Logan purchase thoughts.

I shipped a palletized 8" jointer from California to Kentucky for $200 that way.
 
I recognise that garage door - I seem to remember someone on one of the Washington CL sites reselling lathes that always took pictures of them in front of that door. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I'd bet on it being a sprucer-upper-reseller type deal.

Not a terrible price, particularly up there, but you'll need to budget probably another $400-800 for a 4 jaw, steady and cutting tools. That's getting into new PM1030/PM1127 territory.
 
How big of a lathe do you need? I've got a 10" Atlas that I'll be putting up for sale soon, light duty and no QC gearbox, but a nice little machine. Not quite ready or priced yet, but I suspect you could drive here to California, bring your pickup or rent a trailer and haul it back to ND and still have over half of your $2K budget for tooling and accessories. And I'm sure there are other places where you could do as well or better. I see a road trip in your future. Just gotta work it out with your boss.

When I bought my first lathe, I was advised not to pay more than I could get out of it if I had to sell it. Are you alone up there or are there others in a similar situation you could sell to if necessary?
 
Pass on the Atlas. Watch for a quality machine with QC gearbox and comprehensive tooling.
 
I recognise that garage door - I seem to remember someone on one of the Washington CL sites reselling lathes that always took pictures of them in front of that door.


You're right, there's a seller on Portland/Seattle CL all the time that sells machines. Always staged in front of a white garage
door, always priced high, though usually good looking machines. He's got an Atlas for sale right now. But , I think it's a different
seller in this case.
 
I'm not shilling for the Atlas. But my point is that if he is indeed determined to acquire a home shop lathe, he could take a few days off from work, drive somewhere there are lots of CL lathes for sale, buy one, and get home all within that $2000 budget. And maybe with some cash left in his pocket to buy tooling and accessories if the lathe isn't particularly well equipped. And if an Atlas fits his intended use, then he's in luck because they seem to sprout up everywhere. Well, except ND.
 
Atlas lathes are more plentiful than the next three common competitors combined probably for two reasons. First, there were many more of them made than of the others. Second, after WW-II they became popular with hobbyists which automatically made them unpopular with professional machinists and many were prematurely retired. Or to put it another way, they lacked snob appeal because they didn't cost enough. Plus they got bad press from the three or four known bad batches of Zamak. And it probably took more skill to get good results with them than with some of the others. And more skill generally means higher wages.
 
There's an Atlas in the for sale section now . Fully tooled . I made the drive to Wyoming years back to see relatives , so you bet I would drive it to see a lathe !!! :big grin:
 
Thank you for all your responses and info. After plotting out the trip it is more like 520 miles. Still going to call this evening and try to get as much info as possible. It really is burdensome to find a metal lathe in my area of the country. So very few for sale privately or at auction close. Even searching into Canada(only 20 miles from border). Finding that Canada has less available then south of border. Seems the only possibility for old iron is buying site unseen and rolling the dice.


your right about Canada not having much to offer I watched the adds for a few years b4 I found mine... it was more tired then I wanted but with the pickings slim I took it and am slowly fixing it up. for some reason craigslist isn't really used up here. it exists but nobody uses it. and as im sure your aware the population is smaller and more spread out making the pickings bad!.. anyhow you might pay more for one then you wish but if you have to drive 500 miles each way to get one that's 2 tanks of gas prbly a meal or 2 and 2 days of your time... whats that worth too you? don't be scared to spend a few bucks to get something you like!
 
Keep an eye out for used Standard Modern lathes. I believe the smallest one is 13" x 36" or perhaps 13" x 40"
Nice machines, Canadian made
 
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