Lathe recommendations
- Thread starter jtoews80
- Start date
I've owned a bunch of old iron lathes. While I think the Chinese lathes can get it done, the old iron is probably the best value, and quality, and there is something about the machines that is very appealing also. A friend of mine who does some work for AECL, I think it is, said they got a 30K precision chinese lathe and the compound snapped off. I woned a Busy Bee briefly, long story, and it worked fine.
The Chinese lathes can have oddball stuff though, like many eastern lathes are metric machines, that they just did ratios to cut imperial, changed the dials. This is OKish, lik getting a set of change gears to cut metic on an imperial lathe. It seems to me though that this craft is largely imperial in NA, and you might as well have a real machine.
Another thing that drove me crazy was that the chinese machines, for instance in the Busy Bee line-up, would have all different features as you changed in size or configuration. You don't really get that with a South Bend. You move up there is probably the same machine, just bigger. Drove me nuts, I could never get everything I wanted in one machine.
Anyway, at the light but fabulous end of old iron, I would recommend the South bend 9" lathe with 36" or longer bed, or the heavy ten, and that could have a shorter bed. Both come up at good prices all the time. There are parts galore for them, info, groups, aftermarket. You will virtually not pay to own the lathe since they seem resalable at as much as you paid for them. The heavy ten can be a used even today in a real gunsmith's pro shop. Yet it is easily broken down, and moved. The 9 come close to being movable by hand.
The 9 is not large enough through the hole to allow parts to be turned within the headstock. But that is actually not best machinist practice anyway. It does happen to be best practice in the gunsmithing field, but my point is just that I have known gunsmiths who only owned a 9, and they did all sorts of serious work on it. To name one, the barrel maker Pope, had lots of stuff, but drilled barrels on a 9. The guy featured in that video who made the barrel drilling/rifling machine, built the machine on a nine. And I know one pro in Canada, who had only a 9. But if you go that route, the 9 has to be long.
9s cost 500 and up, you can get good ones for 500. Heavy Tens (there are other tens) are 1000 and up, and often as much as 2500.
You will probably save a lot if you pay a little higher for a nice one that comes with a lot of stuff. You get the nicer model you paid for, and often sellers are happy enough with that, that they throw in an equal value of accessories. So it is sorta like a half price deal.
South bend was not the best lathe of it's day, but it can be the best lathe for the home shop today. Price, resale, parts, new stuff made for it. Articles, videos, forums, books, etc... featuring it.
In my experience when you go to larger lathes than the 10, you tend to find lathes that were ridden hard and put up wet, so to speak. Those were someone's industrial purchase, and they can show it.
How to buy one:
Don't let nice re-pait, or lack of paint sway you. Look at the metal under the paint.
Get a gearbox, but be aware that often an external change gear lathe will be in better shape, and there is less to loose if it has a problem
Check for wear on the:
Bed at headstock
Split nuts
Lead screw.
Check for broken teeth.
There are a lot of other things to look at. But it is amazing how many lathes I looked at that looked good on these points and then proved fine elsewhere.
Also beware of the drives. A lot of earlier models were driven overhead, one way or another. Just be aware of how many different drives there were (run some pictures), and understand that you may find mismatched drives out there. Not necessarily a problem, but it could let you avoid one, or allow you to beat up on price.
The Chinese lathes can have oddball stuff though, like many eastern lathes are metric machines, that they just did ratios to cut imperial, changed the dials. This is OKish, lik getting a set of change gears to cut metic on an imperial lathe. It seems to me though that this craft is largely imperial in NA, and you might as well have a real machine.
Another thing that drove me crazy was that the chinese machines, for instance in the Busy Bee line-up, would have all different features as you changed in size or configuration. You don't really get that with a South Bend. You move up there is probably the same machine, just bigger. Drove me nuts, I could never get everything I wanted in one machine.
Anyway, at the light but fabulous end of old iron, I would recommend the South bend 9" lathe with 36" or longer bed, or the heavy ten, and that could have a shorter bed. Both come up at good prices all the time. There are parts galore for them, info, groups, aftermarket. You will virtually not pay to own the lathe since they seem resalable at as much as you paid for them. The heavy ten can be a used even today in a real gunsmith's pro shop. Yet it is easily broken down, and moved. The 9 come close to being movable by hand.
The 9 is not large enough through the hole to allow parts to be turned within the headstock. But that is actually not best machinist practice anyway. It does happen to be best practice in the gunsmithing field, but my point is just that I have known gunsmiths who only owned a 9, and they did all sorts of serious work on it. To name one, the barrel maker Pope, had lots of stuff, but drilled barrels on a 9. The guy featured in that video who made the barrel drilling/rifling machine, built the machine on a nine. And I know one pro in Canada, who had only a 9. But if you go that route, the 9 has to be long.
9s cost 500 and up, you can get good ones for 500. Heavy Tens (there are other tens) are 1000 and up, and often as much as 2500.
You will probably save a lot if you pay a little higher for a nice one that comes with a lot of stuff. You get the nicer model you paid for, and often sellers are happy enough with that, that they throw in an equal value of accessories. So it is sorta like a half price deal.
South bend was not the best lathe of it's day, but it can be the best lathe for the home shop today. Price, resale, parts, new stuff made for it. Articles, videos, forums, books, etc... featuring it.
In my experience when you go to larger lathes than the 10, you tend to find lathes that were ridden hard and put up wet, so to speak. Those were someone's industrial purchase, and they can show it.
How to buy one:
Don't let nice re-pait, or lack of paint sway you. Look at the metal under the paint.
Get a gearbox, but be aware that often an external change gear lathe will be in better shape, and there is less to loose if it has a problem
Check for wear on the:
Bed at headstock
Split nuts
Lead screw.
Check for broken teeth.
There are a lot of other things to look at. But it is amazing how many lathes I looked at that looked good on these points and then proved fine elsewhere.
Also beware of the drives. A lot of earlier models were driven overhead, one way or another. Just be aware of how many different drives there were (run some pictures), and understand that you may find mismatched drives out there. Not necessarily a problem, but it could let you avoid one, or allow you to beat up on price.
there is a colchester master 2500 lathe on the crown assets website now. these are great lathes. easy to convert to 220 volts . this one appears to have the metric saddle. they have a clutch setup for going from forward to reverse for cutting threads .the only draw back is they are loud .I have one in standard and love it.
I am surprised nobody has mentioned one of the finest in my opinion gunsmith lathes around and build in Canada to boot, the Standard Modern has it all for a gunsmith at home, it is reasonable to transport has a short headstock and a large spindle bore and come with Camlock spindles in the later years, is reasonably powerfull for any gunsmith operation and threads either inc or metric depending on the year.They are reasonably priced and they are still built in Canada, lots of used ones around, I used one in school 35 years ago as I am shure lots of machinist did.
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