Newbie Question: Power cross slide

ALL good advice; but I am plagued with the old "tapped out" syndrome and roughly only have about $2000 left on the CC.
 
My Dad used to buy by finding what he wanted first. Then checking his funds he made sure he had $200.00 more than he needed just in case. He would never buy anything less than what he needed. If he couldn't find something he made do with what he had till he did find it. I try to do the same.

"Billy G"
 
Capt45 said:
ALL good advice; but I am plagued with the old "tapped out" syndrome and roughly only have about $2000 left on the CC.
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You will find that most machine tools cannot be upgraded to make up for a lack in design - what you have is what you have. The things I cited above are not trivial, although you may not realize it right now. I am not encouraging you to buy a bigger lathe; I am trying to help you to buy a better one so you don't regret the purchase.

In my opinion, and speaking just from a features point of view, the PM1127 is the cheapest lathe in the PM line that I would even consider. It isn't the best lathe PM offers but it has all the features that a good lathe should have, at a price point that amazes me. My best advice is to do what Bill Gruby said above - save a bit longer and buy a good lathe.
 
And buying the lathe is just part of your $. You will spend just as much on tooling maybe more on tooling that the cost of the lathe. And then you will need material for your projects, more $.
 
Yes, I agree. I am moving up from a Grizzly 7x14 and have NO aspirations of running a machine shop, just a hobby to supplement my addiction to ammo reloading. Plan to make some reloading dies and case neck expanders, ect. I doubt I will turn anything over 3~4" in length.
 
Capt45 said:
Yes, I agree. I am moving up from a Grizzly 7x14 and have NO aspirations of running a machine shop, just a hobby to supplement my addiction to ammo reloading. Plan to make some reloading dies and case neck expanders, ect. I doubt I will turn anything over 3~4" in length.
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And that is the famous last words. Doesn't matter how big of a machine you by. There will come times that it just isn't quite big enough.
 
Go with your gut feeling on this. Only you know what will make you happy. I wish you good luck with your quest.

"Billy G"
 
One of the big stumbling blocks that many individuals miss when moving up from small lathes, is a much wider availability of accessories/features like chucks, QCTP, tooling, inserts, etc. Usually when you get into the 12X and beyond, you get into standardized chuck mounts and tooling. Both from a new and used market, this opens up many more options and sometimes is more cost effective. Also it is not necessarily swing diameter, but spindle diameter, gearing/gearbox, rigidity, accuracy, etc. that are significantly improved by graduating out of the mini/small lathe (10" and under) class. I have a 13x40, truth be told I would have preferred something like 1330 or 1430.

I do a lot of small work, under 1", but when turning heavier stock say 4-5" you want some mass behind your lathe. I use a 5C collet system probably 50% of the time, so usually mandates a D1 type chuck mounting system, or a larger MT through the spindle setup. On a smaller lathe you could probably adapt some ER collet system, but you are often very limited as to getting back plates, let alone a quality chuck and accuracy. So not always size but all the other features that make the lathe much more versatile/usable. You also have things like separate feed and lead screw, the list goes on. Both the PM 1127 and the 1128 lathe are basically the break point minimum as to commonly lathe features and more universal tooling, the latter having much fewer change gears. When I was purchasing my lathe, I had no prior lathe experience, so it was hard to conceptualize that which I hadn't experienced. In the end others provided guidance and their experience, I ended up with a 1340GT about 4 years ago. My recommendation to others, is to factor in all these other benefits when upgrading, I am sure glad I did (although it doubled "my budget"). I would have already upgraded in a few short years had I purchased a smaller lathe. If I ever upgrade, it would probably be to a heavier 13 or 14" lathe with a 2" spindle bore, but that is more dreaming. So for me, it was a long term investment but I also understand that one needs to be mindful of the budget.
 
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"One of the big stumbling blocks that many individuals miss when moving up from small lathes, is a much wider availability of accessories/features like chucks, QCTP, tooling, inserts, etc. Usually when you get into the 12X and beyond, you get into standardized chuck mounts and tooling. Both from a new and used market, this opens up many more options and sometimes is more cost effective. "

Very good talking points and I do agree, but I am retired, new to metal spinning, and have only a handful of projects I would like to attempt. That said, the BIGGEST STUMBLING BLOCK that I have is funds. I have approx $2000 to spend on a lathe and the PM 1022vs is the TOP of my budget. SS payments aren't (and haven't been) going up very much (matter of fact, the increase ALMOST keeps up the the increase in Medicare plan(s) cost); so, I will thank you all for your input and more than likely purchase the PM1022vs.
 
I've been wishing I could upgrade to the 1022 ever since Matt introduced it. It has cross feed and other things I've dreamed of, but cannot see it financially. It would be a great improvement over my MK2. (620)
 
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