I generally don't post up my business on the internet, but this is one that I'm really excited about. A while ago, I wanted to get into some gunsmithing and the start by cambering some barrels in that regard. So, I talked with dad about it as he had a lathe. But, he wasn't happy with the lathe as it wasn't big enough for the jobs he had for it, and was planning to sell it. Then he was going to find and buy something different. So, he and I thought that I should wait to buy any tooling until after he sold the lathe and got a different one.
That being said, I worked to sell that lathe, and finally sold it to an old school teacher that had taught shop on a similar but smaller lathe of that brand for 20 years.
Then the search began. Dad left me up to my own devices to find a replacement lathe for him. On the past Friday, there was a Dean, Smith & Grace toolroom lathe (model 17t) listed on kijiji for a good price in Edmonton. So, I finally got ahold of the guy who listed it Monday morning, and got a guarentee that the lathe would be held till we got there (Edmonton is over a 4 hour drive one way for me). We looked at the lathe, and dad decided that it would be more than adequate for what he needed. So, it was purchased.
Before I had gone to Edmonton, I had tracked down some tooling to buy if we got the lathe, and after we got it, I got into contact with the people to have a look at the stuff... The first guy had a small pile of armstrong cutter holders. Got them for a steal as compared to buying new.
The second place was a retiring machinist that was trying to sell stuff to get it out of his son's garage. Based some some preliminary searching, I think I managed to get over $30k worth of tooling for $900. It took 3 hours to go through all the stuff he was selling and decide what we wanted.
That being said, I'm really excited about the machine. This thing has minimal lash to it... The bedways appear solid from what I could tell. This machine is HEAVY.... And everything works...
2016-04-08_06-44-30 by wolverine00089, on Flickr
2016-04-08_06-44-15 by wolverine00089, on Flickr
That being said, I worked to sell that lathe, and finally sold it to an old school teacher that had taught shop on a similar but smaller lathe of that brand for 20 years.
Then the search began. Dad left me up to my own devices to find a replacement lathe for him. On the past Friday, there was a Dean, Smith & Grace toolroom lathe (model 17t) listed on kijiji for a good price in Edmonton. So, I finally got ahold of the guy who listed it Monday morning, and got a guarentee that the lathe would be held till we got there (Edmonton is over a 4 hour drive one way for me). We looked at the lathe, and dad decided that it would be more than adequate for what he needed. So, it was purchased.
Before I had gone to Edmonton, I had tracked down some tooling to buy if we got the lathe, and after we got it, I got into contact with the people to have a look at the stuff... The first guy had a small pile of armstrong cutter holders. Got them for a steal as compared to buying new.
The second place was a retiring machinist that was trying to sell stuff to get it out of his son's garage. Based some some preliminary searching, I think I managed to get over $30k worth of tooling for $900. It took 3 hours to go through all the stuff he was selling and decide what we wanted.
That being said, I'm really excited about the machine. This thing has minimal lash to it... The bedways appear solid from what I could tell. This machine is HEAVY.... And everything works...
2016-04-08_06-44-30 by wolverine00089, on Flickr2016-04-08_06-44-15 by wolverine00089, on Flickr
