Thinking about a lathe

[Greg Pennell]

I was lucky.  I got a 1963 vintage 13x40 Southbend about 10 years ago for the price of hauling it away.  A local high school was closing its Industrial Arts program, and just wanted it gone.  The 3-phase motor was bad, but since I don't have 3-phase available, and didn't want to fool with a phase converter, I made a plywood spacer and bolted in a single phase 2-horse motor, and it's been running happily ever since.  The old girl has turned, threaded, chambered, and crowned a BUNCH of barrels in the last 10 years...not to mention all the bolts, screws, spacers, and other round thingies.  You don't realize how badly you NEED a lathe until you have one...the only thing in my shop that gets more use is my bandsaw.

Greg

[G_T]

For little stuff like bolts and tumblers you could probably get by with something like a Taig. Depends on whether you are threading on the lathe or not. If you can take the incipient part out, thread it, then stick it back in, I'm thinking it would work.

Gerald

[Scota4570]

When possible I start threads on the lathe then finish with a die or tap.  Doing threads 100% with a tap or die will be crooked to some extent.

[Long Ears]

I purchased this one: https://www.grizzly.com/products/Grizzly-12-x-36-Gunsmithing-Lathe-with-Stand/G4003G
I'm not a machinist and youtube is my friend. It does me a great job. Bob

[Mike from OK]

I am starting to think that it might be nice to get a lathe and wondering what to look for. Are those small Bench top lathes any good or are they just useless? How big would I even need and what features are most important? I would probably buy new instead of searching for an old one and then having to deal with worn spots and looking for parts. Any advice?

Quick question... Metal work? Wood work? Or both?

Mike

[Mike from OK]

Realistically I would mostly use a lathe small stuff. Making bolts, lock parts, and stuff like that. I could get by with a small one. But it seems like the small ones tend to not be powerful or rigid enough to do a good job on steel. Grizzly has a few in the $1500 to $2500 range that would likely be just fine. I'm not going to open a commercial shop. It is something that would go for weeks at a time without being turned on. Just like my milling machine. It would be nice to have one large enough for barrel work, but I can live without it. Problem is that whenever I get something like this it is not long before I come up with a bunch of new ideas for stuff to do with it. I should probably just stick with something in the 10 x 20 inch range.

I didn't see this post before I replied to your original post. My apologies.

Mike

[Dennis Glazener]

Realistically I would mostly use a lathe small stuff. Making bolts, lock parts, and stuff like that. I could get by with a small one. But it seems like the small ones tend to not be powerful or rigid enough to do a good job on steel. Grizzly has a few in the $1500 to $2500 range that would likely be just fine. I'm not going to open a commercial shop. It is something that would go for weeks at a time without being turned on. Just like my milling machine. It would be nice to have one large enough for barrel work, but I can live without it. Problem is that whenever I get something like this it is not long before I come up with a bunch of new ideas for stuff to do with it. I should probably just stick with something in the 10 x 20 inch range. 

Others may have mentioned this but to me, the size of the hole thru the headstock would be key. I have an old Logan lathe, I think its 24" between centers but the hole thru the headstock is 1 3/8" I can thread a 48" barrel by putting it thru the headstock. Also helps in a small shop like mine. It also has a 5C collet drawbar that comes in handy for small parts.
Dennis

[Nordnecker]

I bought a little Atlas lathe about a years and a half ago. I thought I'd use it for all sorts of things. I spent $700 on it. It came with all sorts of tooling. So far, I turned down a part for a friend's bushhog $0, and made myself a cleaning jag that I could have bought for about $3.00. Mostly I use it as a place to hang the end of my air compressor hose.

[STJ1954]

I have a nice late model Craftsmans/Atlas 12 -36 center lathe with quick change gears. Its a good hobby lathe and fits my needs. For accuracy recommend one with v bed way. The atlas has flat way. Thru hole in the spindle is small also.

[Rolf]

Where can I find a lathe with 1 3/8 inch hole through the headstock that weighs max 260 pounds?
Everyone I've found so far is to heavey to carry down stairs to my cellar workshop.

Best regards
Rolf

[L. Akers]

Bill, you might want to look at the options offered by Smithy.  In addition to their combo machines, they also have stand alone models.  They also include close to $1,000 worth of tooling.

[G_T]

Rolf,

Large thru hole goes with torque - power - and it has to have the rigidity to deal with that torque and the associated cutting loads. It won't be that light. Perhaps one exists though.

Get help of a rigger to get it downstairs, or at least a friend(s) with experience moving heavy equipment in a home environment. FWIW, if you are using muscle to get the moving job done with heavy equipment, you are doing something wrong. Doing something wrong can easily lead to damage or injury. It's not worth it. I'm not experienced at it, but have moved a Bridgeport vertical mill twice, an Atlas lathe twice, and recently another lathe weighing just under a ton, none of them by myself. Twice with the help of a friend who is used to moving heavy equipment, sort of an amateur rigger. I learned a lot from him. Heavy equipment will squash you. Don't use puny human muscles to move it directly!

Gerald

[Bob Roller]

Yesterday evening I pulled up info on the Smithy and it looks like a lot of
lathe for the price. I am tempted but still  hesitant.Wife is skeptical and
wonders why and her opinion is valuable.

Bob Roller

[Jim Kibler]

Here's my take...  Until just this past year I just had a little jewlers type lathe.  It was just adequate to make screws and to true up a tumbler.  For as much as I used it, it worked fine.  Recently I got a bench top Grizzly second hand and it's been handy.  I consider a mill way more valuable for the type of work we do.  I also don't see the need for a big lathe.  For the rare times any breaching is necessary, have someone with a big lathe do it.  Any smaller benchtop variety should work fine.  By and large the turning for a muzzleloader isn't too demanding.  For our production work we considered purchasing a cnc swiss lathe, but have started working with an excellent screw machine company.  Quality and service has been extremely good.

Jim

[Scota4570]

That is a good point.  It depends on how you do different jobs. 

I use my lathes and mill every week.  A list of jobs that can be done better with a lathe might be helpful.  IN my shop,

Lathe:  Making and installing breech plugs, crowinng, cutting barrels, making and modifying screws, making piloted reamers and countersinks, ramrod tips, ramrod jags, bullet moulds, wood turing, ...
Mill, think of it as a faster more accurate file, so making sights, hogging off material, dovetails, inlettting stocks, truing stocks blanks as with a wood planer, ...

I guess once you get used to having such tools you find lots of ways to use them.  Sure they did not have these tools 200 years ago and they made guns.  It is much easier and faster to do a better job if you have them today. 

[Bill Raby]

The more I think about it, the more something around 10x20 inches looks good. Should be large and rigid enough to handle anything but barrel work. A lathe that can handle a barrel is at least $2000 more. For that much I can hire out the barrel work. I think I have to go with Jim Kibler on this one. Big problem now is that I am starting to hear talk about hardwood floors downstairs. I don't care about the floor. I would rather spend money on a lathe.

[Scota4570]

I do crowns, and plug threads in 10" Southbend.  To stabilize and align the barrel on the other end of the headstock a device called a "spider" is used. 

[Bob Roller]

Yesterday evening I pulled up info on the Smithy and it looks like a lot of
lathe for the price. I am tempted but still  hesitant.Wife is skeptical and
wonders why and her opinion is valuable.

Bob Roller

If she’s anything like my wife, she somehow over the last decades, has acquired a veto-proof majority.

My wife isn't veto proof but she has the right to know why I might take nearly $5000 from our savings.
I still have mixed feelings about it. I never do any barrel work and am not planning to make any more
transmission bearings or other auto related bits and pieces.As far as the lock work goes,I am not taking
any orders for locks* of any type and can make them with the old and worn machines I now have and
triggers are in that category as well.Probably I will leave well enough alone and be content with such
as we now have and resist the urge for "something NEW".

Bob Roller
*If I make any locks they will be posted here and nowhere else.

[Dave A]

Where can I find a lathe with 1 3/8 inch hole through the headstock that weighs max 260 pounds?
Everyone I've found so far is to heavey to carry down stairs to my cellar workshop.

Best regards
Rolf

Just about any non gear-head bench lathe, and all older American ones can be broken down into relatively light parts. My 12 Logan can be easily disassembled in 45 minutes or so into components that are in the 50 to 75 pound range except the bed. Two people can move the bed, or you can put it on a refrigerator dolly and move yourself. I've done it several times. Logan's are easier than most but they are all doable.

Couple of things to consider IMO:

Don't buy a lathe unless it can be fitted with a 5C collet system.

Quick Change gear box is essential. Even if you don't plan on threading, the ease of adjusting feed rates justifies one.

Check feed rates- Many/Most of the Chinese lathes have pretty fast feed rates- not so good for finishing, or smaller items with shoulders to turn to. Most good lathes will go down to at least .0018, and my two lathes will do .0012 and .0009 respectively.

Most modern lathes have uncomfortable Headstocks for close up detail work. If you are making small parts that need to be filed (like with a Swiss file) or polished with papers etc, you will appreciate a lathe that allows comfortable close up access. Most older lathes have nice, lower, rounded headstocks versus the high squared off ones of today.

I would avoid the toy lathes like the Taig/Sherline like the plague. Once you own a lathe, there will be a million things you will use it for that you never considered and those small lathes won't do.

[Dan Fruth]

A 10 South Bend with a 1 3/8 spindle thru hole would be all the lathe you would ever need. I know a lathe operator who was able to do incredible work on an old Sheldon lathe....The key is to know how to use them....Most all the barrel makers use OLD cast iron lathes, and do great work.....A new lathe, in the hobbyist price range, will do good work for a time, before all the ways wear and the gear teeth break off.

[okawbow]

I have a 10” South Bend lathe, and have done barrel work on octagon barrels up to 1 3/16”, or maybe 1 1/4”. I can cut any size threads also. I’ve turned the outside profile of a 48” long matchlock barrel by doing parts at a time.

There were lots of these lathes made and many still around. You can often find them with all the accessories and cutting tools included.

[Hudnut]

Many years ago, we had to have a 16" South Bend with an 8' bed moved down a flight of stairs.  Dismantled it first; the bed was still a pig.  Had a machinery mover do the move.  It was till a bit scary.  Fortunately there was an I-beam, which facilitated reassembly.
My Standard Modern is about 7 ' long; came through the 9" shop door in the 8' bucket of a loader.  Once on the concrete floor, I waltzed it around on pipe rollers.  Remarkable easy to get it positioned and levelled.
The important thing is not to improvise.  Lose control of something top heavy like a lathe, and the risk of serious harm is real.