Newbie question about "Millport" lathe.

Don't walk away from three phase machines. VFDs are pretty cheap and will get you going. Static and rotary phase converters are also options. Three phase motors also run smoother, are more robust, and with a VFD allow variable speed and lots of other options. I was once shy of three phase, but now I don't want anything else. Three phase machines are also often cheaper, because people think they cannot run them without three phase power at the panel. Not so! There is also plenty of help here on H-M to get you up to speed with three phase.
 
Okay, back to the Millport though...

Do I need to make sure he's got a pile of gears for thread pitches, or is that all internal in this machine?

The Millport really is closer! But I'll look into the three phase stuff soon...
 
If it's the same as the one I had, it has a qc gearbox. You shouldn't need any extra gears. I assumed that the spindle thread on mine was 2 1/4 - 8. My friend that bought it from me told me it was a metric threaded spindle. I never measured it to confirm that. It seemed strange to me. That machine wasn't capable of cutting metric threads without adding transposing gears. I'd be curious about the thread if you can check it.
 
I just pulled that up on CL. I don't know about machine prices in your area, but I wouldn't pay anywhere near 2k for that lathe.
 
Okay, good to know... why?

It is the right size for me, and there really aren't that many machine tools in my area. I want something with that size hole through the spindle, or bigger. A new Grizzly of comparable size (no idea about quality, so let me know) is going to run $3500 by the time I get it delivered, with not much tooling.
And, I'm hoping it comes with a pile of tooling. We'll see.

Curious... what would you think would be a fair price if $2000 is too much? I might offer him that, and see what he says...
 
It looks like an 800.00 lathe to me, but I'm not a huge fan of asian machines and I'm not in KY. It might be a great lathe and do everything you need it to do. Kind of hard to judge from a picture.
 
Well... I got it. I told him what you said about $800, but I wasn't able to talk him down that far!

He did have a good bit of tooling; in addition to the normal lathe tooling. This was his last machine tool, so he had a couple boxes of center drills, I think even a couple of end mills, a dial indicator (that says Made in China on it, so maybe from Hazard Fraught, but better than what I was expecting anyway).

It really does look like it has been used all of a dozen times. Auto shops really don't use machine tools that much, apparently! He said he was the second owner, and he only used it to make a couple of things. We'll see how it suffices for my uses!

So... how does one change the oil in a lathe? Maybe I'll start a new thread about...

"Got a lathe, now what?" Or maybe you all can link me to one that is already there...

Now... To run a 220 circuit...
 
Okay, for anyone looking for information on a "Millport" lathe in the future...

Model 1236b is what mine is.
12" swing, about 36" center to center. Maybe could squeeze in 37".
Bore is massive! About 1 11/16! Something close to that. I don't know if someone bored it out aftermarket, but the collets fit fine as far as my novice eyes can tell. (I was happy about the bore size, expecting more like 1 3/8.) I might remember to tell ya'll when I measure it exactly. It is probably a metric measurement anyway.

It has a gearbox for threading/feed, and has powered crossfeed as well. It seems to my novice eyes that it is a kinda belt drive, kinda geared lathe. It has two positions for a belt, but a transmission for more variety. Is this normal? Maybe the best way to describe it is a high and low range via belt change, but gears for finer adjustment?

Motor can be wired for 110 or 220, it has a 1.5 horse on it, which seems to be original.

I'll say more stuff as I come up with it!
 
Must be a totally different machine than I had. Mine was belt drive. Can you post some pics? Congrats on your new lathe. Sometimes they're a lot better than they look in the pic.
 
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