Craftsman 101.314000 - should I pop?

[cazclocker]

I have a line on a (appears to be) good condition Craftsman 101.314000 lathe. The seller is asking $950.00. I'm not familiar with Craftsman lathes, what's the diff between the 101.214000 and this one? I don't know if you guys can comment on price, but anyone care to comment on the asking price?
...Doug

 

[cazclocker]

I hope I don't get in trouble for posting about an ad on CL before it ends. The seller says it's a 6", I assume that means swing. Here's his quote: "Craftsman Working 6 inch metal lathe with chucks, cutting tools, knurling tools, instruction manuals."

Basically I just would appreciate some info about this lathe, I can't seem to find any on the 'net. Also if you guys think the price is fair.

Here are the pictures he included:

 

[stevecmo]

I'm not familiar with the model numbers so I can't tell you what the difference is in the two. It really depends on what you want to do with the lathe. It is a small lathe. One of the main knocks on the Atlas/Craftsman lathes is that they have flat ways instead of v-ways. The small lathes are not very rigid. They can still do nice work, it just takes lighter cuts and more of them. I have a Uniimat lathe and still use it occasionally for some small parts and there are lots of folks using the 7x lathes.

From what I have seen, the price looks high, although it does have some nice tooling with it - milling attachment for one. Again, it depends on what you want to do with the lathe. If you are making small part from aluminum stock, it may be just fine. On the other hand, once folks start using a lathe they find that they always want/need a bigger one. Personally, I think I'd keep looking.

Hope that helps.

Steve

 

[wa5cab]

Doug,

The machine appears to be a 101.21400 (see photograph of manual front cover), not 101.214000 and not 101.314000.

Despite the fact that it does include virtually all of the available accessories (milling attachment, steady rest, follow rest, milling cutter holder and drawbar, ...), I have to agree with Steve that the asking price of $950 is too high. If I wanted the machine, I'd offer him half that and see whether he will dicker. Considering what the accessories go for today, $750 wouldn't be out of the question. You'd likely pay that if you bought everything separately. So $500 or so would be a good deal, if you really need a 6x18.

As far as flat bed versus V-bed, a worn-out V-bed lathe is no better than a worn out flat bed one. A small lathe is a small lathe, regardless of who made it or which bed type it has. The only real disadvantage to the 101.21400 (same as Atlas 618) is that it lacks a quick change gear box. And that's really a disadvantage only if you have to make frequent feed changes which you might want to do if you were making a lot of the same part and wanted to make roughing cuts at a higher feed rate. Or were doing a lot of threading with a lot of different pitches. If a 6" is large enough for everything you ever want to do, there's really little advantage in getting something larger. But just starting out, it may be hard to know that. If you have no idea of what you will be doing, you might do better to get an Atlas or other US made 10" to 12". 12x36 is a good all-round size if you have the space and the floor strength for it.

Robert D.