Narrowing my lathe search, spindle question.

[Jim_cellarshop]

Hi, as discussed in the general forum I am trying to set up a small shop in my cellar to do mostly my own projects. Stairs as tight 180deg turn, but I have a door out back to ground level and a steep mud hill up to the street. I need to keep the largest part to about 250lbs. Most of my gun, camera and watch case projects would most likely fit on a 9x20. But I would like a larger spindle bore of maybe 1.0" or larger. The gun parts are sights & bases (claw scope & island open) as well as various small parts. I am not sure if I need to thread barrels as I know a local guy who is very good at it. But I may wish to re-cut crowns and as a long shot I may wish to cut a custom taper (distant future dream project would be to build a double rifle, may/maynot happen). My space is very tight and most 36-40" lathes are really too long and maybe too heavy. I thought I may be able to alter a factory tapered barrel 'a piece at a time' on a 9x20, 10x22, etc, but I have never tried anything like this my self. Lathes I am considering are Southbend 9"x20+/-, Griz 10x22 or 11x26, maybe a 12x24 but looks heavy & $$, also a SB 10L x20ish. A 13x40 is just too big/heavy/$$$. In PA there seems to be a lot of SB 9" around, but not many 10Ls & they get a little expensive. I worry about a used lathe because I do not have a lot of time to fix one up. Thanks for your help, Jim.

 

[pdentrem]

I would look only at G4002 or the G4003 and its various brothers. Yes they are heavy $ and # but you will not go wrong with either one. They come with a full QC gear box and will do metric as well. Larger spindle bore is important when working with rifle barrels etc.
Going from a 500 # lathe to near 1000# lathe is a world of difference in usefulness and surface finish for a couple of points.

 

[Jim_cellarshop]

I called Grizz about the 12x24, this is about as big as I can fit and is at the top end of my budget. Lots of nice things about it, good low speed, large spindle bore (wow it's 16" long), lots of threads including very fine, can thread away from headstock. A minor downside is no taper attach, would be nice but I can get around it, make one, adapt one, if I even need it. The big down side is they strongly suggest I do not remove the spindle box, so if I only take of the tail stock, chuck, motor, cross slide, & tooling it only drops weight down to about 700lbs. I would have to figure out how I would get it into the basement. It is still in the running. I also have a line on several South Bend 9x24s, a SB 10L x30 (a little pricey) and a Logan 815. Lots of stuff available for the SB 9's, t-slot table, mill attach, taper attachments etc. SB 9s seem to be fairly light & around here fairly plentiful for fairly cheap although I do not know what type of shape they are in. Thanks for all you help!

 

[pdentrem]

Remember you will need a stand either self made or store bought.
Yes, going used is always a bit of a risk but with SB there are spares out there. Try to avoid lathes that have seen heavy use as the ways will be worn down usually in the first 6 inches from the chuck, and this can cause issues when working on long pieces. Taper attachments are easy to make, there are several designs out there.


You can use a come along to lower the lathe on skids down to your door or a winch. You can even use a vehicle hitch and slowly backup using a long enough line to leave the vehicle on solid ground. I can think of many ways to get something heavy into a lower position.

Just some more ideas.

 

[Jim_cellarshop]

I found a 2000 electric winch with 50' of cable for $100 and out here in Lancaster county four wheel farm carts are readily available in 2'x4' 1400lbs & 4'x5' 2000lbs, $90 to $200 new. A skid would be cheaper & maybe safer (I like the 4' wide much better than 2' wide) but a cart would be easier as it could go from the garage all the way into basement. I have a chain hoist, 6' ladder jack & an engine hoist so I think I could work something out going down. I just have to remember some day it's gotta come up also How does South Bend 9" work out for barrel work? I think the spindle bore is only about .80" compared to a 10L or the Grizz 12x24 at close to 1.50". A lot of SB 9" around here. The one or two 10Ls I have seen for sale that look like they may be in good shape are $2500-4000. Thanks for all your help, Jim.

 

[pdentrem]

I can not speak on the SBs, but on my home lathe which is an Atlas. It only has a 3/4" thru hole in the spindle. When I was rechambering a rifle barrel, I really would of liked to have had the chamber end chucked, but I had to use the steady rest at the far end of the lathe.
I would still look at lathes that are 1" minimum thru the spindle. Other wise you are making it harder for yourself.

 

[Jim_cellarshop]

Thanks, Yes the more I look into this I would like to have a 1.0"+ spindle bore, 1.375" would be even better. This seems to double the weight & cost of the lathe. I keep looking at SB 9" because there seems to be lots of them around here & there is a lot of tooling & accessories cheap. A 9" would cover a lot of what I want to do, but I am going to try to hold out for a 10-12" as long as I can get one not more than about 24" between centers. I am still working on getting electric in the shop (OK, I have one outlet) and my wife has plans for the next five weekends. My goal is to have a basic setup by late fall so I can work on projects over the winter. Jim.