes out there. I have learned a lot!

I am looking for:

• less than 36-40" bed
• Taper attachment
• metric & Standard threading - metric change gears
• 1.5" through hole or larger
• Something that has parts available - was looking at a Takiswa, but uses an A1-5 mount and parts are largely NLA
• Would like to hold under .001 over at least a foot, prefer better
• I don't mind an electronics project, but scraping/grinding/gear cutting is way beyond my meager capabilities.
• 3 phase is just fine

Thanks

Ray