SB manual lathe / Grizz

alinwa said:
let's get together and do a group buy, maybe buy 10 of them and I bet they'll drop them down to $198,999.99 each!

WHat a DEAL!!
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Al, I know what they are doing, but wonder who is buying them. With some of the nice CNC lathes available now, why. I absolutely love mine! When I use it the only noise is the cooling fan for the 1956 "electronics". No vibrations either, but I paid less than $4,000 for mine delivered and set up.

Dusty, are the LeBlond lathes made in the USA at this time. They are a very nice machine.
 
They dont make new ones anymore just restore. But i believe they would be the newest you could find if you were looking for one of the old good ones. My last job had one bought new in 87 if i remember right. It had at least a 12' bed and only had a 1.25" hole. Craziest thing i ever seen. Needless to say i learned about steady rests quite fast
 
I used to run a Regal and really liked it. According to the Practical Machinest forum they were Japanese owned since 1981. A short story.

LeBlond Makino Machine Tool Company was formed in 1981. In 1996, LeBlond Makino Machine Tool Company changed its name to Makino.

They are a top notch lathe.
 
The last Monarch 10EE's I sent to Sidney for Eastman was in 1995, we paid $82K each for rebuild, new drives and new spindle bearings. The bearing sets alone were $18K per set.

Pay for what you get?? What do you get for $8K?

The situation is guys, run them 24/7 in an industrial environment machining 300 series stainless, Inconel and such and the 10EE is still cheaper!! The SB H10 was about $18K when they went off the market. Leblond was tooling up to build the H10 and the first quoted price was about $22-23K.

The SB H10 with its oil/bushing bearings is still smoother than any ball or roller bearing set. Trouble is the oil/bushing combo is only stable to about 1500-2000 rpm while the 10EE spindle pack will run all day at 5,000 rpm. Big difference when you have a high dollar chemical line down costing several thousand dollars/hour in product loss.

Check, on precision cylindrical grinders the wheelhead bearing pack is oil/bushing construction!!! Wonder why????
 
Grizzly Lathe

I have the larger Grizzly gunsmith lathe G0509G. The tolerance's on this machine are tight which is great for turning rifle barrels or what have you. I am realistic this lathe is heavy but not like a Monarch or like other high caliber machines, I am not concerned about doing heavy high production, it was purchased for light duty work. When I acquired my lathe Grizzly was not carrying the South Bend line which may have influenced my decision differently, though I am happy with this lathe and have no regrets. It comes down to what you are going to do with the lathe and for some of us the price.

Bob
 
it is one of the older models. comes with 2 scroll chucks but has the taper attachment and collet closer. it has the very short bed. the reason i say its the older model is the single speed gearbox and the knob to autofeed instead of the lever. no problem with either you just crank that knob down and friction engages the power feed. and youre limited on the threads you can cut. my heavy 10 has the same 2 features but alot longer bed. my 13" has the newer stuff on it which makes it easier to operate to me. that type base also needs to be a tad more rigid. it can be bolted or like an old skool cat taught me it can sit on tar paper. it also has a brand new paint job since it has actually ran which may be good or bad.
 
oh you'll need to factor in a toolpost and chuck to do any gun work on it- keep that in mind cause its at the top of the price range IMO
 
hard to find these days. everybody hoarded em up. I like to get it then replace it later with better. you can sell a heavy 10. be sure to get the number off the front of the ways on the far end to make sure its actually a heavy 10 instead of just a 10". they look exactly the same.its stamped into the way right on top of the far right side
 
skeetlee said:
What do you all think of this machine. The gear box on this one looks different than some I have seen. Would this be a decent heavy 10? If I could figure out how to get it here I might consider buying it. I love the lines of these machines. They look very user friendly. Lee

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221481648699?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2648
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At a quick glance, the seller has posted very low resolution photos, on purpose?? Dunno. As to the single lever gearbox, as it is called, no problem. One other preliminary caution, the machine has been recently repainted. You would have to look this one over in person and very closely. Short bed? According to if you want to turn or polish barrels longer than about 24-26" between centers..

Like I said, at first glance.

Dusty, I found the original photos of Bro's lathe before he bought it.
 
it looks exactly the same except the VFD. it has a nice buck set tru chuck and genuine aloris toolpost. and he keeps it very clean.
 
had some experience

I bought the Grizzly single phase gunsmith lathe (the heavier one) and after about 200 hours on the machine I sent it back and they gave me my money back.

Grizzly was pretty good on the support side and I learned quite a bit through the process. I didn't want to mess around any further so I bought a lathe made in Taiwan (that was the best decision I've made). Grizzly had 2 models at the time made in Taiwan and so I bought this one:
http://www.grizzly.com/products/14-x-40-3-Phase-High-Precision-Toolroom-Metal-Lathe/G0740

It's been awesome. I added a DRO and I'm loving it. In hind sight the DRO hasn't really helped any as the precision of the machine is great, the DRO makes me a little faster...
 
iceman99 said:
It's been awesome. I added a DRO and I'm loving it. In hind sight the DRO hasn't really helped any as the precision of the machine is great, the DRO makes me a little faster...
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I've got a DRO on the slide travel (carriage) and one on the quill of the tailstock..... for barreling it's absolutely fabulous!

I don't find DRO on the cross slide to be useful
 
may as well do it up right al- if you need to take off another .002 on a pass its easy enough even with backlash
 
I love having my DRO. Saves a ton of time. I don't have one on my tailstock and to be honest I haven't felt the need. My tailstock dial is in .000 and it is true.
when I buy a second machine, I will have a DRO for sure! Lee
 
The big issue with a DRO on a small lathe there is a lot of spring and slop between the tool tip and the DRO scale head.
 
jerry
does the same not apply to the dial hash marks on a small lathe? I have noticed what you mentioned on my machine and it is a 3500 pound lathe. I haven't seen any ill effect though to the type of work I do with my machine. Lee
 
skeetlee said:
jerry
does the same not apply to the dial hash marks on a small lathe? I have noticed what you mentioned on my machine and it is a 3500 pound lathe. I haven't seen any ill effect though to the type of work I do with my machine. Lee
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Pretty much. There is so much "lost motion, bend, give", whatever on a small lathe that is not present in a big lathe. Just having the Gibson loose enough to allow movement in the slides creates repeatability problems. Accuracy is not as much of problem as repeatability. Confusing? Accuracy is the ability to go to a certain position, repeatability is the ability to go to the SAME location time after time.
 
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