Hi all, I had a Harbor freight lathe that I bought used. While I got some utility from it, it was rusted after a hurricane damaged my shed roof. I sold it cheap letting someone else do the clean up. So, I want another lathe, I don't want anther HF unit, not even sure I want one of the larger Grizzly Lathes. Might be convinced though. I have looked at Bolton Lathes and they interest me, But I'm really stretching what I want to spend at $2,000 by the time I buy some accessories. I have looked for a used lathe, but I don't want to start with other people problems. Any suggestions what to look at?
On 4/12/2020 11:51 AM, amdx wrote: > Hi all, > I had a Harbor freight lathe that I bought used. > While I got some utility from it, it was rusted after a hurricane > damaged my shed roof. I sold it cheap letting someone else do the clean up. > So, I want another lathe, I don't want anther HF unit, not even sure I > want one of the larger Grizzly Lathes. Might be convinced though. > I have looked at Bolton Lathes and they interest me, But I'm really > stretching what I want to spend at $2,000 by the time I buy some > accessories. > I have looked for a used lathe, but I don't want to start with > other people problems. > Any suggestions what to look at? >
I guess it depends on what you want to do with it. Any lathe similar to the HF lathes is going to need work to be passable. That being said I made parts with my little HF lathe.
Little Machines Shop has lathes from $699 to 2349. IN that small lathe category. Chris tends to have better stuff than Harbor Freight. They are in California so I don't know if they are shipping right now.
Grizzly also has low price smaller lathes, but they also sell bigger heavier beasts. They even have a smaller one at 4x6 for only $427. Their 7x14 is almost $100 more than Little machine shop, but they have lots of options to look at.
Personally I like Precision Mathews, but my PM lathe is a 14x40 that weighs in at 2K lbs and $5K. It came with a ton of options, better specs, and marginally better price than a similar size Grizzly or Bolton. Harbor Freight, and Little Machine Shop don't have anything that size. I have heard negative reports on some of the smaller PM machines, but Precision Mathews will stand behind what they sell and send you anything you need to make it right if you have a problem.
I can't really recomend anybody or any machine unconditionally in the smaller size. They all have need to be gone through to be decent. If you know that upfront and expect it then you are fine.
I like my little Myford Super 7. Not a cheap lathe by any standard - but very handy. I'd go for a B series (power crossfeed) if I was looking tofay - but they are pretty hard to find.
I've been very happy with my Wards PowerKraft (Logan Lathe) 10x31 ... but the OP ain't going to find one new these days . The good thing is that Scott Logan is still in business and selling parts for these . Mine is nearly 70 years old and I can still buy most of the wear items from them .
Hi all, I had a Harbor freight lathe that I bought used. While I got some utility from it, it was rusted after a hurricane damaged my shed roof. I sold it cheap letting someone else do the clean up. So, I want another lathe, I don't want anther HF unit, not even sure I want one of the larger Grizzly Lathes. Might be convinced though. I have looked at Bolton Lathes and they interest me, But I'm really stretching what I want to spend at $2,000 by the time I buy some accessories. I have looked for a used lathe, but I don't want to start with other people problems. Any suggestions what to look at?
Mikek ================================================= What do you want to do with it? If it's to make model engines etc you can size the model to the lathe, but for repair parts and prototypes of your bright ideas you may need a larger capacity, perhaps 8", 9" or 10" diameter.
Mine is a 10" and I make machinery I designed and repair parts for old equipment. I mostly could have managed with an 8" lathe, maybe a 7", but probably not smaller. When I was building custom electronics I had a little Prazi clone which had enough capacity though I didn't appreciate the lack of half nuts to disengage the carriage from the leadscrew.
I turn enough 1" shafting and drill rod to appreciate my lathe's 1-3/8" spindle bore. A bore that won't take 1/2" rod would limit the load capacity of axles you could make. 3/4" is a decent size for loads of several hundred pounds and 5HP motor pulley shafts.
... I have looked at Bolton Lathes and they interest me, But I'm really stretching what I want to spend at $2,000 by the time I buy some accessories. ... Mikek
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I used a Smithy lathe/mill when the CNC lathe was busy, which was most of the time. Though I sorely missed my 10" South Bend's smoother controls and better ergonomics it was quite adequate to turn robot parts. The mill section's drive was broken so I can't comment on how useful it is.
My Myford is over 40 years old and all parts are still available too.
- OOPS - they went out of buisinessrecently- so now it's either an orphan or a collector piece -- and what's available is available from Blueridge equipment in west verginia
amdx snipped-for-privacy@knology.net on Sun, 12 Apr 2020 13:51:33 -0500 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:
I'm assuming you want a metal turning lathe? (I have various plans for wood turning lathes which can be as simple or as elaborate as you can imagine. "Some day ....")
Maybe smaller than you have in mind, but I'm pretty happy with my Grizzly G0602, decent quality and has done most I needed to do so far. I added a live center (like this one, but MT3
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and a bunch of other tooling including an AXA quick change tool post and carbide insert tooling. Even got some CBN inserts last year that I've not tried out yet.
25mm is listed as the spindle bore, but mine will take 1" (25.4) easy.
Maybe smaller than you have in mind, but I'm pretty happy with my Grizzly G0602, decent quality and has done most I needed to do so far. I added a live center (like this one, but MT3
formatting link
and a bunch of other tooling including an AXA quick change tool post and carbide insert tooling. Even got some CBN inserts last year that I've not tried out yet.
25mm is listed as the spindle bore, but mine will take 1" (25.4) easy.
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