A $2,500 Muliple Choice Question:

[pdentrem]

A- have a Kubota BX2370 with front loader and a Kubota U35 excavator.
B- Already have a lathe that didn’t need too much to get going. I can use one of the Bridgeport mills in the machine shop area of work, though it would be nice to have one!
C- have guitar that needs more playing already!
D- I would get a thumb for the excavator. Best money for the use of this machine.

 

[RJSakowski]

The logical choice would be D. With that choice, I can pick either A, B, or C should I wish. More likely, since I already have two mills and two lathes, I would buy the surface grinder only and use the remainder of the money towards geting it back into shape or for something else. I already have a 4WD tractor with a front end loader and although the backhoe wold be useful at times, not often enough to warrant spending $2500.

 

[Robo_Pi]

Sheldons are a step up from South Bend. Heavier and more rigid, more rare though not as many around
Mark

This one probably won't stick around long enough for me to grab it then. Gotta fix the clutch in my truck before I go dragging any lathes around with the trailer.

I know the guys on this forum are concerned that I'll buy a piece of junk that isn't even worth repairing. But a $1000 lathe would need to be in some seriously bad shape for that to be the case. Barring a major casting crack, or something catastrophic like that, you could always just clean it up real pretty and re-sell it to get the grand back it is wasn't looking good enough for a total rebuild.

Not only that but if you take it straight to the metal scrap yard you'd probably get close to $500 for it. Defnitely that much or more if you take it apart and scrap the metal in small pieces. You get almost twice a much per pound for smaller pieces than if you took in the whole lathe as one piece.

And just think of how everyone would be screaming if I took one to the metal scrap yard. You'd be far better parting it out. In fact, I'm willing to bet that you could probably make a business out of buying every lathe you can find for under a grand and just parting them out.

Especially something like a Sheldon if there aren't that many around. This one is probably worth $3000 in parts alone.

I just don't see how you can lose buying a full-size lathe for under a grand. It'd be really hard to lose money on it.

I'll bet this one is gone before the end of this week. I can't grab it that quick. So boo hoo on that.

You watch. After I get my clutch fixed they won't have anymore cheap lathes.

 

[Robo_Pi]

since I already have two mills and two lathes

See. I'm not the only greedy person around. I don't have any and you have two of each. That's not fair.

I do have a lathe/mill combo though.

But it's almost a toy. I say 'almost' because it's actually not that bad. It's pretty darn powerful and has quite a bit of capacity actually (i.e. 17" swing) But still, it has limitations. No quick-change gear box so every time I want to change feed speeds I need to change gears manually, and I'm actually planning on doing some serious threading here too. So I'm hungry for a quick-change gearbox.

 

[Splat]

I'd take "D". Now that I know enough about lathes and mills to hopefully not get taken....too badly ... I would try to find a nice used lathe and mill. I've already got my professional drum kits anyway.

 

[Eddyde]

Since I already have the three machine tools and I'm not musical, I would go with A the backhoe.