lathe advice

9x20.

5 or so dift suppliers carry it, incl HF, Grizz, Enco, etc etc.

for what can and in some cases, should be done to it to improve it (beefing up cross-slide, adding reverse and may be going variable-speed). It is an incredibly popular one and there are tons of resources on the Web.

If you go that route, $700 @ HF - 20% off, pick it up @ yer local store for instant gratification.

Or, if you innted to stay small in worksizes, go with The Lathe:

8x12, . Again, carried by all the usual suspects. It is even more popular than the 9x20 and again, lots of resources on the Web.

Both are perfectly useable outta box, right after removal of protective grease.

What Rashid said.

I have a 13x40 Enco, ca 1992, fairly pimped out by the previous owner. 70 rpm ( a little fast for tapping) to about 2200, 8 speeds. Love it. Not a Clausing Colchester (which shall be coming soon!!), but with its extras (snap handle collet closer, digital readout, Aloris tooling, camlock chucks), it's a pleasure to use.

I would highly recommend as many of those options as you can afford. A 5C collet system is fairly essential for small parts, and moreso if any kind of production is anticipated. Super-essential for thin-walled tubing. The snap handle is but one system (imo the best) of closing sed collets.

However, in these smaller lathes, you might not be able to fit 5C (which go from near-zero to 1.125 diam). Thus, to go the 5C route, you *might* have to bump up the size of the lathe a bit.

Ahm no 'spert, but w/ boring such thin walled tubing in a 3-jaw chuck, I suspect you will wind up w/ a kind of "lobed" bore, proly not so great for bearings. You could always machine a split-sleeve for your project (sort of mimicing a collet!), but collets make this, and oodles of other work, a slam-dunk.

Can't complain about the accuracy of the Enco, but then I'm not particular. :) It can hold .0005--but not over 40", of course.

If weight is an issue because of moving considerations, I think you can unbolt the gear head from the bed, and sans motor/carriage/tailstock, I think the bed and gear head will come in at about 250# (each). Comes w/ a pretty nice sheet metal stand/cabinet ditty. The 13x40, sans the goodies, I think is between $2 and 3K.

It's worth looking at the Bison brand 5C collet chucks. Not super expensive, though not cheap, and available in both 4 inch and 5 inch sizes.

I use one of the 5 inch ones at work on a Schaublin 150, and its much more convenient than the factory collet setup.

On the smaller lathes, you will be limited to the diameter of stock that will fit through the spindle, but you will still be able to utilise the larger 5C collets for shorter chunks of bar.

Cheers Trevor Jones

Yes, there are a variety of chuck-mounted collet systems. One is called a spin closer. Don't know if the Bison is this type. Bison is a good brand--Polish. Several cuts above the Chinese stuff. Priced inbetween Chinese and American, a bit closer in price to the Chinese. Chinese 5C collets: $6; Bison: $13; Royal: $27; Hardinge: $1K. :)

Btw, practicalmachinist.com has a forum for Schaublin lathes. I just helped a buddy pick up two from NJ, w/ snap handle collet closers and some kind of hydraulic tracer attachment, and one *big-assed* transformer. Excellent lathes, I'm told, quite on par w/ Hardinge. Looks like my buddy will be spending a lot of time on this forum!

Oh, and to the >

The bison uses a threaded plate, turned by the pinion that would otherwise have tuned the scroll of a 3 jaw chuck. Pretty basic.

I am aware of the practicalmachinist site. In some respects better than Hardinge, I am told. Price is not one of the ways, though.

Kinda hard to get used to threading without halfnuts to engage and disengage, what with the 150 using a ballscrew instead of a leadscrew.

Ours is kinda beatup looking, but runs nice, and can hold tenths better than I can most days.

Cheers Trevor Jones

Traverse Tools (Queens, NY tool supplier) has a bunch of import small lathes as well.