metal lathe?? Is it useful for saw work?

[parrisw]

I think the person might of said it 3 phase power?? not sure, Would I have to convert to single phase?? What would be involved in getting 3 phase power to my garage?

 

[Lakeside53]

Forget having three phase brought into your residence, even if it's legal up there... You will need either a VFD or a rotary converter with appropriate motor protection controls. (220 in, 3 phase out). I a have a nice 1hp rotory converter if you need one .. cheap.

If the lathe motor isn't 208 (roughly) three phase then you'll need a step up transformer or another motor.


You can likely put a single phase motor on it, but...

Take an experienced lathe guy with you to look at it.. real easy to not see the important stuff on your first lathe purchase.

 

[parrisw]

Forget having three phase brought into your residence, even if it's legal up there... You will need either a VFD or a rotary converter with appropriate motor protection controls. (220 in, 3 phase out). I a have a nice 1hp rotory converter if you need one .. cheap.

If the lathe motor isn't 208 (roughty) three phase then you'll need a step up transformer or another motor.


You can likely put a single phase motor on it, but...

Take an experienced lathe guy with yoi to look at it.. real easy to not see the important stuff on your first lathe purchase.

Thanks I don't know anybody that is experience at lathes?

 

[parrisw]

I posted on a lathe forum, and it looks like it might be a Colchester.

 

[parrisw]

I a have a nice 1hp rotory converter if you need one .. cheap.

How cheap is cheap?

 

[046]

really lucky to have three phase power to my house... very unusual!

phase converters are extremely inefficient. much better off finding another motor.

I think the person might of said it 3 phase power?? not sure, Would I have to convert to single phase?? What would be involved in getting 3 phase power to my garage?

 

[timberwolf]

I finally added a metal lathe to the tool quiver.

Picked it up over the weekend, so far so good, everything is quite tight and decently fit, accuracy beter than I expected. Instructions were nearly useless though, basically a poorly translated set of photocopies with corrections cut and pasted literally over incorrect or updated information.

 

[parrisw]

I finally added a metal lathe to the tool quiver.

Picked it up over the weekend, so far so good, everything is quite tight and decently fit, accuracy beter than I expected. Instructions were nearly useless though, basically a poorly translated set of photocopies with corrections cut and pasted literally over incorrect or updated information.

Looks nice.

 

[timberwolf]

I'm going to spend some time making jigs and fixtures to do some of the saw work I have been doing by hand or with makeshift tools:bang: , this should speed things up and make good accuracy and reproducability easier to achieve.

 

[parrisw]

I'm going to spend some time making jigs and fixtures to do some of the saw work I have been doing by hand or with makeshift tools:bang: , this should speed things up and make good accuracy and reproducability easier to achieve.

Cool, show some pics of when you do it.

 

[Stihl 041S]

Register at --practicalmachinist.com
ask about it, what to watch for, and parts availability.
There might be a forum there just for those machines.
All else fails,rent a machine repairman fior a couple of hours to see what it needs,ask fir an estimate, its a very giid barginning chip.
They are good machines. Good luck.
Rob

 

[parrisw]

Register at --practicalmachinist.com
ask about it, what to watch for, and parts availability.
There might be a forum there just for those machines.
All else fails,rent a machine repairman fior a couple of hours to see what it needs,ask fir an estimate, its a very giid barginning chip.
They are good machines. Good luck.
Rob

Ya, i joined that forum. It looks like a Bantam MK1/orignal. The person is asking $850 for it.

 

[romeo]

I finally added a metal lathe to the tool quiver.

Picked it up over the weekend, so far so good, everything is quite tight and decently fit, accuracy beter than I expected. Instructions were nearly useless though, basically a poorly translated set of photocopies with corrections cut and pasted literally over incorrect or updated information.

Nice machine Brian, I still haven't settled on a new one yet. I have been spoiled on some really nice stuff that I could never afford at work.

 

[timberwolf]

Me too, I spent some time working for a place that was making and testing space hardware, robotic parts and satalite stuff, they had just about everything you could imagine or want, the shop guys were pretty good about making stuff up too, or letting me have at stuff if I had a project.

 

[Zodiac45]

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...

+1 The big money is in tooling. I've seen some pretty good deal though on package deals of used stuff. Sort of a grab bag deals of cutters and such. I have a neighbor who bought a Bridgeport and a turret lathe at auction for almost scrap prices (plus we had to transport them) but he more than made up for it on the tooling. I use his Very handly to have access too.

 

[parrisw]

What do you all think this lathe is worth? He's asking $850, I looked at it, Its partially apart, the motor is off it, its got the 3 phase setup, with a electric forward reverse switch, its missing the parts for the power feed.

 

[Stihl 041S]

lathe parts can be pricey, if you can find them.

 

[parrisw]

lathe parts can be pricey, if you can find them.

Yes, I've figured that out, trying to look for stuff, maybe I wont get it, since I want to be able to cut threads with it. Other then that the lathe looks good, looks like a nice unit.

 

[Lakeside53]

$850 for a broken down oddball? na... much better to spend more on a complete lathe you can get parts for - it will be much cheaper..


there's a 10 inch a logan on seattle CL today.....

 

[Lakeside53]

phase converters are extremely inefficient. much better off finding another motor.

Personally, I'd have a three phase motor any day - quieter, controllable, immediate reverse etc etc..

inefficent? Maybe a static converter,,, a Rotary phase converter is around 80%...but a vfd saves power... (most of the time you are NOT using the motor at full speed..) and even at full output is over 9x% efficient.