Is this a good price for an Emco Maximat Super 11?

[ARC-170]

I'm informally in the market for a lathe. I have an Atlas Craftsman, but it is an open bath oil system and just gets really dirty. I like it and can make good stuff with it, but I keep my eyes out for newer ones. I came across this one for $3,750:


Here is the text from the ad:
Made in Austria precision lathe in excellent shape. Perfect for gunsmithing or precision machining. Includes thousands of dollars in extra tooling and phase converter, 2 additional chucks, 5C collet chuck, over 50 collets, quick change tool post and carbide insert tool holders, steady rest, live centers, additional drill chucks- too much to mention. Ready to run and start making parts. Don't waste my time or yours with lowball offers- this lathe is high quality, not cheap Chinese junk

This would be quite a drive for me so I want to know more before I even think of going to look at it.

QUESTIONS
1. Size-wise this is about as big as I can get and still fit on my workbench. I don't need or have room for the stand. Is the stand worth anything by itself?
2. Is this a reasonable price? There's not much to compare it to.
3. What is the parts availability on these?
4. What should I ask the seller about?

Thanks!

 

[mikey]

Jeff, that lathe has a D1-4 camlock spindle so it should have a 1-3/8" spindle bore and a MT5 spindle taper. It is built to a DIN tool room standard and is well engineered and very well built. Hardened precision spindle and gears, P6 precision spindle bearings, hardened ways and came with a 2HP motor (real horses, not Asian horses). It is extremely rigid for an 11" lathe. Emco is known for having zero backlash in the cross slide and compound feeds; this really helps rigidity. It is very quiet for a gear head lathe; mine runs at about 72dB at max speed.

This lathe has a separate drive shaft. The leadscrew is used only for threading so wear on this screw will be limited, which is good. The drive shaft has a clutch in case of overload or a crash or if you hit the carriage stop.

Originally, these lathes cost around $6K or so and that was just for the lathe, 3 jaw chuck and dead centers. Everything else was ala carte and accessories added up really fast. A fully tooled up Super 11 would retail for somewhere near 8K or more. Just the steady rest alone was over $250 when new; now they cost near $600.00 on ebay new. He failed to mention that it has a thread dial indicator and an Emco carriage stop, both important accessories.

The lathe as described above would be worth what he is asking with the tooling he listed IF it came with the milling attachment. Without it, his price is a little high and about $3200 is more realistic. If the lathe is in pristine shape though, I wouldn't argue too hard on the price.

Yes, the stand is something you want to keep. The Super 11 has leveling adjusters under the lathe to allow you to level it on top of the cabinet but the cabinet itself also has threaded adjusters to allow you to level the cabinet. What this allows you to do is to get the lathe leveled pretty close with the adjusters under the lathe, then final tweak the leveling with the cabinet adjusters. My lathe is dialed in to 0.0000" taper over a 10" length with these adjusters and I think the cabinet is an important thing to have. Make room for it.

Emco no longer supports this lathe so parts will need to come off ebay or be made in your shop. The Super 11 is a precision lathe and does not break often. It was intended for serious hobby use and light professional/industrial use. Quite often, parts will suddenly become available on ebay when sellers part a lathe out. You can find most of what you need if you're patient. One thing that you must have is the full change gear set. It is a set of hardened and ground gears that, together with the installed gears, will let you cut almost any thread you might possibly need, both metric and imperial. Ask the seller if he has it and grab it if he does, even if he ups the price.

So, ask him about any problems with the lathe. Ask if he has the change gear set. Check the condition of the ways near the chuck; the ways are induction hardened so wear should be minimal in a hobby shop. Check the oil level in the headstock; there are two sight glasses on the headstock; one for spindle gears and one for the feed gears and the level should be halfway up the sight glass with the lathe running. These lathes do leak but very little so check to make sure there isn't a huge puddle underneath the headstock. My lathe runs really cool. Ask to run the lathe and go through all the gears to make sure there are no worrisome noises. Then stop the lathe and put your hand on the spindle; it should be cool or at worst, slightly warm. If it is hot then the spindle bearings have an issue. If you can, take a dial test indicator and stand and check the run out of the spindle taper. Mine reads dead on zero, although spec is under 0.0002".

That should give you some ideas. Good luck with this. Its a very, very good lathe and nothing from Asia will even come close to it, not even the best Taiwan lathes. I have had this lathe apart down to the last nut and bolt and it is put together like a Swiss watch.

 

[DavidR8]

I believe Stefan Gotteswinter has an Enco Super 11. Along with our very own @mikey that’s enough endorsement for me.
I’d jump on that if I were in the market.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mikey]

I believe Stefan Gotteswinter has an Enco Super 11.

Yup, here is his video.

 

[markba633csi]

A lathe like that should be clean when advertised. If it's dirty, it's a sign it may have been abused or heavily used.
Wait for a clean one
-Mark

 

[ARC-170]

Mike, thanks for the input, I really appreciate you taking the time. Hopefully, others looking at this lathe will find this info useful as well. I was hoping the lathe was way overpriced, but it looks like it's reasonable. It's an about a 2 to 3-hour drive for me, so a trip "just to look" is really not feasible. Also, the price is a bit steep for me as a hobbyist. It will be interesting to see what this sells for.