Looking for a reasonably priced small lathe for use in my garage, just wondering if it's at all practical to buy a cheaper ($500 or less) metal lathe for hobby use. Anyone have any recommendations on a nice cheap lathe to use to fab smaller parts for my automotive projects?
Probably not of much help, but look around (Craigslist) for an Atlas or Logan or something along those lines....Theyr'e usally $500 to $1000. The only bitch is that they normally can only swing about a 6" diameter and maybe 24" between centers. I bought a Grizzly 14X40 for about $3K and spent a bunch more for tooling. I've yet to find a "car" sized job it won't do. Either way you'll never regret having the machine. Nor will your buddies.. Pat
Shop your local used machinery outlets for a South Bend, Sheldon, Logan, LeBlond, Monarch, or some other obselete domestic brand in a12"-14" size. Don't buy a mini because it's cheap. The day after you bring it home you'll have a job that's too big for it.
i have a 1941 Logan 10" swing and love it. i see them on ebay all the time. keep a eye on craig's List too
I would get an older lathe 1950's and later because you can buy quality at a reasonable price. I started on a 1936 south bend 9inch witch is a well made small lathe and you can still easily get parts for them. But now I am using a 1953 logan 10inch witch is very heavy for its size and I am very happy with. The only company for lathes I would try to avoid is atlas cause they used cheaper and thinner castings in the lathes. But old lathes is definitely where you can get your value out of a $400 or $500 investment.
Thanks for the info so far. My biggest problem is room, or lack of it. I'll start looking at Craigslist here locally and see what pops up. Let me ask this, is size the only reason not to buy a smaller lathe? I do know people that have larger lathes that could handle bigger jobs for me, my thought was the smaller stuff that I didn't want to bother asking someone else to do. Any other suggestions or input? Nice work there Sellers!
Thanks for the kind words, I wish you were closer theres a guy I deal with here maybe a hr from me, he is a dealer for used equipment, and the lathes he has would blow your mind, prices are very fair, funny, when i went there, i was looking for a small one, and my buddy more or less got me to buy the one i have now. We had a forklift rated at 5000 pounds and it would even pick it up off the trailer. soo we drug it off. Try and look for one with as much tooling you can find, The tooling is $$$$ and adds fast..
Theres lots of old manual lathes,and other equipment at the live auctions going on due to many shops going out of buisness.Most of the older outdated equipment they cant hardly give away.Unless you have three phase power or a converter it could be any nother issue.I have a mill and lathe that is single phase but is not nearly as powerfull as the three phase stuff.Burl
You say you don't have alot of room so try to get the most lathe for the space you do have. Keep in mind a lathe that has a length of 5' is only going to handle a couple between centers. I find that I use a lathe with a bit more swing than one with distance between centers (but thats me). I would at least try to get something that swings 9" more if possible. Southbend, Rockwell, Logan Clausing are just a few american brands you'll find. I find parts for these are easy to find also. I've owned quite a few atlas (clausing) over the years and parts are still available through sears however, the cheap gear train never impressed me. I've found with a little digging you can find some deals through places like www.lostcreekmachine.com or the surplus record (not sure of the web addy on that one). Good luck and have fun machining. pool.
I have wanted a lathe for a long time ,bought one here on the HAMB 2 weeks ago a 1938 9" south bend. South bend made about the best of the early lathes. Parts are available on E-bay and from others. I am building a table for it 32"x48" which will not take up a lot of space in the garage.This unit will be running long after I am gone and will outlast the new 3rd world crap they sell. Do a google search on them there is a lot of info on what to look for etc. I have a whole notebook full of stuff for referance. A larger unit is nice but hou often do you need to swing a rear or a 15" wheel ? Good Luck and remember if you go for an old unit do research first.
Quite often i restore alote of old magnesium wheels,, welding, machining and coloring.. and straighten steel wheels, kinda comes handy the larger unit, cool thing the lathe has a tag stated,, "WAR production" makes wonder what they made on it back in the day..
Bradford , yes I use one for doing driveshafts . It's old and the ways are pretty well shot but everything still works . This is an 18" swing with 60" between centers . The history was this came from a mining company in central Nevada and I would say that it was produced in the 30s or before.
Didn't mean to hijack but I hadn't seen or heard of another Bradford . ---- I bought a Sheldon (more than 1) at a county auction in utah . It was given to the school district by the GSA and I believe it had seen service as a training machine for the US Navy . There were enough parts to put a complete lathe together it is a 11" x 36" and has a taper attachment and a back gear . You might check out some of your areas city, county or school districts surplus sales , never know what is there.
Steve, any info on the equipment guy? I'm looking for a bigger lathe also. I'm finding out the capacity of mine is far too small for my needs.
Here you go, Gary 510 453-0513 you name it he has it, sheetmetal stuff, mills, lathes,,, sooo on, and hey if you go,, make sure to look in his dumpster, don't ask why I looked,, but i pulled out some kick punches and a stand that would have cost me about $300 to make . the stuff he pitches..
I have a South Bend 10 inch and a Atlas 6 inch. Both are good quality lathes. I tend to use the Atlas the most right now, cutting axle spacers and widgits for my bike builds. The only bits of advice I can give is remember to include tooling in your budget, a tail stock with live and dead centers is as important as the lathe it's self.
Another vote for South Bend. But most any older American or U.K. lathe is good. 1934 Southbend 9" lathe. Before: After: VIDEO http://s231.photobucket.com/albums/e...t=PA190001.flv
The 3 phase motors can be swapped out for a 220V pretty easily usually. Most of those old Atlas and South Bend lathes are pretty simple but will do what you want to do most of the time. http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/gsaauctions/ often has some interesting stuff. Or this link to just about all the stuff the govt has for sale. http://www.govsales.gov/html/index.htm You have to be carefull with your bids and know what you are buying though and the item may be in a hard to get to spot. It took a 250 one way road trip and a ferry boat ride to get the drill press I bought. The gas for the truck was more than the dril press.
I am on my second lathe, and I am sort of looking for a good South Bend. I started off with an little old 4 inch, worked for the little stuff, but I needed a real, man-sized lathe. Right now I have a very old American (originally treddle powered) but I am looking for something with a bit more precison and power. And Enco has decent prices on quick change tool posts. Good cutting tools really improve an old machine. (www.use-enco.com)
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