Opinions needed on many used lathes from Facebook Marketplace.

[David2011]

Another “Yes!” for both 5C and ER40 collets. A spindle bore that’s too small for the job can add multiple times the hours to a job. I just finished machining both ends of 6 pieces 1-1/8” all thread. Both ends had to be faced and center drilled. One end needed to be cut back to 0.8735” diameter x 0.730. The other end had to be cut back for 3.14” of length and 3 different diameters. Because my spindle bore is only big enough to accept 1.00” stock the steady rest had to be used for every operation and the all thread had to be supported in a sleeve that I had to make. There was a constant battle between having the steady rest tight enough to prevent chatter and so tight that it burned the oil. I could have done it all in an hour or so per piece in a lathe with a big enough spindle bore that the workpieces could be chucked with just the end sticking out. Having to do the workarounds it took about 70 hours. It’s a volunteer job so it’s just my time; no money changes hands but I wanted to pass it along to demonstrate how the wrong lathe can be very costly.

If you intend to sell on Amazon your production has to be very efficient and keep up with demand or your reputation will go down the tubes in a heartbeat. You might want a manual lathe but it sounds like a CNC machine is better suited for your expectations. This is coming from a 100% manual machining guy.

 

[Smithdoor]

Alright, I have found many used lathes and taken notes on them, spoken with the sellers about it.

I will start with the lowest price one first, which I think seems to be a good deal, wonder what everyone's thoughts are on it, if its a safe buy. I also don't mind rebuilding/scraping it so long not too expensive.

1) $550 - South Bend - Model A - 9" swing x 32" bed length.
Needs a belt and comes with manual, book and tooling. 120 volt. Bench is not included.
Not operational without belt. Has the original belt but needs to be laced back together.

Pictures are below:

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I will post more later on.

Thanks for advice.

If you need a steady rest or tapper attachment I both.
I just sold my SB9 in November

FYI I would change the flat belt to a poly v belt.

Dave

 

[Shiseiji]

3) $800 - Logan Turret Lathe 1830-2:

Comes with tooling and collets shown.
Has the parts for feed through the headstock, outrigger leg for motor. 3 phase.

Not sure if I can use a chuck on this which I would like to so that I can turn large cylindrical parts.
I wonder which makes better finishes and cuts, SBs or Logans?

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Thanks for thoughts and advice.

The Logan is a nice second operation production lathe. I.e. you have a part to put in the collet work holder or mount to the lever operated tee slot cross slide. No cross slide screw to move that tee slot. Since you haven't learned about collets yet, you will probably need to get a 3 and or 4 jaw chuck, a cross slide & tail stock. ~$1,000 to $1,500 and you still don't have any tooling, i.e. tool holders , drill chuck, etc. That turret often has several tools to use working through the operations. I suspect the current owner learned that after he purchased the lathe. The original peg leg is missing, not a big deal. IMO, Cut finish is more dependent on knowing what material you are working with and what tool to use.

 

[Shiseiji]

A Logan with roller bearing headstock is easy to adjust for preload (providing the bearings are ok)

FYI. True for the 11" 900/1900 and possibly larger, no personal experience. Not correct for the 10" 800/1800.

More details you probably don't care about LOL.

The 10" have special made for Logan pre-loaded bearings. Many will argue this screaming over what Logan charges for a set and "blah, blah" are just as good. In response last year on his Groups. io forum Scott, a grandson of the founder spelled out exactly what makes the New Departure bearings different.

Personally I think if it didn't really matter Scott probably had a lot better things to do with his money than tie it up in a special production run that would dribble off his inventory shelves.

 

[Shiseiji]

I'd like to offer a variation on what others have been saying.
|Good|Quick|Cheap| you can have any two. This is a Hobby forum. Most here will trade off quick, because it's a hobby. A business generally can't. Good is an absolute, and you understand that. Now how do you balance the other two?

There is a very steep learning curve to not waste material and time so you can deliver on time. Meaning you most likely are not going to have time to fool with a machine that I can guarantee you are going to have to learn where it us worn and how to work around that. Even with a CNC retro-fit, not cheap, you will have to know exactly how to program for the wear if you need accuracy. Frankly it isn't going it happen. Generally, when a CNC wears, it's repaired for accurate repeatability or sold off. Only a hobbyist has time to trade for cheap.

It sounds like you are well read, but don't yet have any hands on experience. Hands on is where the lessons I mention above start. I've learned a lot in the school of hard knocks, but the lessons have rarely been cheap. Some make good bar stories, some I will take to my grave. My brother teaches machine technology, and has talked about students who have an idea they want to learn to produce, and their struggles to work through |Good|Quick|Cheap|. TANFL, or there ain't no free lunch.

All I'm offering is a suggestion you take a hard look at |Good|Quick|Cheap| and your business model. Cheap usually means giving up time, as people do for a hobby.

Otherwise you need "Quick" and it won't be cheap. Not if you need to turn out good parts. And do you need to think about when cheaper clones show up on Amazon, eBay, Alibaba, etc. that I can't compete with from the US? That's almost inevitable. Hopefully for you it won't be an issue.

Hope I'm not coming across as a complete jerk, just trying to offer some food for thought.

 

[Shiseiji]

Not sure how a new lathe can help me greatly compared to a used quality lathe at the beginning stage of online business, hope I can get some pointers why it would be smarter to get a new lathe.

Because it can be very hard to determine if a used lathe is quality or not. Especially if not under power and equipped to do the work you want to do as a business. Basically it simply can not be done by looking at pictures.

Do you know how to do a bed wear rough estimate using the tail stock? If not, bed wear is a dice roll. I was surprised once because I didn't take off the chuck on a purchase. The spindle had a nice gouge from a chuck set screw. Probably from a tool to work crash that stalled the lathe. Or because chuck set screws are rare, someone didn't check before trying to remove the chuck. Fortunately cosmetic and it didn't damage the spindle bearings.

Almost any used lathe will need "something." Take the Reed. Very old iron. It's most likely a project. No 1 frustration for most first time buyers of 3D printers a hobbyist can afford is they are buying a project. So if you don't enjoy that, or if you just need the darn thing to work, don't buy a project. Take the Logan missing the original peg leg. The peg leg is used to adjust the part of the lathe with the motor. Since it's missing, how are you going to work with that? Not hard, but now it's a project.

Are you familiar with Abomb79 on YouTube? A respected professional, highly experienced manual machinist. Bought a 1940's lathe knowing it was going to take work before he could make $ with it. Worth watching.

 

[Unix]

Monarch Tracer Lathe Monomatic for $1,000.

I think it is a great price for what it is, seller seems to might be able for me to do a test cut on it.
Seller mentioned how it is in working order and needs to be cleaned, it's sitting outside on a "tarp"...
What could be the most problematic to fix anything on it?

I read some forum how they said the "tracer" mechanism could be removed and use the lathe like a manual lathe, not sure if this is true.

Here is an old school video of it working in a professionals setting making precision automotive parts:

Seems like this lathe was designed to make high precision parts.
I think it would be a good buy if it works within few tenths, from the pictures everything seems like in good shape.
I will try to do a test cut on it.

Thanks for thoughts on it.

 

[G-ManBart]

Monarch Tracer Lathe Monomatic for $1,000.

I think it is a great price for what it is, seller seems to might be able for me to do a test cut on it.
Seller mentioned how it is in working order and needs to be cleaned, it's sitting outside on a "tarp"...
What could be the most problematic to fix anything on it?

I read some forum how they said the "tracer" mechanism could be removed and use the lathe like a manual lathe, not sure if this is true.

Seems like this lathe was designed to make high precision parts.
I think it would be a good buy if it works within few tenths, from the pictures everything seems like in good shape.
I will try to do a test cut on it.

Thanks for thoughts on it.

I think you'd be way in over your head if you tried to start off with that machine. As far as the most problematic thing to fix it would be the drive system. The newer versions are a lot less problematic than the older machines, but they're still a complicated machine. Another thing to consider is that these machines were generally specialized for production work and ran 24/7 for years on end, so most went to the scrap bin. For someone not familiar with running a lathe I can't imagine how you'd be able to evaluate whether it's really in good condition. On top of all that, if you need any parts for it, they're expensive. Tooling is also very expensive. Expect to pay $1K for a steady rest...just an example.

While it's not an exact analogy, this is like someone looking to buy their first motorcycle, but they've never ridden one before, and they're shopping vintage Formula 1 bikes...probably not a great path to follow.

 

[matthewsx]

Monarch Tracer Lathe Monomatic for $1,000.

I think it is a great price for what it is, seller seems to might be able for me to do a test cut on it.
Seller mentioned how it is in working order and needs to be cleaned, it's sitting outside on a "tarp"...
What could be the most problematic to fix anything on it?

I read some forum how they said the "tracer" mechanism could be removed and use the lathe like a manual lathe, not sure if this is true.

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Here is an old school video of it working in a professionals setting making precision automotive parts:

Seems like this lathe was designed to make high precision parts.
I think it would be a good buy if it works within few tenths, from the pictures everything seems like in good shape.
I will try to do a test cut on it.

Thanks for thoughts on it.

Pass

 

[455dan]

If you buy it you should have a 'plan' to move it, If I am reading the data plate correctly- a weight of almost 12000 lb.
That is as much as most mid sized industrial Tractor Loader Backhoe's weigh...

Pass as well.