Buying your first a lathe...what you wish you knew?

[wrmiller]

I can go .020" at a time when turning a barrel tenon at the slowest feed rate and 200-300 rpm. Any faster and I get too much smoke.

Yea, I'd have to crank open the Fogbuster more than usual for that kind of cut. But TBH I seldom take more than 10-20 thou at a time anyway. I don't do much work where I have to hog like that. Pistolsmithing is not that hard on machines.

 

[addertooth]

I am the odd man out here. In my youth I worked as a machinist, and used what most of you would consider monster sized lathes (vertical turrets, horizontal turrets and engine lathes). I will admit the Bridgeport Mill which was used, was modest in size. If I wanted to make rims for a monster truck, that was certainly within the limits of the lathes. But most of my hobbies the past few years have revolved around things which had parts less than 8 inches long, and less than 2 inches in diameter. I don't need a 70 HP 3-phase 480v motor to make parts. I don't have the space for a big lathe, and I don't want to borrow a fork truck to re-arrange a shop.

 

[Aaron_W]

I knew what I wanted when I was shopping for my 'last lathe', but there was no way I could afford one, so I had to compromise on cost vs. features and ended up with a 1340GT. It's too long (my tailstock has never seen the end of the lathe bed), and it is a bit light, doesn't have a enclosed gearbox, and a few other things, but it's the best I could get at the time. Life's a compromise.

That is a problem with the 12" and larger lathes. Once you go over 10" swing most lathe are 36" between centers or more and that eats up a lot of floor space. It doesn't seem like many home users actually need that much bed.

When I bought my 1340 GT I thought I was buying a bigger lathe, and it is compared to the 9-12" lathes. It was a good price, high quality, and is about perfect for fitting and chambering rifle barrels.

What it doesn't do it make heavy cuts very well. I refused to make a bushing for my new reloading press because of the time it would have taken for me to turn down 2.75" to 1.5". I wish I would have got the 1440 GT or even larger. However, 95% of what I do is chamber barrels so it wouldn't really make sense.....

That is one of the reasons I'm not really supportive of the common "buy the biggest lathe you have room for / can afford" for people who don't really know what they need. For a guy with some experience sure, not bad advice but for somebody who had metal shop 30 years ago and wants to get a lathe, not so much.

Just because you have $8000 to spend doesn't make an $8000 lathe the right one. If somebody spends $1500 on a Grizzy 10x22 and after a year finds it is too small, they now have a much better idea what their needs are. If they sell it, they are probably out $700. Buy a 12x36 and find out it doesn't meet their needs and that could easily be a $2000 learning experience and the bigger the lathe the more work and expense it is moving it out and a new one in.

It sounds like you made a sound choice, and are just having second thoughts. Except for those with huge machines I'm sure everybody has that moment whee they wish their machine was just a bit bigger.

 

[INTJ]

That is a problem with the 12" and larger lathes. Once you go over 10" swing most lathe are 36" between centers or more and that eats up a lot of floor space. It doesn't seem like many home users actually need that much bed.




That is one of the reasons I'm not really supportive of the common "buy the biggest lathe you have room for / can afford" for people who don't really know what they need. For a guy with some experience sure, not bad advice but for somebody who had metal shop 30 years ago and wants to get a lathe, not so much.

Just because you have $8000 to spend doesn't make an $8000 lathe the right one. If somebody spends $1500 on a Grizzy 10x22 and after a year finds it is too small, they now have a much better idea what their needs are. If they sell it, they are probably out $700. Buy a 12x36 and find out it doesn't meet their needs and that could easily be a $2000 learning experience and the bigger the lathe the more work and expense it is moving it out and a new one in.

It sounds like you made a sound choice, and are just having second thoughts. Except for those with huge machines I'm sure everybody has that moment whee they wish their machine was just a bit bigger.

For me it's not really having second thoughts. When I get more room I may get an older larger lathe for those few bigger jobs while keeping my 1340.

 

[mickri]

There is nothing that I can think of that I wished I knew before I bought my lathe. There were a couple of things that I wanted to do. I bought a lathe that would do what I wanted. A Craftsman 12x36. A larger spindle bore would be nice. But I knew that before my purchase. Not after. I am just now getting to the point where I am making things other than learning how to use my lathe. The majority of what I have made so far is tooling. The norman style QCTP and its tool holders being the biggest project. Maybe I am just too frugal but for the life of me I can't see why anyone who is just doing this for a hobby would buy the very expensive Aloris style QCTP. Even the cheaper Chinese versions. Sure they are nice and pretty to look at. Yet my norman is just as functional and a fraction of the cost. For less than $100 I will have the tool post and 15 tool holders. I still have a couple more tool holders that I plan to make. I really like the angled tool holders. Plan to make several more..



A better parting tool holder is on the wish list. Still trying to figure out what changes would improve on what I am now using.



Decisions. Decisions.

 

[wrmiller]

That is a problem with the 12" and larger lathes. Once you go over 10" swing most lathe are 36" between centers or more and that eats up a lot of floor space. It doesn't seem like many home users actually need that much bed.

I keep waiting for Santa to stick one of these under my Christmas tree, but apparently I haven't been a good boy. This would work for 99% of what I do, and for the occasional large job I could just use a friends 16".

 

[kb58]

That is a problem with the 12" and larger lathes. Once you go over 10" swing most lathe are 36" between centers or more and that eats up a lot of floor space. It doesn't seem like many home users actually need that much bed.

That's why I'm so happy with my Takasawa 14x30. It's very heavy duty but short enough to fit my garage. I had a 12x36 for years and never needed more than maybe 10" of bed length, for my needs.

 

[addertooth]

WRMiller said:
I keep waiting for Santa to stick one of these under my Christmas tree, but apparently I haven't been a good boy. This would work for 99% of what I do, and for the occasional large job I could just use a friends 16".

Response: I hear that the demand for Coal is really up for the Christmas season.

 

[StevSmar]

Well, I’m not yet at the stage where there were things I wish I’d known before I purchased a lathe. But I am glad I didn’t know I was eventually going to be convinced to spend six times more than I had originally thought.

Six months of escalating decisions made the final purchase seem quite logical.

 

[Dabbler]

Oh, where to begin??

Dx camlock spindle. Threaded spindles can do good work, but the camlock spindles are more versatile and easier to use. If your work is primarily in the sub-inch realm and starts with round stock, consider a collet chuck to go with. You won't regret that decision.

I started with a 12X36, graduated to a 14X40, but I ended up with the lathe of my dreams, a LeBlond 15X60. Most of 'my work' is using the larger sizes. the 40" bed is fine for rifle work, but I needed the rigidity of the 3500 lb lathe.

On toolholders: I still use my lantern ("American Rocker" tool post, I love my 4-way tool post , but I also use my Aloris QCTP as well. they all work well. The Aloris is nice as a general purpose TP, but for taking really heavy cuts, my 4-way works better. Another good choice is the Multifix. There's a good one made in Germany that's around the same price as the Aloris, but holders are more expensive.

In 40 years I've never used my taper attachment. Probably never will. All my tapers have been short enough to use the compound. The compound is far easier to set up than a taper attachment.

If you are going for CNC, pay very close attention to the ways. the "old iron" machines like the Le Blond, feature slant ways that last a LOT longer in CNC use. if the lathe has puny Yee ways, expect it to wear out very fast. Also pay attention to the oiling system for the ways - the better the lubrication, the longer it will last. For CNC work wyou need the biggest contact area you can get. That's why real CNC lathes usually use box ways.

On tooling, carbide is a good choice to begin with, except for parting.... HSS parting tools are easy to sharpen and seem to cut better on small machines, but that's just my experience on my 13" lathe...

Get the best KEYED chuck for the tailstock that you can afford. My Jacobs is 40 years old and is still gripping very well, with no signs of wear. Keyless tend to overtighten as the drill tries to turn, and it wears the jaws out faster.

But the main thing that I wish I knew before buying a lathe, is that it can be easy to spend 2000$ on tooling for it. The wider range of things you are doing the more costly your tooling is. On my small lathe that cost me 2K$, I've put around 2K into it, not including inserts and other consumables.

Buyt the best lathe chucks you can afford. I screwed around with cheaper chucks for a long time and now I love my Pratt-Burnard chucks. Money well spent. If you have to economize, the 4 jaw chuck is the place. getting a good running 3 jaw chuck will save you a lot of time and ruined parts. - If you are going PM, see if you can upgrade to Taiwanese made chucks, or better yet, get the whole Taiwanese package.

You can look at buying a tiny lathe to get some experience and help you figure out what you need to do, and your thoughts might change on what you need to buy to do what you want to do. Your plan might be to 'trade up' after you gain enough experience, or if you decide the hobby isn't for you, the downside is less...