Has anybody ever heard of a Lux Cut (Luxcut???) 1122 (11 x 22) Lathe

[CNC Dude]

Hi Group,

I have been looking for a lathe here in the Dallas Fort Worth area, and to my amazement there is really not a lot out there. I mean, there are some, but their prices are almost new, and I am looking for used. Also, I am interested in 12 x 36 form factor, and there is really not a lot of those out there.

The closest I have been able to find is a Luxcut 1122 lathe. This is a tad smaller than I would prefer, but considering the lack of availability, I wonder whether I should pursue this opportunity or not. Here is what I know:

1. The lathe is a Luxcut 1122, a Taiwanese lathe made by the Taiwan Machinery Trade Center.
2. The machine's manufacturing date is April 1982.
3. It is apparently wired for 110V, single phase, 14A.
4. I couldn't find a manual for it. I imagine a machine like this would have been marketed under different brands but I have not been able to find information on the matter.

I briefly tested the machine and it seems to move well, although that was only the feeds. The machine was not under power, so I have no idea what kind of surprises lurk inside. At this moment it is unknown whether there is a tool post included, although I imagine machining one would not be much of an issue. I know there is a 3 jaw chuck, and it is possible there is also a 4 jaw chuck. The most interesting item would be a collet closer with some collets. There is a little rust here and there, but nothing to yield it scrap material. I have seen worst being brought back to life by proud buyers. Not certain I want to go through a reconstruction, but I did one with a bench mill so I imagine I can do the same with a lathe.

The asking price is $1000. If it were you on my shoes, would you go after it, or would you run it like the plague? Thanks for your input!

 

[Richard King]

Is that like the Flux capacitor? I had to say it, sorry.....ha ha If you could share a picture with us it would be a big help as many of those Taiwan companies have been bought out or like you said shared designs. Maybe we will recognize it as a Grizzly or Enco... Rich

 

[CNC Dude]

Well, this lathe is from 1982, so it already looks like it has plenty of flux capacitor technology! Or history...

I have a bunch of pictures, but for some reason I was only able to get one uploaded. You can see it here: http://cncdude.com/?p=72

You can see most of it in the picture, though. In terms of shape, it looks a lot like the Grizzly 12 x 37 belt drive gap lathe (G9249) except it only measures 11 x 22, instead of 12 x 37.

Hope this shed some light into the subject. Thanks for looking!

UPDATE: Was able to add some more pictures so feel free to zoom in on the one where you can see the plaque as there is some important information in there (such as model number, AC power, etc.)

 

[Richard King]

I have seen some Jets in the past that looked like that. The top cover lifts up on a hinge. I see there are some machines on Ebay that look like it. Just put the 12 x 36 size in it. I also said 1982 Jet 12 x 36. Here is one. You could call Jet and see if parts are still available. I doubt it though. Rich

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-x-36-Cen...761?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20d7458061

 

[CNC Dude]

The 12 x 37 that I had was very similar on a few aspects, but not enough. There is a lot of similar looking lathes out there, when it comes to form factors. For example, the ubiqutous 7x10 has been branded by a gazillion companies. The same applies for the 9x20. Other than color and label, they are in essence the exact same thing.

I think they are all different, though. Maybe the motor is better on one or the other, and perhaps some parts are of better quality on one versus the other.

With that being said, there is very little out there about Luxcut, and I couldn't find a single lathe that even resembles this one. What I have read is that apparently it was a great machine marketed in the US during the 1980's. There not a lot of them out there, so it is hard to get contrast from a bunch of different users.

If it was so great, why did it die so quickly? It could have been management, or whatever. The important thing is that chances are there will be very little to no replacements.

I know most of the real machinists and enthusiasts out there would love to get a lathe which requires to have a bunch of parts made in order to get it to work. I am just looking for a lathe that works so that I can make the parts that I want to make. It's not like I have a bunch of spare time to play with tools.

Tough decision, considering all the amount of junk populating my local CL...