What lathe to look for?
 

My buddy is looking for a general purpose lathe that will get used a few
times a week. He makes parts for production machines and new
projects...pretty much what my lathes get used for. I'd recommend a
Reed Prentice but they are hard to find. I see a lot of Monarch,
Leblond and such at the used machine stores. What would you recomend?
What's easiest to find parts, attachments and chucks for? He wants to
spend less than $5k, There are hundreds here in town for that price.

What lathe to look for?
 

On 2014-04-24, Tom Gardner Mars@Tacks wrote:
My buddy is looking for a general purpose lathe that will get used a few
times a week. He makes parts for production machines and new
projects...pretty much what my lathes get used for. I'd recommend a
Reed Prentice but they are hard to find. I see a lot of Monarch,
Leblond and such at the used machine stores. What would you recomend?
What's easiest to find parts, attachments and chucks for? He wants to
spend less than $5k, There are hundreds here in town for that price.

Any quality lathe that is not worn out should work. I love my Monarch
AA ($1000)

What lathe to look for?
 

What's easiest to find parts, attachments and chucks for? He wants to
spend less than $5k, There are hundreds here in town for that price.

Any quality lathe that is not worn out should work. I love my Monarch
AA ($1000)

I would first look for fully tooled lathes. WAY cheaper to buy all at
once. From There, pick your lathe size.

If hew wants around 14x54 look at the leBlond servo shift or Clausing,
but several others.

If 12x20 is more the right size, look to a monarch 10EE or Hardinge
HLV, again moany others.

Karl

What lathe to look for?
 

Karl Townsend fired this volley in
:

What's easiest to find parts, attachments and chucks for? He wants to
spend less than $5k, There are hundreds here in town for that price.

Has he considered what he needs in spindle bore? A lot of the older high-
class lathes have tiny bores. If he needs to work bars through the
headstock, that will be important.

Lloyd

What lathe to look for?
 

On Thu, 24 Apr 2014 19:00:36 -0400, Tom Gardner Mars@Tacks wrote:

My buddy is looking for a general purpose lathe that will get used a few
times a week. He makes parts for production machines and new
projects...pretty much what my lathes get used for. I'd recommend a
Reed Prentice but they are hard to find. I see a lot of Monarch,
Leblond and such at the used machine stores. What would you recomend?
What's easiest to find parts, attachments and chucks for? He wants to
spend less than $5k, There are hundreds here in town for that price.

What SIZE lathe does he need?

Gunner

--

"
I was once told by a “gun safety” advocate back in the Nineties
that he favored total civilian firearms confiscation.
Only the military and police should have weapons he averred and what did I think about that?

I began to give him a reasoned answer and he
cut me off with an abrupt, “Give me the short answer.”

I thought for a moment and said, “If you try to take our firearms we will kill you.”"

What lathe to look for?
 

On 2014-04-24, Tom Gardner Mars@Tacks wrote:
My buddy is looking for a general purpose lathe that will get used a few
times a week. He makes parts for production machines and new
projects...pretty much what my lathes get used for.

You don't mention the size the lathe's projects will be. That
could be important. :-)

I'd recommend a
Reed Prentice but they are hard to find. I see a lot of Monarch,
Leblond and such at the used machine stores. What would you recomend?
What's easiest to find parts, attachments and chucks for? He wants to
spend less than $5k, There are hundreds here in town for that price.

Well ... I've never used a LeBlond, but I have used a
Monarch, and would love to have one. (But beware that depending on age,
it may depend on tubes which are now hard to find and expensive when you
find them for spindle speed control. The original ones used a
motor-generator to produce the DC voltage to run the spindle motor, and
I'm not sure whether there were any tubes involved. The next generation
used transformers and tubes to produce the DC, and those are the
expensive ones to keep going. The generation after that used solid
state devices in a potted module to perform the same function. If that
fries, you are DOA. Finally, the latest ones (including many converted
by the factory from the older ones) use a three-phase motor and a VFD to
provide the spindle speed control.

But there are others too. I'm using a Causing 12" swing, and
many parts are still produced for it -- though the prices are climbing
every time they need to make a new batch of the parts. My accessories
were found on eBay a while back -- over a period of time -- including
the taper turning attachment. Does he heed a taper turning attachment?

Another which I have used in the past is a Sheldon, and that was
a good machine too.

Good Luck,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | (KV4PH) Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

What lathe to look for?
 

....
Well ... I've never used a LeBlond, but I have used a
Monarch, and would love to have one. (But beware that depending on age,
it may depend on tubes which are now hard to find and expensive when you
find them for spindle speed control. The original ones used a
motor-generator to produce the DC voltage to run the spindle motor, and
I'm not sure whether there were any tubes involved. The next generation
used transformers and tubes to produce the DC, and those are the
expensive ones to keep going. The generation after that used solid
state devices in a potted module to perform the same function. If that
fries, you are DOA. Finally, the latest ones (including many converted
by the factory from the older ones) use a three-phase motor and a VFD to
provide the spindle speed control.

Unless you are a Ned Simmons type, trash the DC stuff on these lathes
and put in a three phase drive motor and VFD. Not at all a difficult
project. I'd even suggest going this route and use the fact that the
drive is poor to negotiate a lower selling price.

Karl

What lathe to look for?
 

On 4/25/2014 8:23 AM, Karl Townsend wrote:
...
Well ... I've never used a LeBlond, but I have used a
Monarch, and would love to have one. (But beware that depending on age,
it may depend on tubes which are now hard to find and expensive when you
find them for spindle speed control. The original ones used a
motor-generator to produce the DC voltage to run the spindle motor, and
I'm not sure whether there were any tubes involved. The next generation
used transformers and tubes to produce the DC, and those are the
expensive ones to keep going. The generation after that used solid
state devices in a potted module to perform the same function. If that
fries, you are DOA. Finally, the latest ones (including many converted
by the factory from the older ones) use a three-phase motor and a VFD to
provide the spindle speed control.

Unless you are a Ned Simmons type, trash the DC stuff on these lathes
and put in a three phase drive motor and VFD. Not at all a difficult
project. I'd even suggest going this route and use the fact that the
drive is poor to negotiate a lower selling price.

Karl



Damn, all this should be plug-n-play! My Reed-Prentice just has a
3-phase mains and a bunch or gear change levers.

What lathe to look for?
 

On Fri, 25 Apr 2014 07:23:27 -0500, Karl Townsend
wrote:

...
Well ... I've never used a LeBlond, but I have used a
Monarch, and would love to have one. (But beware that depending on age,
it may depend on tubes which are now hard to find and expensive when you
find them for spindle speed control. The original ones used a
motor-generator to produce the DC voltage to run the spindle motor, and
I'm not sure whether there were any tubes involved. The next generation
used transformers and tubes to produce the DC, and those are the
expensive ones to keep going. The generation after that used solid
state devices in a potted module to perform the same function. If that
fries, you are DOA. Finally, the latest ones (including many converted
by the factory from the older ones) use a three-phase motor and a VFD to
provide the spindle speed control.

Unless you are a Ned Simmons type, trash the DC stuff on these lathes
and put in a three phase drive motor and VFD. Not at all a difficult
project. I'd even suggest going this route and use the fact that the
drive is poor to negotiate a lower selling price.

Karl

I know I'm some sort of ilk (Gunner's told me so on several
occasions), but this is my first clue I'm also a "type." g In my
defense, what Karl is referring to is the fact that I kept the
thyratron drive in a 10EE that I was able to repair without too much
effort. I'll admit that part of my reluctance to scrap the old drive
had to do with the cool purple flashing of the tubes as they fired,
not practicality. I sold that machine several years ago to a guy who
drove from NJ to ME to pick it up. Last I knew it was still working
with the thyratron drive.

I did install a VFD in my big Monarch. Two actually; one for the
spindle, and one for the coolant pump.

--
Ned Simmons