My buddy is looking for a general purpose lathe that will get used a few times a week. He makes parts for production machines and new projects...pretty much what my lathes get used for. I'd recommend a Reed Prentice but they are hard to find. I see a lot of Monarch, Leblond and such at the used machine stores. What would you recomend? What's easiest to find parts, attachments and chucks for? He wants to spend less than $5k, There are hundreds here in town for that price.
Karl Townsend fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Has he considered what he needs in spindle bore? A lot of the older high- class lathes have tiny bores. If he needs to work bars through the headstock, that will be important.
You don't mention the size the lathe's projects will be. That could be important. :-)
Well ... I've never used a LeBlond, but I have used a Monarch, and would love to have one. (But beware that depending on age, it may depend on tubes which are now hard to find and expensive when you find them for spindle speed control. The original ones used a motor-generator to produce the DC voltage to run the spindle motor, and I'm not sure whether there were any tubes involved. The next generation used transformers and tubes to produce the DC, and those are the expensive ones to keep going. The generation after that used solid state devices in a potted module to perform the same function. If that fries, you are DOA. Finally, the latest ones (including many converted by the factory from the older ones) use a three-phase motor and a VFD to provide the spindle speed control.
But there are others too. I'm using a Causing 12" swing, and many parts are still produced for it -- though the prices are climbing every time they need to make a new batch of the parts. My accessories were found on eBay a while back -- over a period of time -- including the taper turning attachment. Does he heed a taper turning attachment?
Another which I have used in the past is a Sheldon, and that was a good machine too.
Unless you are a Ned Simmons type, trash the DC stuff on these lathes and put in a three phase drive motor and VFD. Not at all a difficult project. I'd even suggest going this route and use the fact that the drive is poor to negotiate a lower selling price.
I know I'm some sort of ilk (Gunner's told me so on several occasions), but this is my first clue I'm also a "type." In my defense, what Karl is referring to is the fact that I kept the thyratron drive in a 10EE that I was able to repair without too much effort. I'll admit that part of my reluctance to scrap the old drive had to do with the cool purple flashing of the tubes as they fired, not practicality. I sold that machine several years ago to a guy who drove from NJ to ME to pick it up. Last I knew it was still working with the thyratron drive.
I did install a VFD in my big Monarch. Two actually; one for the spindle, and one for the coolant pump.
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