metal lathe?? Is it useful for saw work?

[RiverRat2]

If you have the scratch, or just get plain lucky and find one at a bargain, the Emco machines are first rate. This is my friend's lathe that I have had the pleasure of using on several occasions. This is the ultimate saw-builders lathe if you ask me - big enough to do the work, yet a nice small footprint in the shop.

Here it is turning down a flywheel for a project.

Yep You are right!!!!!! buddy my case in point!!!!! I dont build the new parts for your saw,,,, just modify them to make your saw better!!!!!!! LOL!!!

Rep for you on that!!!!!

 

[Lakeside53]

The Compact 8's are nice - find the orignal Austrial built units though,... precise, simple, no gear box for speed selection (uses conventional belts), but a heck of a lot less to go wrong than mine! And parts are available. I see these sell for $600-1200 ebay.


The Emco Compact 8 was the lathe the Taiwan/chinese copied to make all of the varients of the 9x20... and many of the parts still fit... and one of the reasons Emco pretty much went bankrupt, ditching the manual lathe market.


Now.. If you want a REAL nice EMCO, the COMPACT 10 - belt drive - big brother of the Compact 8... same bed, similar (fits) carriadge and tail stock as mine. I know a guy in Seattle that would sell his...

 

[Lakeside53]

If you are into just doing saw mods & small engine stuff,,, the little combo like Andy's is good,,,,,

The problem is once you start it is like chain saw disease,,,, you find other things to do then you have to go bigger n better,,, and more,,,, and on and on,,, and on,,,,,, there is no end!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!

..and then you move up to Bridgeport(s), and the "end" moves again.. lololol

 

[RiverRat2]

The Compact 8's are nice - find the orignal Austrial built units though,... precise, simple, no gear box for speed selection (uses conventional belts), but a heck of a lot less to go wrong than mine! And parts are available. I see these sell for $600-1200 ebay.


The Emco Compact 8 was the lathe the Taiwan/chinese copied to make all of the varients of the 9x20... and many of the parts still fit... and one of the reasons Emco pretty much went bankrupt, ditching the manual lathe market.


Now.. If you want a REAL nice EMCO, the COMPACT 10 - belt drive - big brother of the Compact 8... same bed, similar (fits) carriadge and tail stock as mine. I know a guy in Seattle that would sell his...

Send me his info we are looking for a smaller machine just for my stuff to keep me off the bigger stuff that brings in the bacon,,,,,, have you seen it???

Any idea what he is asking??????

 

[Four Paws]

Send me his info we are looking for a smaller machine just for my stuff to keep me off the bigger stuff that brings in the bacon,,,,,, have you seen it???

Any idea what he is asking??????

Hey, I am closer than you are :monkey: HAHAHA

If you pass on it, let me know as I would be interested too if the price is right. Feel free to PM me with a price and his info, Andy...but I'll give RR dibs.

 

[Tzed250]

I know everyone poo-poos the Smithy's ,etc. So did I. Until I saw one in the back of the Brumos Porsche transporter at a Rolex sports car series race. Hmmmm...good enough to make parts for a quarter million dollar Daytona Prototype? Made look at them in a different light...

Of course I am spoiled...the machine I run cost double what the car does...

 

[thomas72]

I have found for a lathe the heaver the machine the better. All lathes chatter when they cut even if you can not hear it, but if you put your work under a micro scope then you can see evidence in the cuts left behind. The heaver the machine, the more vibration it can absorb, and a better cut it will make. I have a Clausing lathe with a 17" x 80" bed.

 

[Lakeside53]

Send me his info we are looking for a smaller machine just for my stuff to keep me off the bigger stuff that brings in the bacon,,,,,, have you seen it???

Any idea what he is asking??????

have I seen it? lololol every day at work.... I'll ask...

 

[RiverRat2]

have I seen it? lololol every day at work.... I'll ask...

Cool!!!!!!

 

[Bob Wright]

I have 4 metal lathes and i can't live without one. There are so many usefull things you can make not only for the saw but for the shop...Bob
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/southbend10k/

 

[046]

another vote for craigslist!!!

a min of 9in swing is what you need. price is dictated by timing more than anything else. watch out for that deal... a widow selling off her late husbands lathe and tooling is what you want to find.

key word is tooling.... first choice is to find a lathe with most of the tooling. you can easily spend more for the tooling than the lathe.

don't know about your region, but I've seen nice 10in swing Atlas lathes come up for $650.
also look for southbend 9in swing lathes, which is what I've got.

Too late! you've already decided you want one... now it's just a matter of price.:greenchainsaw:


Oh, and I forgot... Cutting metal is fine, but you need to be able to measure it... more $$$, but craigslist is your friend...

 

[parrisw]

Thanks again guys, I'll keep my eye out.

Will

 

[Stihl051master]

I don't know if this will help you any, but you may want to look at one of the Atlas/Craftsman/Clausing 10" or 12" (swing) lathes. They haven't been made in a while, but they made tons of these over the years. They have different models with 18-28"(?) between centers. These are cheap to buy and are really well built. Parts are easy to get and very plentiful on ebay or other sites. I got a 10" Atlas model with a bunch of tooling for 250 a couple years back. They are much better quality than the new inexpensive models out there, plus you can get a milling attachment and have a very versatile machine for your shop.

 

[parrisw]

I don't know if this will help you any, but you may want to look at one of the Atlas/Craftsman/Clausing 10" or 12" (swing) lathes. They haven't been made in a while, but they made tons of these over the years. They have different models with 18-28"(?) between centers. These are cheap to buy and are really well built. Parts are easy to get and very plentiful on ebay or other sites. I got a 10" Atlas model with a bunch of tooling for 250 a couple years back. They are much better quality than the new inexpensive models out there, plus you can get a milling attachment and have a very versatile machine for your shop.

HMM thanks allot, I ve heard of the Atlas ones. I watch for them.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

I have always wanted a lathe.....and finally got one about a year ago. I bought it from a local Trading Post listing. The fellow that owned it worked in the machine shop for the Cincinnati Water Department and builds street rods in his spare time. He got a much bigger lathe and sold this one. It is a 12" swing Herter and works just fine as he rebuilt the gearbox not long ago. The lathe was $ 1,500 and included a faceplate, 6" & 8" three jaw chucks, an 8" 4 jaw chuck, and a simple tool holder that got me started. Since then I have purchased some more tool holders, a live center, and a chuck for the tailpiece. I elected to buy an older used lathe as I wanted one with a pretty big swing and liked the quality of the larger lathes compared to the new affordable small ones.

I bought it to work on banjo rims and had to make a special set of jaws to hold the large rims. It is amazing how often it comes in handy. I have used it to change PVC couplings into slip couplings for pipe repair, I have made a bushing to fix the floppy worn out jaw on my Cant Hook, I have made bushings to hold grates in PVC drain pipe. Lately I have used it a lot to make things for the house I am building - and soon I will have it located in the new garage and be able to return to actually using it for car/saw/engine project...and then maybe a real banjo rim project which is what I wanted it for in the first place!

I really enjoy having a lathe. Some people have bass boats to relax - I got tools! I saw a lot of lathes on eBay that were very nice and at decent prices, and the only drawback was most of them required a significant drive to get them as they were in Cleveland, Indianapolis, Chicago etc. It was nice to find one local and being sold by a really nice fellow who was honestly selling a working lathe - he just needed an even bigger one.

 

[Junkwrencher]

I found a huge deal on a used Jet 9x20, $60.00 at a yard sale...I would look for something a little larger than what you're talking about.Like saws they too are addictive and what you spend on a lathe you'll spend twice that on tooling, cutters etc.A small one you can learn on then, like saws, you want something with more reach, horsepower, precision, you know the drill!!!Find a friend who is a machinist and hang out and see if you want to get one..Be safe and pay attention to the old guys...

 

[parrisw]

Find a friend who is a machinist and hang out and see if you want to get one..Be safe and pay attention to the old guys...

I already did that a few years ago, a friend has got one, and I did allot of work on it with him for my car, previous hobby. We machined adapters, to make big brakes for my car, and milled caliper mounts too. And that was with one of those mill/lathe combo's, it worked very well.

 

[parrisw]

Another lathe came up for sale locally, anybody have any idea on this one. Says its made in england, apparently the power feed is broken, so you just have to do it manually. Add says 12x50

 

[Lakeside53]

any nameplate? Myford?

Be careful of the odd ball stuff... unless it's very very cheap.

Scan Seattle Craisglist tools section daily - There have been a half dozen lathes in the past few weeks.. just a ferry ride away.

 

[parrisw]

any nameplate? Myford?

Be careful of the odd ball stuff... unless it's very very cheap.

Scan Seattle Craisglist tools section daily - There have been a half dozen lathes in the past few weeks.. just a ferry ride away.

I haven't looked at it yet, that is the pic on the site, there is one other pic, I talked to the person, but sounded Chinese, and very hard to understand. I am going to look at it tomorrow.