Good day everyone, I would like to solicit your opinions/advice on my future purchase of a used lathe and mill. I am currently looking at a Sharps 1640 220/3phase lathe and a 1980's Jet 1236ps lathe and lastly a Rong-Fu 45 mill with 2 Axis DRO and x power feed. My question is what should I be considering reasonable price wise for each of these. I'm also limited on equipment availability in my area (tech area) not many blue collar workers. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.
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Beginner seeking opinions
- Thread starter Albindf
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- Oct 18, 2016
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It's a bit difficult to give you feedback on price without knowing what condition a machine is in, and what tooling comes with it. You will find
that machines here in the Northwest tend to be more expensive than machines from the Northeast and upper Midwest. Do you have pictures
that you can post?
Are you considering the two lathes as alternatives to one another?, or are you considering buying both? Since you state that you're a
beginner, I'm assuming just one. A 16" lathe is pretty big to get started on, so in my opinion the Jet would be a good size for someone
new to the hobby. Here's a recent post that covers that question: https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/too-big-of-a-lathe.72962/#post-612091.
Welcome to the forum, and don't hesitate to ask more questions.
Edit: is the Jet the one on CL over in Wenatchee? https://wenatchee.craigslist.org/tls/d/jet-13x36-metal-lathe/6681577799.html
that machines here in the Northwest tend to be more expensive than machines from the Northeast and upper Midwest. Do you have pictures
that you can post?
Are you considering the two lathes as alternatives to one another?, or are you considering buying both? Since you state that you're a
beginner, I'm assuming just one. A 16" lathe is pretty big to get started on, so in my opinion the Jet would be a good size for someone
new to the hobby. Here's a recent post that covers that question: https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/too-big-of-a-lathe.72962/#post-612091.
Welcome to the forum, and don't hesitate to ask more questions.
Edit: is the Jet the one on CL over in Wenatchee? https://wenatchee.craigslist.org/tls/d/jet-13x36-metal-lathe/6681577799.html
Last edited:
- Joined
- May 10, 2012
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- 995
For researching prices, I find that Ebay is a valuable resource. Look up general item that you want to know a price on, limit the search to a fairly local area and then select sold listings. That should give you a range of prices for a range of conditions that were actualy sold. You can use these to inform your purchase decisions. If you are not in a hurry, then check this for a while and you will have a good idea what the items you are looking at are going for. You can't trust the active listings, some people seem to think thier items are plated in gold and sit for sale for years for that reason. Good luck.
Welcome to H-M.
I can't talk about the others machines, but the Jet 1236 lathes range from 0-$2500, depending condition, around here. The PS is the "newest" version, so it has some features not found on earlier versions. I have the baby brother, a Jet 1024p. As compared to many of the new lathes of similar size range, these older Jets, in my opinion, are a bit beefier. My 1024p was in decent condition when I got it, with the exception of the power feed not working. In my case it was a easy fix, replacing a sheared roll pin on the drive gear, vs a broken gear. If I was to purchase it today, I'd be willing to pay in the $1K range.
Hope this helps.
I can't talk about the others machines, but the Jet 1236 lathes range from 0-$2500, depending condition, around here. The PS is the "newest" version, so it has some features not found on earlier versions. I have the baby brother, a Jet 1024p. As compared to many of the new lathes of similar size range, these older Jets, in my opinion, are a bit beefier. My 1024p was in decent condition when I got it, with the exception of the power feed not working. In my case it was a easy fix, replacing a sheared roll pin on the drive gear, vs a broken gear. If I was to purchase it today, I'd be willing to pay in the $1K range.
Hope this helps.
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Good suggestions above and I agree. It's always hard to give opinions because there are so many parameters. A major one is what kind of projects do you see yourself doing? If you are wanting to do small stuff a huge lathe is kinda overkill.
I did a lot of reading forums about what people were doing and then what machines they were using. That led me to what I thought I'd be doing and then buying the next larger machine. The tip of expect to have more in tooling than you paid for the machine also made me more watch and wait. You will find also hobby size machines are more expensive sometimes than larger production machines. All my reading and research has paid off for the most part. Just don't get in a hurry.
Sometimes a deal because somebody is moving or the owner died and they just want to dump it. Sometimes they bought a lemon and want to pass it on to some poor noob. The other end of the scale like was mentioned is they want close to new price for something. At the noob stage you really don't know what to look for but there is some great stuff on YouTube and the forums about what to look for when you don't have somebody who knows with you.
I cruise eBay but the most informative is the "completed". That's what tells you what it sold for, not what they were trying to get. Patience. I'd been hunting a surface grinder and there was nothing for the last 8mo locally, now there's 4 and with the info I got here I knew exactly what to look for.
I did a lot of reading forums about what people were doing and then what machines they were using. That led me to what I thought I'd be doing and then buying the next larger machine. The tip of expect to have more in tooling than you paid for the machine also made me more watch and wait. You will find also hobby size machines are more expensive sometimes than larger production machines. All my reading and research has paid off for the most part. Just don't get in a hurry.
Sometimes a deal because somebody is moving or the owner died and they just want to dump it. Sometimes they bought a lemon and want to pass it on to some poor noob. The other end of the scale like was mentioned is they want close to new price for something. At the noob stage you really don't know what to look for but there is some great stuff on YouTube and the forums about what to look for when you don't have somebody who knows with you.
I cruise eBay but the most informative is the "completed". That's what tells you what it sold for, not what they were trying to get. Patience. I'd been hunting a surface grinder and there was nothing for the last 8mo locally, now there's 4 and with the info I got here I knew exactly what to look for.
Thank you everyone for your support. In regards to the lathes the sharps 1640 comes with a 3 and 4 jaw chuck, collet chuck, dro, vfd, Sadler grinders and more for 4k, the jet has a quick change tool post and chuck and cutters for 2300. The jet looks almost new in the image where as the sharps looks like it was used as a production tool. As to what kind of projects I see myself doing would be gun smithing and minor tooling for fabricating knives
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2012
- Messages
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Hey Albindf, did you see this one?
https://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/tld/d/jetgeared-head-lathe-stand/6702129817.html
I've never laid eyes on the new line of Jet lathes but they have some pretty decent specs. It seems to me that Jet has stepped up their game in this area and this one looks like it might be a decent lathe for a non-pro gunsmith or for general use. These new lathes are expensive so their asking price is pretty good, and it is brand new and unused.
On the other hand, you can buy a PM 1236 T for less and have a finely made Taiwanese lathe with some of the best customer service in the industry. At this price level, I would strongly consider this lathe or perhaps a PM 1340. Either one would be a kick butt lathe that will not require an upgrade anytime soon.
https://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/tld/d/jetgeared-head-lathe-stand/6702129817.html
I've never laid eyes on the new line of Jet lathes but they have some pretty decent specs. It seems to me that Jet has stepped up their game in this area and this one looks like it might be a decent lathe for a non-pro gunsmith or for general use. These new lathes are expensive so their asking price is pretty good, and it is brand new and unused.
On the other hand, you can buy a PM 1236 T for less and have a finely made Taiwanese lathe with some of the best customer service in the industry. At this price level, I would strongly consider this lathe or perhaps a PM 1340. Either one would be a kick butt lathe that will not require an upgrade anytime soon.
I did see that one and I had completely forgotten about it. As for the precision matthews that is one I have been watching and considering if I were to purchase new.
