[exnailpounder]

I am looking for a small lathe to make odds and ends parts and to play with but I don't know alot about them. What should I look for in a good used lathe? I know about the ways and bed and backlash but how can I really tell if a lathe is in good shape and hasn't been abused. I have been watching Craigslist and I see lathes for sale that look TOO good as in new paint jobs and all cleaned up to broken down wrecks with an inch of dust on them. How do I get a good one?

[motox]

jeff
i never really had to shop for my lathe since i bought
my from a mechanist racing buddy but i know that
he pointed out the the headstock was tight, everything
moved smoothly with little ware. hope this is some help.
i have a logan lathe pretty old but tight. you have a good
eye, machines are machines. crap is crap...
craig

[motox]

jeff
i never really had to shop for my lathe since i bought
my from a mechanist racing buddy but i know that
he pointed out the the headstock was tight, everything
moved smoothly with little ware. hope this is some help.
i have a logan lathe pretty old but tight. you have a good
eye, machines are machines. crap is crap...
craig

[Poland308]

I've been asking around a bit too. I got told to avoid belt driven heads.

[electrode]

What is your budget? If you aren't looking for something too inexpensive check out Grizzly Tools. I have a G4003G Gunsmith Lathe and I like it just fine. I bought it new. They also sell a G4003 without the "G" and it is basically the same lathe without some extras that you may or may not want/need. Check them out here:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/12-x-36 ... rizzly.com

http://www.grizzly.com/products/12-x-36 ... rizzly.com

The Gunsmith lathe is on a good sale right now and comes with the stand so I would definitely get that one if you can afford it. If you have PayPal and buy it you can use the No Payments For 12 months and afford it that way.

They also have some less expensive models:
http://www.grizzly.com/metal-lathes

[exnailpounder]

What is your budget? If you aren't looking for something too inexpensive check out Grizzly Tools. I have a G4003G Gunsmith Lathe and I like it just fine. I bought it new. They also sell a G4003 without the "G" and it is basically the same lathe without some extras that you may or may not want/need. Check them out here:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/12-x-36 ... rizzly.com

http://www.grizzly.com/products/12-x-36 ... rizzly.com

The Gunsmith lathe is on a good sale right now and comes with the stand so I would definitely get that one if you can afford it. If you have PayPal and buy it you can use the No Payments For 12 months and afford it that way.

I don't really have a budget in mind but I don't want to spend a ton of money on something that will only get used occasionally. I have been watching CL and I have passed up a few that went for around $750+-. My friend told me to just wait and watch and I'll find a gem. He got a REALLY nice smaller lathe from a woman whose husband had passed and he said he paid $400 for it and it's immaculate. Grizzly sells good equipment. A guy a do some welding for owns a bunch of their woodworking tools and he loves them but $3000 is a little steep for a toy....this coming from an idiot that has a safe full of expensive guns and I carry the worst POS of them all Thanks for the input though...have a great Thanksgiving!

[exnailpounder]

jeff
i never really had to shop for my lathe since i bought
my from a mechanist racing buddy but i know that
he pointed out the the headstock was tight, everything
moved smoothly with little ware. hope this is some help.
i have a logan lathe pretty old but tight. you have a good
eye, machines are machines. crap is crap...
craig

Yeah Craig I can usually tell when something is a beater but lathes have lots of gears and moving parts so I want to be careful that I don't overlook something and end up stuck with a machine that I can't buy parts for. Gosh I passed up a beautiful little lathe at an auction last year with a giant box of tooling...it ended up going for $600...I had the cash on me too but wasn't really looking at the time.

[exnailpounder]

I've been asking around a bit too. I got told to avoid belt driven heads.

See...now I was told that the belt driven heads were the good ones because if you crashed the lathe the belts would slip and not break the gears...kind of like a shear key. It seems like a good amount of the ones I see for sale are belt driven. The other problem is alot of them are 3 phase power.

[rick9345]

The bigger the better. Big ones usually were for professionals and had pro care. You can make little parts on big machine. Big parts , not so good on a little machine. Grow into not out of. Price diff on a little hobby lathe about the same as a big one from a retired machinist’s garage and will include a bunch of tooling. The lathe is a small investment,it is the add-on tooling that gets pricey. I recommend at least a 14 inch swing for shop fabrication and the largest spindle thru hole. First purchase should be a book/ manual on how to run a /use a lathe.
Craftsman/Atlas/Southbend/Myford come to mind, read, study then go shopping,bargain for,look for one that includes tooling.
A lathe makes welding fabrication so much more versatile and neater. For me a no regret purchase. Have had one since 1976.

Sorry long winded,but enthused.

[exnailpounder]

The bigger the better. Big ones usually were for professionals and had pro care. You can make little parts on big machine. Big parts , not so good on a little machine. Grow into not out of. Price diff on a little hobby lathe about the same as a big one from a retired machinist’s garage and will include a bunch of tooling. The lathe is a small investment,it is the add-on tooling that gets pricey. I recommend at least a 14 inch swing for shop fabrication and the largest spindle thru hole. First purchase should be a book/ manual on how to run a /use a lathe.
Craftsman/Atlas/Southbend/Myford come to mind, read, study then go shopping,bargain for,look for one that includes tooling.
A lathe makes welding fabrication so much more versatile and neater. For me a no regret purchase. Have had one since 1976.

Sorry long winded,but enthused.

Thanks rick. I like the enthusiasm! I am excited about getting a lathe but being very cautious about what I buy. You're right though, the bigger lathes I see for sale are the same price as smaller hobby lathes. I don't have a ton of room so I can't get anything too big but I hear what you're saying about getting more than you need. Learned that on plasma cutters.

[682bear]

I disagree with the comment about staying away from belt driven machines... they are just as usable and reliable as any other type as long as they have been well maintained.

I have a 14 1/2 inch South Bend... pretty much everything on it is adjustable to compensate for minor wear. Major wear I would stay away from. If you look at one, turn the carriage, cross slide and compound rest through the full range of travel. If there is major wear, you will feel it getting loose in the area of the wear. At that point, try to see if there is any up and down or side to side movement by trying to move it with your hands... put some muscle into it.

They will usually have some backlash parallel to a given set of ways... but there should be no movement perpendicular.

Any wear on the long ways will usually be near the chuck and can usually be detected by looking at them closely.

-Bear

[electrode]

What is your budget? If you aren't looking for something too inexpensive check out Grizzly Tools. I have a G4003G Gunsmith Lathe and I like it just fine. I bought it new. They also sell a G4003 without the "G" and it is basically the same lathe without some extras that you may or may not want/need. Check them out here:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/12-x-36 ... rizzly.com

http://www.grizzly.com/products/12-x-36 ... rizzly.com

The Gunsmith lathe is on a good sale right now and comes with the stand so I would definitely get that one if you can afford it. If you have PayPal and buy it you can use the No Payments For 12 months and afford it that way.

I don't really have a budget in mind but I don't want to spend a ton of money on something that will only get used occasionally. I have been watching CL and I have passed up a few that went for around $750+-. My friend told me to just wait and watch and I'll find a gem. He got a REALLY nice smaller lathe from a woman whose husband had passed and he said he paid $400 for it and it's immaculate. Grizzly sells good equipment. A guy a do some welding for owns a bunch of their woodworking tools and he loves them but $3000 is a little steep for a toy....this coming from an idiot that has a safe full of expensive guns and I carry the worst POS of them all Thanks for the input though...have a great Thanksgiving!

You're welcome. I just remembered when I bought my 1st lathe and although I got it for cheap, I soon realized I needed a better one. It had babbit bearings and belt drive, but it did have a back gear. It was worn out where the main use from the carriage ran back and forth over the years, and the lead screw worn in the same area (sloppy). I bought my Grizzly and sold the old one for $500 so did ok on that. The grizzly has belt drive to the main gearbox so those belts can slip if you crash it I suppose but the trick there is not to crash it. But finding a good deal usually doesn't happen when you are looking but you sure hear about other guys getting one. Happy Thanksgiving and good luck finding a nice used lathe.

p.s. I used to be the same way and use all my old POS stuff even when I had new better stuff. I didn't want to ruin my new stuff so I kept using my old stuff. I sold my Miller Swinger 180 because even though I had a new SW250DX, I used the old 180. Once I sold the 180, I was glad that I did.

[clavius]

I have two lathes in my shop, both older machines that I use pretty much just for hobbyist stuff. One is a Taiwan made Jet 10 x 24 from the early 80's and the other is an early 60's Sheldon 10 x 56. Both are fine machines belt driven and work very well so long as used within their capacity, just like any other tool. There is some good common sense reading here about how to evaluate a used lathe from a guy who spent quite a number of years in the used machine tool business:

http://www.mermac.com/index.html

[FoxZulu]

I came across mine by chance. It's a 1958 ex toolroom lathe and came with lots of tooling.It weighs a ton and makes these little chinese made hobby lathes look like cheap toys. I paid £250 for it plus another £200 for a new single phase motor. It's a cracking little machine and I don't know how I'd live without it. Seriously. It gets used on just about every project I do.
Keep looking, you'll find the right one and fall in love with it

[motox]

my logan (very similar to south bend) is belt drive
and it turns anything I've ever needed.
craig

[motox]

my logan (very similar to south bend) is belt drive
and it turns anything I've ever needed.
craig

[Tom Osselton]

I have a older Clausing lathe that I inhereted from my father along with a Atlas shaper. I bought a midsize mill later on so there isn't much that can't be made.

[Jim FLinchbaugh]

The ONLY advantage IMO, of a gear head over a belt driven one, is no chance of slippage.
The down fall is, it takes a fairly decent gear head lathe to give you good surface finishes.
Gear heads have lash, lash = vibrations= less quality finish, unless its a really good machine.
You can buy belts anywhere, where you gonna get gears for an 40 year old lathe?
One thing to remember, the bigger, heavier, and harder it is to move, will cost you less money
Make room for a big old machine, you'll be happier. When it comes to machine tools, there is no substitute for
a mass of cast iron.

[exnailpounder]

I think I found a lathe! Going to see it this morning. It's a Logan 210. The guy that owns it said it came with the house he bought. It belonged to the original owner who built the house and it has been in the basement since the house was new and was the guys personal hobby lathe but he passed away and his wife sold the house and left the lathe. It looks to be in beautiful shape and comes with lots of tooling and a 3 jaw and 4 jaw chuck. He wants $700 but I think I can do better, he doesn't know anything about lathes and has never used it in the 25 years he has owned the house. Im'very excited!

[electrode]

The ONLY advantage IMO, of a gear head over a belt driven one, is no chance of slippage.
The down fall is, it takes a fairly decent gear head lathe to give you good surface finishes.
Gear heads have lash, lash = vibrations= less quality finish, unless its a really good machine.
You can buy belts anywhere, where you gonna get gears for an 40 year old lathe?
One thing to remember, the bigger, heavier, and harder it is to move, will cost you less money
Make room for a big old machine, you'll be happier. When it comes to machine tools, there is no substitute for
a mass of cast iron.

Jim, there is a trick on the gear head lathes where to get a better finish you actually loosen the drive belts from the motor to the gearbox, and that improves the finish. That also help if you crash it supposedly. Or you can just turn 12L14.

[electrode]

I think I found a lathe! Going to see it this morning. It's a Logan 210. The guy that owns it said it came with the house he bought. It belonged to the original owner who built the house and it has been in the basement since the house was new and was the guys personal hobby lathe but he passed away and his wife sold the house and left the lathe. It looks to be in beautiful shape and comes with lots of tooling and a 3 jaw and 4 jaw chuck. He wants $700 but I think I can do better, he doesn't know anything about lathes and has never used it in the 25 years he has owned the house. Im'very excited!

Good deal. Isn't that a 10x24 inch lathe? Small but still useful. I find most all of my use of a lathe is small stuff so my 12x36 is fine. The other thing that helps sometimes is the size of the spindle bore so you can turn longer stuff that the capacity of the lathe. Mine has a spider and just over 1-1/2" spindle bore so I can cheat a little. Any first lathe is exciting. Good luck.

[exnailpounder]

I think I found a lathe! Going to see it this morning. It's a Logan 210. The guy that owns it said it came with the house he bought. It belonged to the original owner who built the house and it has been in the basement since the house was new and was the guys personal hobby lathe but he passed away and his wife sold the house and left the lathe. It looks to be in beautiful shape and comes with lots of tooling and a 3 jaw and 4 jaw chuck. He wants $700 but I think I can do better, he doesn't know anything about lathes and has never used it in the 25 years he has owned the house. Im'very excited!

Good deal. Isn't that a 10x24 inch lathe? Small but still useful. I find most all of my use of a lathe is small stuff so my 12x36 is fine. The other thing that helps sometimes is the size of the spindle bore so you can turn longer stuff that the capacity of the lathe. Mine has a spider and just over 1-1/2" spindle bore so I can cheat a little. Any first lathe is exciting. Good luck.

I GOT IT!!! The lathe is in really good shape. The ways are in really good shape. A couple tiny dings from dropping the chuck but they look good. It is a 10x24. Gears are really nice and comes with a set of change gears that have never been used and tons of tooling the guy didn't even know he had. There was a set of shelves over the lathe and they were loaded with tooling. It has 2 boring bars, a 3 and 4 jaw chuck , jacobs chuck, 2 live centers, acouple dead centers that are still in the tubes in cosmoline, a few quills and center drills..everything I need to start playing. I was the first one to show up to see it so I got first shot and I couldn't pass it up. He said that there were guys offering to buy it sight unseen before I got there. Everything ran really smooth, back gear worked great, all the feeds ran great, lead screw looked brand new. I couldn't help myself! Going to pick it up Wednesday morning. It's hasn't been used in at least 25 years so it's under an inch of dust and grease. I can't wait to get started cleaning. Also the belt cover was cracked and whoever brazed it did a beautiful job on the repair. Best part is my wife said she would buy it for me for Christmas!

[MosquitoMoto]

Congratulations, well done.

Must feel good to finally have found the right machine. You are going to have so much fun.



Kym

[electrode]

Just remember to be careful if you never used a lathe before. No long sleeves. Safety glasses. And no distractions.

[exnailpounder]

Just remember to be careful if you never used a lathe before. No long sleeves. Safety glasses. And no distractions.

I have used a lathe a few times. In highschool I took alot of shop classes and the lathe was one of my favorites and then about 15 years ago I worked for a friend of mine who makes custom pool tables and cues turning brass cue inserts. I know I have a lot to remember and I am excited about learning new stuff but I also love to restore good old equipment to it's former glory. Thanks for all the help guys, I am sure I'll have some questions from time to time.