"F. Hayek" wrote in message ...

I considered an inexpensive import but bought an older used domestic
machine (Delta-Rockwell 11") instead because 1) it kinda fell into my
lap and 2) it's the same lathe I envied in my High School shop ;-) I'm
sure glad I did.

First off its a little bigger (11X24) but most importantly it has more
useful features. A biggy in my opinion is the lack of power cross-feed
on the cheaper import lathes - ugh. My 11" will handle brake rotors
and drums for all of the vehicles I own and the spindle hole is 1-3/8"
and I really wish it were larger. Came with a 6" chuck which
immediately proved a little small for me - got a good used Cushman 9"
L-00 for $50. The Rockwell was a pretty good lathe in it's day and 40
years later it's still rugged as can be, spindle runout barely wobbles
the needle on an .001 indicator, has a variable speed belt drive with
backgear, and 48 different feed speeds/thread pitches without any gear
changes.
The ways may not be PERFECT but they are more than satsifactory for my
needs - this was a toolroom quality lathe in it's time. Im still
trying to find metric change gears for it. Spindle is big enough to
accept 5C collets.

I did buy an Enco import bench mill/drill and rather regret that for
much the same reasons: No power downfeed, no knee, standard
Bridgeport-style powerfeeds won't fit the table, and last but most
certainly not least - HORRIBLE MANUAL.
My decision to buy this machine was based almost solely on a
promotional offer of free shipping/discounted price. I now wish I'd
shopped around for a decent used Bridgeport within hauling distance
and may well do that yet.

I just bought a used Kysor-Johnson Model J horizontal bandsaw after
much shopping around. I considered the Jets, HF, Grizzly, Enco,
Wilton, etc. but with patience found this saw on Ebay 2 hours from my
home for $300. Put a fresh Starret blade on it and powered it up last
night and I am wow-ed! No way any of the $700+ imports could hold a
candle to this (30+ yr old?) saw. It will still be sawing when they
are rusting piles of junk somewhere.

Which brings me to my final thought - 3 phase machines. If you start
shopping for used machines you'll have more selection and better value
for your dollar if you'll consider 3 phase machines. My used machines
are all 3 phase. The quote from your power company for 3 phase service
will knock your socks off but it's not really an issue. My shop has
60A/240V single phase service. I bought an inexpensive ($65) static
phase converter, a real nice used 3HP 3 phase motor ($10) and a
couple of inexpensive ($10) 30Mfd run capacitors and coppled up a nice
rotary phase converter from the bits. A commercial rotary converter
would have cost about $500-700. Building the converter was quite
interesting and really easy. There's all kinds of useful ariticles on
the Internet describing how-to in great detail and I learned an awfull
lot about motors and electricity in the process. My converter will run
any ONE of my three phase machines but ONLY ONE AT A TIME. I don't
have any employees so that's a non-issue. Do not expect to be able to
run any significant equipment with a static converter alone. The
equipment performance will be significantly degraded.

Which brings me to my (really) last thought which is that the cost of
the machine (lathe in your case) is only the first drop in a rather
large bucket.
The tooling for the lathe (Chucks, collets, toolholders, bits,
inserts, etc) can quickly dwarf the buy-in cost of the machine. This
makes used machines with additional tooling even more attractive. Go
to www.msc-direct.com and browse their machine tool accessories to see
what I mean ;-) They are probably top dollar but it's representative.

I'm buying used, having a ton of fun, and spending a ton of money....
hope my wife doesn't find out!

HTH,

Dan
Now an Ebay junkie

I'm wondering what brand and model of lathe and milling machines someone
starting out should consider? I want to make parts for automotive,
motorcycle and gunsmithing use. I'm not talking about engine boring
here, just bushings clamps, brackets. I see a lot of Chinese machines at
Grizzly, Harbor Freight and Jet are they worth it? Thanks

Fred