New Lathe Advice

Is this what you would consider presentable?

Ohmygod..Im in love......

Gunner

"Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for Western civilization as it commits suicide"

- James Burnham

Is this in a firehouse? It looks like something they'd do when they got tired of polishing the trucks...

Jerry

It's a college machine shop in Hawaii. Even the tow motor is spotless!

I looked hard and could not find any evidence that they are actually using their equipment.

commits suicide"

Likely between semesters - My shop was like that - though not mechanical, it was tops. Start fresh and the students take care and clean up afterwards.

You don't want your shop trashed everyday do you ? Scrap in the scrap not trash. Oil in the oil drain trays.

Martin

Martin H. Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net TSRA, Life; NRA LOH & Endowment Member, Golden Eagle, Patriot"s Medal. NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member.

Ignoramus15713 wrote:

Tell your dealer that, and be prepared to pay for pretty as well as function. Domestic tranquility has a price at times, but it's sometimes cheaper than the alternative.

Don't go by what you see on the net. A lot of the stuff that dealers find never appears on the net. Finding good stuff that they can resell at a fair price with a fair profit is part of being a successful dealer.

It could be quite time-consuming keeping everything shiny-bright in a garage in a cool damp climate unless your garage has good climate control that keeps temperature even and humidity low. Otherwise, running surfaces kept oiled like ways will be OK but other surfaces like chucks and crossslide tops tend to develop a brown patina over time. It ain't quite exactly rust, but it is brown.

Keeping all unpainted ferrous metal surfaces protected with a light film of oil could make dusting a bitch. I might suggest polyester curtains for that reason...

Very good advice from a credible source.

Any machine must be moved, and loading on both ends is a major part of the move unless you pick it up yourself. I would not hesitate to pay some freight to deal with a good dealer. I bought my Bridgeport from a good dealer in South Dakota (I'm in Minneapolis). It wasn't a gloat "steal" in terms of price, but a fair price at the time. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. There are dealers here in the Cities, but none I'd mess with had a decent B'Port for what I was willing to pay when I wanted one. I told the dealer I wanted a good functional machine though I'd have no problem with ugly.

His description was understated in both directions. He said he had a pretty good ugly mill. It turned out to be perhaps bettter-than-new functionally (recently professionally rebuilt) though uglier than a reclaim from the wreck of the Titanic. The table looked like it had been used as the killing table in a slaughterhouse, nevermind the paintwork.

Werked fer me and has for 17 years now. That toad-ugly mill is still snug enough that if the temperature in the shop drops 20 degrees the machine gets quite stiff though it's smooth 'n easy at usual ambient. As received, there was a sticky spot in the quill descent. I worked on that spot for three hours with 600-grit SiC wetordry paper to no avail. Hard quill! Then I addressed it very carefully with a fine-grit diamond hone, might have removed a few microns. That did it. It then became silky smooth and still is, though it's not a sloppy loose fit. DTE Lite spindle oil gets past that interface at the rate of about one drop per month.

BTW, it came with an Accu-Rite DRO. The DRO readout crapped out a few years ago. I'd said more than once that if the DRO died I'd replace it before sundown, and that's exactly what happened. The scales and sensors were OK, just needed a new readout box.

Indeed, particularly the part about carbide tooling. Well-ground HSS is absolutely the way to go for the HSM most of the time. My lathe can handle carbide but I still only use carbide when HSS flat won't get it done. Sharp HSS can skin half a thou on mild steel, brass, ally or plastic. I do that routinely, and I did on my 9" Logan too. Carbide flat doesn't get that sharp.

You need to 'splain to her that the kitchen is hers, the garage yours. Be firm.

If I did that, she'd be 'splaining to me that the bedroom is for sleeping.

That's the trump card :/

Now that I've gotten some advice and links to used dealers, I'll follow them up, but I'd still like to pursue the other option as well: new.

Is anyone aware of a *new* lathe around 9x20 in my price range (

Anyone?

Is an Emco in that price range?

I can't seem to find Emco's larger than 5". If I could get a new Emco Maier Maximat 11 for $5K I'd jump on it.

No kidding! I'd jump on it too!

I see them listed on some British magazines in the adverts. $5k would make a nice downpayment. Heck, $5k would be a pretty good price for a used one in decent shape. No hope whatsoever of getting a new machine that large for that price unless you buy oriental.

Cheers Trevor Jones

What about Wabeco and Prazi lathes? The American distributer claims they're made in Germany and are around my price range. Are there any gotchas with these?