What lathe?

[Stihl 041S]

True, but I would look for an old Southbend. I have a old Hercus model A, pretty much the exact same as a southbend, I love it, and sometimes wish it were bigger.

I posted that may be the ticket. And he could get it in his basement.

He has a staircase with a 90 deg turn!!!!

He could send his wife off shopping, pull the carpet back, cut a hole in the floor, use a crane to lower it thru, fix the floor, and put the carpet back.

Guy did that with a Bridgeport.

The DV-59 won't fit in the basement. So I don't have to help him get the first lathe OUT of his basement.

 

[parrisw]

Southbend won't take up that much room. Mine is in my garage, and my garage isn't, that big.

 

[Stihl 041S]

Southbend won't take up that much room. Mine is in my garage, and my garage isn't, that big.

ZACKLY!
And easier to move down his basement stairs. And since he wants it there. Someday we'll be rigging a lathe down his stairs.

 

[7sleeper]

ZACKLY!
And easier to move down his basement stairs. And since he wants it there. Someday we'll be rigging a lathe down his stairs.

You mean a GTG at his place to get his new lathe in the basement while his wife is out at the supermarket. I can just imagine a bunch of guys with dirty shoes running through his house trying to get that hunk of steel into the basement without damaging to much("Sorry about the couch, the paintings, the chandelier...").... "OOOPPPPSSSS sorry my dear I swear there was a mini tornado in our house, I have nothing to do with it.... and I'm just upping the kids allowance (to keep those extortionists quite) it was just about time after so many years......the guys outside who just came by for a spontanious grill party thought you were going to get the barbecue stuff...."
:hmm3grin2orange:

7

 

[Jim Timber]

ZACKLY!
And easier to move down his basement stairs. And since he wants it there. Someday we'll be rigging a lathe down his stairs.

Egress window - ya need those holes the foundation anyway.

 

[Stihl 041S]

B-Rad;
Avoid the shopping and questions.

Get one lathe.

Dean Smith & Grace 13X30

Tool room lathe

5600 lbs

The "Rolls Royce" of lathes.

Really.

RR would use no other lathe.

I would drive cross county for one. Naked.

Deep dark need.

 

[LegDeLimber]

you guys didn't torment the man about spindle hole size?
3/4 or 7/8 through the head aint much use unless you're threading welding rods.

and on the move in, liquor that Man up and convince him that using foot long pieces of 3/4 rebar
for rollers, on the hard wood floor, would be an awesome first knurling project!
-
Wouldn't something with 5' tween centers, a removable gap bed that'd let you swing a piece 20" dia x8" thick
with 3 and a quarter inch head hole ( with plates and 4 jaw to match) just be handy as all heck !?
sorry for dreaming a moment...
-
on more serious thought, having a compound slide, a sturdy boring bar and a couple of magnet& knuckle rod based travel indicators is gonna open up a whole world of squish band tweaking for him.

But when we read that he's took to 4 jawing carb bodies, to mod the venturi,
you'll know the machinist bug's bit him proper!

 

[Jim Timber]

B-Rad;
Avoid the shopping and questions.

Get one lathe.

Dean Smith & Grace 13X30

Tool room lathe

5600 lbs

The "Rolls Royce" of lathes.

Really.

RR would use no other lathe.

I would drive cross county for one. Naked.

Deep dark need.

Now we agree on something Rob! But it needs to be a bigger size for me.

 

[parrisw]

Quick change tool post is also a must. You better order one of them with your first tool order. Toolsforcheap is great!

 

[wcorey]

A lot of good info posted here so far…
Been avoiding commenting as it’s a pretty complex subject to sum up much of without writing a book on it.

I was sort of brought up on South Bends so I’m pretty comfortable with them and they’re a good all around machine that tend to be good bang for the buck. So I’ve had a heavy 10 with ample tooling for the past 20 something years and it has served me well for 90% of what I do. Until fairly recently I’ve been lucky enough to have close geographic access to a couple 10EE’s but now the only one is an hour away, need to plan a few jobs for it before it’s worth the trip.

My top choice was always a well equipped Hardinge toolroom setup but a 10EE would be a close second. That said, in 30 years of looking I still haven’t found either in a $ range I could justify, just missed more than a few deals though. It’s a lofty goal to hold out for and in the meantime I’d tend to pick up whatever comes along first for a useable good deal, then move it on after.
I certainly agree with those saying that it would be beneficial in the long run to get a bigger/better machine as it seems obvious Brad will quickly utilize the potential of a lathe for going way beyond just cutting cylinder decks.

IMO don’t be tempted with getting along with a Hardinge second operation setup (unless it’s a deal you can't refuse), so what if they’re dead reliable when you’re just going to flip it as soon as a nice toolroom setup comes along. Having no threading gears and power feed is a huge disadvantage, though the power feed alone I could live without.
I’ve had one of those little Hardinge dv’s sitting disassembled in a corner for years in case I wanted to get into some volume production (which is what they’re really intended for) but have never so far had a use to bother with it.

One thing I haven’t seen anyone bring up (or I missed it) is the advantage to getting a belt driven as opposed to a geared head as a first machine. Easy to adapt different phase/voltage motors to most belt setups for one thing. Many are easy to break down to individual components for moving, I got the SB H10 down my buklhead into the basement by myself without too much effort.
But mostly because belts are fairly forgiving of mistakes and can be adjusted to slip a bit in extreme circumstances where in a similar situation a geared head could result in quite a bit of mayhem. Until things start becoming intuitive it’s pretty easy to be looking down at a dial when starting a cut and not notice you’re feeding the wrong axis until tool/part contact is made and things happen very fast at that point. Where a belt drive can just slip and stall rotation, the same mistake on a big geared head can result in a virtual explosion of tooling and parts. I’ve seen pretty large items go ricocheting around a shop and end up impaled in walls, safety glasses only go so far against artillery fire…


Bill

 

[timmcat]

I picked up my South Bend 6x36 for $300 at a flea market, and dropped another $150 on a good used chuck, its never let me down and the quick change gearing for the feed is the slickest thing out there. We have an old SB 9x36 at work, with manual gear change and its a real workhorse. I agree about the belt drive for sure, forgiveness goes a long way for a beginner.

 

[Bob Wright]

One thing you always hear when lathe shopping is get lots of tooling. Thats true to some extent and some you might not ever need or its wore out and that could drive the price up in the beginning. I got my 1st bare bones SB 10K with a chuck and a lantern tool post, no stand and a 3 ph motor i couldn't use. 129 bucks took care of the motor with a new one from the local farm store and i made my own stand. Then i made a tool block designed by me for what i thought i would do with it. Then i started making more projects and some of them lead to other needed projects. Now i can do any job that walks in the door that the lathe is capabile of handling. Extra chucks and some misc tooling was picked up on ebay, chusk backplates i can make as well as faceplates and my ER40 collet chuck. Made a pile of other attachments like my cross slide hole driller and the ball/radius turner. I did buy a new steady rest since i couldn't build it at the time. I do lots of milling in/on my lathe and people wonder how i do it. But i was trained and have 8,000 hrs running one so i knew what i wanted and needed over the years. Some of my projects...Bob

 

[Bob Wright]

Few more pics...Bob

 

[parrisw]

I've looked at lots of your work Bob on your Yahoo group. You do nice work!!

 

[Stihl 041S]

Now we agree on something Rob! But it needs to be a bigger size for me.

Yeah but big means no rpm. The 13x30 had I think a REAL 7 1/2 Hp. And past 2200 RPM I think.

RPM is nice.

And you can make roughing cuts with that lathe that would make a noob gag.

 

[Jim Timber]

My voest has 7.5hp too, and you need body armor before you dog it in the cut.

Biggest chip they advise in the manual is 2cm square - they feel and sound like bullets long before you get that big.

High rpm is over rated. Mine tops out at 1500 (geared head), and I wouldn't want to spin a 10" chuck much faster anyway. For doing little crap, or production, then it makes sense to wind it up faster; just not for me. Since I feed it via VFD, I could turn 6000 rpm with no problem - oil pump might explode, but I could. They were offered with 2K ranges, so over-clocking it to that or a bit more wouldn't hurt anything (Forrest Addy has the same lathe as mine and he's done 2500 rpm).

 

[Bob Wright]

And you can make roughing cuts with that lathe that would make a noob gag.

Here is a 3/16" deep cut on some 4" round bar with my little SB. Just for giggles...Bob
Lathe cutting... video by aametalmaster - Photobucket

 

[Stihl 041S]

My voest has 7.5hp too, and you need body armor before you dog it in the cut.

Biggest chip they advise in the manual is 2cm square - they feel and sound like bullets long before you get that big.

High rpm is over rated. Mine tops out at 1500 (geared head), and I wouldn't want to spin a 10" chuck much faster anyway. For doing little crap, or production, then it makes sense to wind it up faster; just not for me. Since I feed it via VFD, I could turn 6000 rpm with no problem - oil pump might explode, but I could. They were offered with 2K ranges, so over-clocking it to that or a bit more wouldn't hurt anything (Forrest Addy has the same lathe as mine and he's done 2500 rpm).

Maybe your VFD could but I doubt the bearings are good for 6k.

I sent Forrest some reference books a while ago...... Gotta call and chat with a fellow members of "The Olde Pharts Club". The boy knows his machines. He needed help in materials selection and heat treat. It's good to help him. He does a LOT of fine things for folks.

 

[Stihl 041S]

Here is a 3/16" deep cut on some 4" round bar with my little SB. Just for giggles...Bob
Lathe cutting... video by aametalmaster - Photobucket

Heavy 10s are nice aren't they. I got to learn to post videos.

 

[Bob Wright]

Heavy 10s are nice aren't they.

This was with my "light 10 or 10K" which is a jacked up 9". Everyone says (i don't listen) that you can't take a big cut with a 9" SBL. So i just had to do it. My 10L or heavy 10 is waiting for a motor. Its on another machine LOL. I have pics of a 1/2" deep cut. Pretty much made 1" bar stock go away with chips...Bob