I went to look at a cadillac 1440 lathe yesterday. Visually it looked ok,
albeit well used, and there was a lot of backlash in the cross slide (about a
half turn worth), but I guess this is normal? The ways looked clean but I
didn't take a test cut or anything. The spindle sounded good in all speed
ranges and I didn't see any broken teeth on the gears. I talked with one of
the machinists on the floor who uses it for odds and ends (big company with a
lot of cnc turning centers) and he said it would make a decent home lathe but he
warned me that a part mounted in the chuck would not turn true to the part, but
it would turn true to the lathe. I think what he was trying to say was that
there is about 5 thou runout in the headstock? The seller (different person)
claims the headstock spindle bearings were replaced 3 years ago...perhaps they
didn't do such a good job?

The lathe has quite a large set of tooling that goes with it, including a 5C
lever operated collet closer, 3 chucks, lots of collets and bit holders.

He is asking $3500. Should I make an offer or run away fast? This lathe looked
identical to the YAM lathe I posted about...I think they came from the same
factory.

Thanks guys,

Rick