Birmingham 12x36 lathe

I could be mistaken but by the pictures it looks like 24 inches between centers, is that enough to chamber between centers?:)
 
mike lucas said:
I could be mistaken but by the pictures it looks like 24 inches between centers, is that enough to chamber between centers?:)
Click to expand...

Mike,

You are absolutely right. The lathe was described as having a bed length of "about 50 inches", so I assume it is the regular South Bend "4 foot" bed. It was said to be 24" from the tailstock live center to the front of the 3-jaw chuck. I know that the length will limit some of my options. When I first started looking for a lathe my original intention was to chamber through the headstock. Now I may not have any choice ;).

I did come up with a crazy idea that it might be possible to mount a center in the rear end of the headstock spindle if I wanted to chamber between centers, but I have no idea if this would work. This is certainly a learn-as-you-go situation, and I have MUCH to learn :D.

Jim
 
Don said:
Jim Wooten said:
The bad news is that the quick change tool post was not included, and I will have to get a 4-jaw chuck.

Jim

QUOTE]

Jim, looks like a good buy depending upon how much you paid for it.

You should not have any problems coming up with a quick change tooling assembly and 4 jaw, but it would have been much better if the seller had included those, some holders and inserts, since he already had that stuff and it was perfectly matched to the lathe. I understand some guys have other machines that they can transfer the stuff to, but I would have gone the extra mile to negotiate with the seller to get as much stuff that belongs to or is used with the lathe as possible, it can save you endless hours of leg work and money, which can be better spent running the machine.

Kind of like selling a BR gun without the trigger, makes me wonder why the guy is skimping, and hoping that it doesn't carry over into some more less obvious areas about the machine that could be more costly.

Anyways, everything will probably work out just fine, hope it is as good as it looks in the pictures...................Don
Click to expand...

Don, I looked the lathe pictures and description over closely. As to the seller keeping the Aloris tool post, he has a machine shop, and I assume other lathes that size. The original lantern tool post and holders are coming with it. For myself I'm more comfortable and have more flexibility using the lantern tooling. Besides, on a small lathe keeping tooling overhang to a minimum is very important. An Aloris type setup just magnifies the tool overhang by about 150% on most setups.

As to the center distance, the bed-stand is 64" long. The lathe looks like about a 24"-28" center distance. Kind of short to polish a long barrel in one setup but no problem for benchrest barrel work. The lathe looks like it would part out for about twice what Jim paid for it. So he ain't hurtin'.

As to Jim possibly wanting to chamber between centers, he can do that even on a long barrel by running the headstock end of the barrel in the spindle a ways.

As to chambering between centers, probably everyone should try it once...to get it out of their system. I know many good barrels have been chambered between centers by many good gunsmiths, but when you have a lathe you can dial in both ends of the barrel with it in the headstock, why bother!
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I did come up with a crazy idea that it might be possible to mount a center in the rear end of the headstock spindle if I wanted to chamber between centers, but I have no idea if this would work. This is certainly a learn-as-you-go situation, and I have MUCH to learn :D.


Jim,

I have a lathe with a long headstock, and basically did exactly what you describe above. It works just fine.

Justin
 
Wish I would have found this site earlier. I have a B-ham 12x36 I am going to sell. I bought it thinking about becoming a gunsmith but was offered a good but time consumming job & just haven't used the lathe. Bought a few 100$ worth of goodies for it too. I did run it long enough to make a spider for the spindle bore & have faced off a couple of receivers on it. Probably had it running for ~ 1 hr total.

Believe it or not, I was going to price it at $2,000 firm. I will end up 'eating' about $900 but it just sits in my shop with no one to use it. The 12x36 does have a lube res w/sight glass on the apron as mentioned above. I have not found any moving parts that can't be readily lubed so the problems mentioned on the 14-40 mentioned above must have been resolved with later models. I do think the Birmingham I bought is a lot of tool for the $$ but mine has to go to fund other hobbies.

If anyone is interested it is pick up only in north metro Atlanta GA.
 
im interested and Im located in opelika, alabama

334-741-7100

thanks,
seb
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top