Hi. I'm new to metalworking and I am seriously considering buying a new
lathe, but I have a question.

What really are the advantages of the gear head engine lathe?

the same question about the belt drive engine lathes.

thanks a lot!

"derly2477" u34241@uwe wrote in news:723f1f6e709f3@uwe:

Hi. I'm new to metalworking and I am seriously considering buying a
new lathe, but I have a question.

What really are the advantages of the gear head engine lathe?

the same question about the belt drive engine lathes.

thanks a lot!



You might want to try a group such as rec.crafts.metalworking

Once you get past basic tool maintenance, you're beyond the metalworking
knowledge of most people here.

Puckdropper
--
Wise is the man who attempts to answer his question before asking it.

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

On May 16, 1:04 am, "derly2477" u34241@uwe wrote:
Hi. I'm new to metalworking and I am seriously considering buying a new
lathe, but I have a question.

What really are the advantages of the gear head engine lathe?

the same question about the belt drive engine lathes.

thanks a lot!

The best thing to do is ask a good machinist. For most work using
small dia. stock and light cuts you won't find much of a differance.
However if you are going to do heavy cuts and/ or large stock a gear
driven lathe will be better. Do to the transfer of the power/torque
required and the less chance of belt slippage. I've seen belt driven
units that are digital in the speed and feed ratios, that really makes
precise work easy. If you're just going to use the machine for general
turning save the money and get a gear driven one and then use a good
machinest hand book to calculate the ratios needed for the type of
tool and raw stock being cut.