Bught an interesting 1944 Monarch lathe 16x54

Gunner Asch fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Yep...

Ig, the low speed 'problem' isn't about how fast you get the work done, it's about surface finish, and the types of tooling you'll be able to use.

LLoyd

And that, too, how did YOU know?

i

I do hobby stuff at work also. We'll be hopefully doing the cannon this weekend.

i

I think that I could easily get $2,500 for it, any time, and quick. I am sure that Guatemalans will buy it right away for that price. And I will ask for more than that initially.

And I also think that it is too nice to sell off.

i

Don't overlook the convenience of having two lathes, I fine myself running over to my older lather for quick tasks rather than tearing down something I have setup on the newer lathe. BTW, that newer lathe does

2,400 RPM (kinda scary) and I've routinely been running it at 350 RPM on fairly large dia stuff. 500 RPM max is indeed a limitation and a good reason to keep the other lathe around.

I run "small" work at 10,000 rpms

Not on a basic 13x40 Taiwan manual lathe, and I presume not in an 8" chuck...

12mm swiss.

Anything over a few inches I send out; because the need arises so infrequently that buying a largish lathe would be an exceptionally stupid business investment on my part.

Sounds like Larry is married too. :)

Heavens, no! I had my eyes and ears open at a very young age and decided that was one ceremony I would never be sucked into, and I haven't. Taking a Wifey costs too much time, too much money, and too many concessions. Nope, I just rent 'em. (aka "occasional sweet girlfriends", not hookers.)

12mm swiss.

Anything over a few inches I send out; because the need arises so infrequently that buying a largish lathe would be an exceptionally stupid business investment on my part. =================================

AND, iirc, you just recently got a..... SAW.... lol Saws are a pita, tho....

OK, I understand why 500rpm is too low to cut properly on small diameters, but is it possible to increase the speed of this particular lathe? Is there something about the drive or bearings that makes it impossible?

I've had the saw for quite some time now, and although the problems with having parts pre-sawn by my metal supplier were several, cost was not a factor....

1) Delivery (lead time) 2) Their coolant corroded the aluminum if left on for any length of time xusing problems with the anodizing. 3) Sawing myself allowed me much more flexubility.

One of our main product lines consists of about 12 detail parts which are all made out of 1/4 thick aluminum bar, in 1-1/2, 2, 3, and 4in widths...but since they are cut to several different lengths, it was previously necessary for me to keep a fairly large inventory of pre-sawn blanks in inventory whereas nowadays all I have to do is order more bar stock when I run low on any given width.

Most important is probably the flexibility aspect--whereas I used to have 12 setups on the vertical mills for these parts, today I run all of them and in any combination in Chick multi-station tombstone vises on a multi-pallet horizontal cnc and the only thing needed to "change over" from one part to another is I'll add the part into the que which takes all of about 10 seconds, whereas it used to take a week or more just to get the material on the floor.

Proly could just change the motor speed (assuming the motor is not already

3600 rpm), and/or the drive pulleys. I'm sure the bearings could handle it, altho it is generally true that the faster the rpm, the faster the wear. Many lathes come with two-speed motors.

This lathe is 70 year old by design and age.

Can you increase the "motor speed" of a 70 year old grandfaher? What will happen to the grandpa in the long run? we all know

i

Sorry, I'm not buying that metaphor. This lathe, as you described it, is on ly 70 years old by design - not by mileage. I would assume that any shop bu ying that lathe 70 years ago would have known what they were going to use i t for and would also have had a smaller, faster machine for doing smaller w ork. But that doesn't mean it's impossible to do. Of course, you're not goi ng to spin an 8" (or 12"!) chuck at 2500 RPM, but is there anything about t he mechanics of this lathe (bearings, gears, whatever) that makes it imposs ible to spin a 5C collet with your 0.250" workpiece that fast?

This ought to be good

Does that lathe HAVE ball bearing spindle bearings? Thats the first question Id be asking.

Gunner

I already conceded that wear is proportional to stress, rpm. 80 mph is more wear/tear on a vehicle than 50 mph.... And????

You can give grandpa a heart transplant, and swap out the motor, for a higher rpm motor. Or the pulleys. Not saying you should do it, just saying it can be done, and you'd have yer cake and be able to eat it too. You've already stated that you refuse to retain two lathes. This would be a good solution, if you really like this lathe other than the rpm.

If you were doing lots of 1,000+ rpm work, I'd say keep both lathes, as others have suggested. If not, you have to make a choice. Swapping the motor, pulleys is just another option.