Wanting a lathe

[Gene DeLoney]

Thanks for that safety tip, Gene. As you know, replacement parts are almost as scarce as hens teeth!

I am in the process of cleaning and refurbishing the lathe. It needed new belts, a couple small repairs and a new paint job but otherwise it's in good shape. If you want to see what $1500 will buy you, here's the link.

My Rockwell lathe

I didn't see a tail stock in the pictures?
For parts you can try:

Plaza Machine Co.
Joe
PO Box 14 Box River Rd.
Bethel, VT. 05032
802-234-9673

I dealt with him a few years ago. Hope he is still in business.
Gene

 

[aleaddict]

I didn't see a tail stock in the pictures?

I had removed the tail stock and everything inside the cabinet in order to lighten the load during transport. It's all there except the 5C lever collet closer, which did not come with the package

I've been wanting a lathe for years and came close to buying the Grizzly 4003G. But with all the ol' American iron floating around on craigslist and other places I just couldn't justify buying an inferior product. Not to say that Grizzly is bad, but there is just no comparison to that and the craftsmanship of American products, IMHO. I also don't feel comfortable giving financial support to a communist government (whenever I can help it).

Be patient and keep watching the auction sites...and don't let Butch talk you into a 10EE ! ! !

 

[MColeman]

I appreciate the replies Mickey,Ken,Butch & Gene. I've thought about which to buy for quite sometime now. If my 3 to 6k budget is too low to do some hobby gun work, then I may as well pay my current gunsmith and not learn anything. So my thoughts are..........since I do not know how to run (yet) or do repairs on a lathe I'm kind of limited to something I don't have to fix to get started which also limits me to Grizzly, Enco or Jet. So, which is the lesser of the "three evils".

You can get a lathe that will serve you well from Grizzly. Jet was good at one time several years ago but I've heard people say that they have gone down some. Can't say from my own experience. I've owned two Grizzly lathes, the first cost about $3500 and did good work but I had the itch for the toolroom lathe so I sold the first one and bought the toolroom model for about $6,000. They have gone up about $1,000 since then but my lathe is super! I think Grizzly is the way to go.