Thanks to all who have actually been trying to help me. I'll first give a little background about myself, and then go on to what I am looking for in a toy, er, hobby lathe. I'm 62 now, but after high school I went to a community college and got an associates degree in machine technology. After that I worked two different jobs as a machinist for a total of 11 years, plus did some machining on at least two other jobs I've had. I have not owned a large lathe but I have ran some decent sized ones. On my first job I ran pieces as large as 312" long and about 2 1/2 tons. The tailstock overhung the bed a few inches so needless to say the tailstock was really tightened down. I also ran another lathe, but only a very limited amount, that was a little shorter, but had like a 4-5 foot faceplate/chuck. It was a Pontiggia, similar to this one, give or take:
https://www.usetec.com/en/machines.html/view/1124-100322/Heavy+Duty+Lathe/PONTIGGIA/SFE+800+x+3000+
What was interesting about this lathe was its features. The compound rest had power feed, but was inoperable. The tailstock was motorized to move it up and down the bed. Here's where it really gets interesting. The spindle gearing could be set up for extremely slow rotation, say 1 rev/hr. At the same time the gearing for longitudinal feed could be set up for one foot or so per rev. A milling head with a shell cutter was mounted on the cross slide and used to cut multi-lead spirals in a 20-24" or so piece of tubing. A quite capable machine. Most of the time I ran a 21-22" Leblond.
As far as the hobby lathe, I've been mostly looking in the 8-10" swing range. I hope to purchase one later this year but how much money I will have remains to be seen. I've been primarily eyeing the Grizzy 8x16, the G0768, the Little Machine Shop 8.5x20, the 3540, and the Precision Matthews 10x22, the PM-1022V. I have also looked at many others. I would be machining wood, plastics, aluminum, steel, SS, you name it. Some features I would prefer are: power cross feed; some slower feed rates (I had an Atlas 12" for a number of years and wished it had something slower than 0.0042"/rev); variable speed spindle would be nice; well equipped, as I would be using 3-jaw, 4-jaw, faceplate, etc., and buying the accessories nickels and dimes you to death; decent power; true-inch would be nice, but no big deal; changing feeds by levers or knobs versus gear changes would be nice; etc., etc., etc. There are many tradeoffs between the various models, and a decision won't be easy. But then again money may make the decision for me.
The Jet 9x19, BDB-919, has many nice features, except for perhaps the spindle speeds. Wished the lowest speed went lower, and all of them were in a more geometric progression, or better yet, variable speed. This model appears to replace the older style 9x20 (https://www.mclemoreauction.com/auction/43/item/jet-bd-920n-bench-lathe-602). In any case I'm just still researching, and was hoping someone actually had one of the new 9x19's. Feel free to suggest any other possibilities as I have plenty of time to check them out. Thanks all.
https://www.usetec.com/en/machines.html/view/1124-100322/Heavy+Duty+Lathe/PONTIGGIA/SFE+800+x+3000+
What was interesting about this lathe was its features. The compound rest had power feed, but was inoperable. The tailstock was motorized to move it up and down the bed. Here's where it really gets interesting. The spindle gearing could be set up for extremely slow rotation, say 1 rev/hr. At the same time the gearing for longitudinal feed could be set up for one foot or so per rev. A milling head with a shell cutter was mounted on the cross slide and used to cut multi-lead spirals in a 20-24" or so piece of tubing. A quite capable machine. Most of the time I ran a 21-22" Leblond.
As far as the hobby lathe, I've been mostly looking in the 8-10" swing range. I hope to purchase one later this year but how much money I will have remains to be seen. I've been primarily eyeing the Grizzy 8x16, the G0768, the Little Machine Shop 8.5x20, the 3540, and the Precision Matthews 10x22, the PM-1022V. I have also looked at many others. I would be machining wood, plastics, aluminum, steel, SS, you name it. Some features I would prefer are: power cross feed; some slower feed rates (I had an Atlas 12" for a number of years and wished it had something slower than 0.0042"/rev); variable speed spindle would be nice; well equipped, as I would be using 3-jaw, 4-jaw, faceplate, etc., and buying the accessories nickels and dimes you to death; decent power; true-inch would be nice, but no big deal; changing feeds by levers or knobs versus gear changes would be nice; etc., etc., etc. There are many tradeoffs between the various models, and a decision won't be easy. But then again money may make the decision for me.
The Jet 9x19, BDB-919, has many nice features, except for perhaps the spindle speeds. Wished the lowest speed went lower, and all of them were in a more geometric progression, or better yet, variable speed. This model appears to replace the older style 9x20 (https://www.mclemoreauction.com/auction/43/item/jet-bd-920n-bench-lathe-602). In any case I'm just still researching, and was hoping someone actually had one of the new 9x19's. Feel free to suggest any other possibilities as I have plenty of time to check them out. Thanks all.
