Both lathes have exceeded my "What the hell" maximum.
I'll stick with what I have, but I'll sure keep an eye out for a
"Craftsman/Emco"
- -
Rex Burkheimer
WM Automotive
Fort Worth TX

DoN. Nichols wrote:
In article , Rex B "" wrote:

You sound like me. I have a weakness for little lathes.
Currently I have the 9" Logan, 10" Enco, and a 6" antique AA

Did you see this one?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...DME:B:DS:US:28

This is a Craftsman lathe, late model.
Says it's Austrian?
First I've heard of this one.


It *looks* like a version of the Emco-Maier Compact-5 -- the
manual version of my Compact-5/CNC. They were Austrian, though the
manual lathes (and even the Compact-5/CNC) have all been discontinued by
now. The standard color for those (as sold by Emco-Maier) is an orange,
except for the latest, which had a red finish.

I didn't realize that Sears was selling a version of that at one
time.

It is certainly a nice machine for its size, based on the CNC
version which I have. (Though if you bid on it and get it, I can make
some suggestions to reduce gib wear. :-)


This one is also interesting:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...e=STRK:MEWA:IT

Scratch-built by a machinist.


Now *that* one is cute. But the fellow describing it is
obviously not really familiar with the field. :-)

I'd like to know things like the spindle thread and bore, and
the maximum swing. I suspect that it uses the same spindle thread as
the 109 series AA lathes, but that is just a guess. If so, it certainly
can't handle much spindle bore. :-)

No spindle thread on the Sears copy of the Compact-5, as the
chucks bolt directly to the spindle nose, registered by a 40mm recess in
the back of the chuck and a 40mm diameter flat spindle nose (with a MT-2
spindle taper). The chuck attaches with three screws (for a 3-jaw
chuck) or four screws (for a 4-jaw chuck), with the screws located
between the jaws. There is also an ER style collet nosepiece avaiable
for the machine.

Enjoy,
DoN.