Atlas 12" vs South Bend Heavy 10

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Maverick302

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I recently just purchased my first lathe, a late-model Craftsman branded Atlas 12" long bed. I picked it up for a decent price, and it's in excellent condition, with a decent amount of tooling to get me started. Of course, shortly after I got it home, modified the stand and built a cabinet to fit it, cleaned it all up, adjusted/leveled/tuned it up, a decent looking Heavy 10 pops up for $1000. Now I'm very strongly leaning towards picking up the SB and selling off the Atlas I just put a bunch of time and money into setting up. The SB is a 1944 with taper attachment, single tumbler, underdrive with some less than stellar pictures of a box of tooling (steady rest with no bottom, collet set, faceplate and dogs). Owner says there is no appreciable wear but admits he is not that knowledgeable about it. Seems he picked it up not too long ago and lost interest.

My uses for a lathe are very general, from motorcycles to tractors, projects for the wife and home, general fabrication... I do have access to larger machines at work (a Leblond 16", and a 12" Ganesh).

Would it be worth it at this point, having hardly even used the Atlas I just got, to upgrade to a Heavy 10 now? Should I just hang on to the Atlas until I outgrow it and look for something newer and bigger (a more modern geared head, lever-closed machine)?
 
Love the one your With. I suggest that you spend some time with the Atlas. in a year from now you will have a much better understanding of what features and quality you really want in a larger lathe. There will always be deals if you are patient.
 
Make room for both ! ;)
 
Interesting enough , I could sure use that bed ( and the taper attachment ) . Wonder what the rest of the lathe would fetch if parted out .
 
Vee ways VS flat ways, no contest, buy the South Bend! Cast iron VS pot metal, also no contest; buy the SB!
 
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