Finding a older South Bend 9 lathe would not be a bad option for getting into the new hobby of machining. These lathes are so common and good for their size that there is a pretty healthy owner's community and reproduction spares are quite commonly available as a result.
Myford shares a similarly enthusiastic community and there are a number of small suppliers for reproduction parts.
Plus once you have a bit more machining time under your belt the lathe itself can be used to make many repairs or replacements. And when you eventually add a milling machine to rest alongside the lathe there won't be much you can't replicate or repair in conjunction with the lathe.
The downside of buying used for your first lathe is that you first need to know what sort of wear is important and tolerable and how to measure it quickly while doing a "drop in for a look" sort of inspection. And that part is not easy to learn without some sort of lathe time under your belt.
Bed wear on a lathe is important. The bed will tend to wear more in the most frequently used area by small items of 4" or less length held in the chuck. This ties in with the idea that 95% or more of lathe jobs can be done on a smaller machine. So looking for bed "sag" due to wearing a hollow is a big thing.
If you bring along a good known to be straight fairly heavy 12" long ruler and a set of feeler gauges you can measure the wear on the prismatic and flat rails in that area. I'd say that if you can bridge the area and poke a shim of up to around .002 to .003 in there that's about the limit I'd want to see. If the gap accepts an .004 or greater then walk away. Almost any price at that point would not be worth it since as a beginner you would be trying to compensate for too much variation.
It's not just the resulting sway back over that area. It's also that the complementary hump in the carriage is going to be an issue too. Anything longer where you roll the carriage out of the dip means it will be sitting on the middle of the sag worn into the riding surfaces.
A good machinist can work around the issues that such a shape will cause. But as a beginner you'll have enough on your plate and don't need these sorts of complications. There's enough good lathes out there that it's better to pass up and move on.
For giggles I just checked my own lathe using the same method. I'm very happy to report that the visible wear on my prismatic way appears to be no more than visible. Using this same method I can't fit even a .0015" shim under the ruler at any point.
Myford shares a similarly enthusiastic community and there are a number of small suppliers for reproduction parts.
Plus once you have a bit more machining time under your belt the lathe itself can be used to make many repairs or replacements. And when you eventually add a milling machine to rest alongside the lathe there won't be much you can't replicate or repair in conjunction with the lathe.
The downside of buying used for your first lathe is that you first need to know what sort of wear is important and tolerable and how to measure it quickly while doing a "drop in for a look" sort of inspection. And that part is not easy to learn without some sort of lathe time under your belt.
Bed wear on a lathe is important. The bed will tend to wear more in the most frequently used area by small items of 4" or less length held in the chuck. This ties in with the idea that 95% or more of lathe jobs can be done on a smaller machine. So looking for bed "sag" due to wearing a hollow is a big thing.
If you bring along a good known to be straight fairly heavy 12" long ruler and a set of feeler gauges you can measure the wear on the prismatic and flat rails in that area. I'd say that if you can bridge the area and poke a shim of up to around .002 to .003 in there that's about the limit I'd want to see. If the gap accepts an .004 or greater then walk away. Almost any price at that point would not be worth it since as a beginner you would be trying to compensate for too much variation.
It's not just the resulting sway back over that area. It's also that the complementary hump in the carriage is going to be an issue too. Anything longer where you roll the carriage out of the dip means it will be sitting on the middle of the sag worn into the riding surfaces.
A good machinist can work around the issues that such a shape will cause. But as a beginner you'll have enough on your plate and don't need these sorts of complications. There's enough good lathes out there that it's better to pass up and move on.
For giggles I just checked my own lathe using the same method. I'm very happy to report that the visible wear on my prismatic way appears to be no more than visible. Using this same method I can't fit even a .0015" shim under the ruler at any point.
And a day away from the farm.
