What is the most bang for the buck lathe wise?

J

jmwcj8

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I have been looking at buying a lathe for working on guns and was wondering what you guys thought about for the money.Threading good is important!I have been looking for used ones but by the time somebody post a 13 or 14x40 it is gone.I would rather buy used just to get some tooling but I have been looking at new as well.I was looking at Grizzly but there are so many mixed reviews.But they seemed to have decent customer service for the ones that have had problems.Or if somebody lives near me that has a nice one let me know.Thanks for any help.
 
Sorry about all that. If you will try www.searchtempest.com this will allow you to search Craigs List in a regional area. You can go to www.govdeals.com for machine tools that municipalities, counties and states use to sell their surplus.

Beware that in buying used that you will need to really look over the merchandise, just like buying a used car, gun, girlfriend, etc, especially GOVDEALS. They (schools, highway shops, etc) most times keep the accessories since they usually have others of the same surplus items they are offering.

Edit- I have a friend who lives about 110 miles north of you who has a couple of South Bend 13", but they are a little long to do benchrest length barrels (20"-22.5"). Another friend in Johnson City has a South Bend 9" (pristine) that was used for barrel work, chambering in a steadyrest. He also has a 13" Jet that was only used a few hours.

PM me if you are interested in one of these.
 
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Jerry, Mazak Manual Machines are now manufactured under the Kingston Label. We have four, as well as two older ones that were actually Mazak.

The Kingston is every bit as good as the originol, not sure if they make anything smaller than a 17 inch..........jackie
 
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Searchtempest.com is a great suggestion hawk craigslist as often as you can. I saw a 13x40 geared head jet looked real niceasking price was $850 It went quickly Good luck
 
jmwcj8 said:
I have been looking at buying a lathe for working on guns and was wondering what you guys thought about for the money.Threading good is important!I have been looking for used ones but by the time somebody post a 13 or 14x40 it is gone.I would rather buy used just to get some tooling but I have been looking at new as well.I was looking at Grizzly but there are so many mixed reviews.But they seemed to have decent customer service for the ones that have had problems.Or if somebody lives near me that has a nice one let me know.Thanks for any help.
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I'd definitely recommend doing a search on this and other forums, this topic has been covered in threads with more replies than you can read in a month of Sundays.

At the risk of stirring up some fuss, I'll give you my opinion.

The best bang for the buck for barrel work is as close as you can get to an imported 12x36 gear head, 1-1/2" minimum spindle bore, precision spindle bearings, 1-1/2hp or more, no more than 18" from 4J chuck jaws to back end of spindle, 35 to 70 rpm minimum speed, slip clutch on feed to prevent damage in crashes, supplied with all the gears so it's able to do all metric and imperial threads (probably won't be able to do 27 tpi), equipped with 3J, 4J, Face Plate, centers, QC tool post.

I have an old one, I don't think it is made any more, but the name on it is Andes. I've had it for over 20 years and it's working fine. I did replace the motor with a 3ph motor but that was because I wanted to be able to plug reverse it doing metric threads. I did locate an unused one made in 1988 but have no idea of the price here http://www.surplusmachines.com/lt/202933.htm. A person would have to make sure it was all there including the threading gears. Near as I can tell the machine is an orphan, no parts available, but mind hasn't needed any. Knocking on wood.

The closest I've seen to it is the 12 x 36 Grizzly gunsmith lathe which may even be a better machine but the minimum spindle speed is 70 rpm on the Grizzly, 35 rpm on the Andes. There are other 12 x 36 imports that may work as well but I've not seen them in person.

None of them are perfect, but they are adequate. I never looked in the gear box of mine till last year (19 years after buying it) - I changed the oil and wiped it out. There were no chips in it anyplace. However, on new ones, it's a good idea to drain the gear box (save the new oil), clean it out, wipe it down, get rid of any metal chips that are in there, and make sure the spindle bearings are properly adjusted. If you do that, and refill it with the oil specified by the manufacturer, you will probably have a good servicable gunsmithing lathe that will last for generations.

YMMV

Fitch
 
Thanks for the help.I will definately take a machinist with me before spending the bucks.I have read alot of post on here and on practicalmachinist and there is alot of helpfull people that I appreciatte.I know everybody has opinions and differences but the main thing is that we all share a love for guns and we live in a place where we can enjoy them.So let us just try and get along and help one another like we are supposed too.I wish the best for all of you.
 
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