New Precision Matthews 12x36 vs. used HF 12x36.

[AndySomogyi]

I bought a PM 1236T a few months ago, that size lathe has decent rigidity that the smaller lathes probably don’t have. Something else to think about is threading and how much changing gears you would need to do. For what I do an 11x27 probably would have been sufficient, but having to change gears so often on that class lathe put the final nail in the coffin. I also wanted a Taiwanese built lathe, the increase in quality was worth the cost difference, and this was a big stretch for me as well.

As long as it does metric threads right away, that’s all I’d be concerned about.

I’m planning on converting to electronic lead screw right away and maybe someday CNC sometime in the future.

 

[Mitch Alsup]

It does metric threads by a simple change to the back gears, but the technique is a little different than english threads.
You either have to leave the half nut engaged, or you pick up the half nut on the way out from the cut.

 

[tjb]

I am now the proud owner of my FOURTH lathe. The first three were all Used. One (a Harrison M300) was a great lathe in its day, but was way beyond the point of being repaired without spending a prohibitive amount of money. I found that out the hard way. Another was a 1976 KinShin Taiwanese lathe (identical to a Jet 1024) that was a great lathe but too small for most of the work I would be doing. The third was an OTMT 13 x 40 made in China lathe. Out of those three, I kept that one the longest and, capacity wise, it was large enough except for only an occasional project. It was a good lathe, but I came to realize that the Chinese equipment simply is not even remotely close to comparable to the Taiwanese equivalents. As I gained experience, I came to appreciate the shortcomings of that lathe and knew I could do much better work with a better machine. So, finally, I bit the bullet and bought a new Taiwanese Eisen 1440 and have never looked back. Dittos on every opinion with regard to New over Used, and Taiwanese over Chinese. In the grand scheme of things I cost myself a lot of money, time and frustration trying to economize. If I had it to do over, I would go New Taiwanese straight out of the chute. A year from now, you won't miss that $1K. If you get something else, a year from now you'll be wishing you didn't. There are threads galore here on HM citing stories of others who have done exactly the same thing I'm describing. Trust us. We've been there.

Regards,
Terry

 

[Ischgl99]

As long as it does metric threads right away, that’s all I’d be concerned about.

I’m planning on converting to electronic lead screw right away and maybe someday CNC sometime in the future.

They’ll all do metric, it’s a question of how often you need to change the gears for the thread pitch you are using. Since you are converting to electronic leadscrew, it is probably a moot point, but for anyone else considering the same thing, my 1236T can cut 11 common metric threads with one set of change gears, the 11x27 can only do 3 for each set of gears.

I didn’t realize you were planning on using this for a business when I first commented. There is no way I would consider anything less than a Taiwanese made 12x36 class machine for a business, unless you were getting a Hardinge. Time is money in business and you can’t be wasting time with subpar equipment if you want to make a profit. I bought a 9x20 lathe when I had a field engineering company many years ago to make the occasional part, big mistake, I fought that thing constantly. I bought that over a 12x36 lathe due to cost and regretted it every time I used it. I did the same thing with some test instruments when I first started out that prevented me from getting well paying jobs due to the lack of capabilities. Keep in mind the most expensive tool you will purchase is the one you need to buy twice. I’m in business in a different field now and cringe when I need to spend several thousand dollars on equipment, but I know it is the better long term decision over trying to get by with something barely adequate.

We’re all telling you these stories so you don’t make the same mistake we did. Some of us graduated from the school of hard knocks with honors, but that’s not a good thing lol.

 

[AndySomogyi]

They’ll all do metric, it’s a question of how often you need to change the gears for the thread pitch you are using. Since you are converting to electronic leadscrew, it is probably a moot point, but for anyone else considering the same thing, my 1236T can cut 11 common metric threads with one set of change gears, the 11x27 can only do 3 for each set of gears.

I didn’t realize you were planning on using this for a business when I first commented. There is no way I would consider anything less than a Taiwanese made 12x36 class machine for a business, unless you were getting a Hardinge. Time is money in business and you can’t be wasting time with subpar equipment if you want to make a profit. I bought a 9x20 lathe when I had a field engineering company many years ago to make the occasional part, big mistake, I fought that thing constantly. I bought that over a 12x36 lathe due to cost and regretted it every time I used it. I did the same thing with some test instruments when I first started out that prevented me from getting well paying jobs due to the lack of capabilities. Keep in mind the most expensive tool you will purchase is the one you need to buy twice. I’m in business in a different field now and cringe when I need to spend several thousand dollars on equipment, but I know it is the better long term decision over trying to get by with something barely adequate.

We’re all telling you these stories so you don’t make the same mistake we did. Some of us graduated from the school of hard knocks with honors, but that’s not a good thing lol.

I don't have a business, I'm just trying to build a car.

But I do have a daydream about somehow magically turning building cars into a business.

 

[Ischgl99]

I don't have a business, I'm just trying to build a car.

But I do have a daydream about somehow magically turning building cars into a business.

Sorry, saw the comment earlier about businesses and thought that was why you were buying it.

 

[mikey]

Sorry, saw the comment earlier about businesses and thought that was why you were buying it.

Not your fault. Blame my remembery.

 

[tjb]

I don't have a business, I'm just trying to build a car.

But I do have a daydream about somehow magically turning building cars into a business.

What kind of car are you building?

 

[AndySomogyi]

What kind of car are you building?

This is a weird car, it's basically 76 911, but one of the prev owners blew the engine, and swapped in a VW bus engine. It's gutless as all hell. It's missing ALL the Porsche flat-6 parts, so it would cost about twice what the car's worth to build and swap a Porsche flat-6 in. But I like the look and feel.

So, I'm swapping in a built, normally aspirated Subaru 2.5, but doing a really 'stealth' build, where I want it to look and feel super period correct, and where someone might think it was a factory prototype or something. I'm fabricating hidden radiators under the headlights, with ducting, making a custom intake to look like a period correct one, all that.

For the trans, I'm looking into building a custom nose-cone for the subaru trans that re-locates the shifter to the bottom, so I could use the factory Porsche shifter. Engine management is a Speeduino unit, where I built custom analog outputs that drive the factory gauges.

So, as you can imagine, it's got a lot of custom parts.

 

[tjb]

This is a weird car, it's basically 76 911, but one of the prev owners blew the engine, and swapped in a VW bus engine. It's gutless as all hell. But I like the look and feel.

So, I'm swapping in a built, normally aspirated Subaru 2.5, but doing a really 'stealth' build, where I want it to look and feel super period correct, and where someone might think it was a factory prototype or something. I'm fabricating hidden radiators under the headlights, with ducting, making a custom intake to look like a period correct one, all that.

For the trans, I'm looking into building a custom nose-cone for the subaru trans that re-locates the shifter to the bottom, so I could use the factory Porsche shifter. Engine management is a Speeduino unit, where I built custom analog outputs that drive the factory gauges.

So, as you can imagine, it's got a lot of custom parts.

That sounds like an interesting project. Quite a few of us are modified vehicle enthusiasts. Please keep us posted on your progress.

Regards,
Terry