Should I buy this lathe? (Been crashed)

As it should be for that one. At one of my part time jobs, just to turn on breakers, was a major to do(industrial setting). I have 911 calls you don't want to know about, and I'd like to forget :oops:
 
Yep , we had a major accident here in the past year which really opened the parent company's eyes . Safety is job one now as it always should've been . The company was lacking for some time in the past and are now getting caught up to codes . We threw out dumpster loads of ladders because a contractor told the manager her couldn't get on it . No inspection notice . Threw them all out and were replaced with new . Anything and everything out of the normal order is reported each morning now , pictures taken and immediate action taken . We are improving things , just hope we're not getting too expensive . :big grin:
 
Sounds like a job I could do, environmental health, and safety, one of my part time jobs. I think I've high jacked the OPs thread enough. Go answer your PMs....
 
I was blessed with wearing these a few times at my old job. Racking in and out 4160v high current breakers. Pass on that lathe to many unknowns for that amount.
1578662927965.png
 
HAHA, looks familiar......
 
Thanks for all the input guys!
The guy selling it is an older man who got more into woodworking than metal and is the reason for the sale. Hes a good guy and appears to genuinely not know that it had been crashed. it appears that he has not used it much himself, and probably wasn't him who crashed it. I will go there again with a mic and indicator and check out the spindle and runout, and see what I can work out on the price.
 
If the price was right,I’d snatch that lathe in a New York second. After I had it all tweeked and tuned, I’d probably sell my Clausing. And I really like my Clausing. But that looks like a very nice lathe. Only thing I’d look into is find out availability of service parts. But, if not easily serviceable on the parts end.... even that in many cases can be worked around in my opinion. We are hobby machinist.
That looks like a very nice Taiwan lathe.
But, 5000 is not the right price. I’d have thought more like 2k
Maybe 2500. Manual machines are being moved out of most production shops. Repair shops still using them. But...he did crash it. Plus...I would think that there would be lots of heavy iron in your area.
Dickey, whenever I see those suits....I get the jitters. Watched some YouTube videos a while back about arch-flash. That’s some scary crap.
 
Last edited:
As previously mentioned, that lathe was marketed under a dozen different brand names, including Grizzly and upgraded several times over a twenty year span. Ours was an off-brand label few had ever heard of, but with some digging into the Grizzly website, I was able to find a gear for the power Y-axis feed, so some parts are still available.

jack vines
 
Agreed with what has been posted above - 5K is way way way too much. As mentioned above, 1990s Taiwan was not 2020s Taiwain: quality was not guaranteed like it is today. A new Taiwan lathe would not cost much more, and would have no guesswork.

The cost doesn't really add up. Let's say 2K for the base unit (though really it would be 1K if it came with nothing). The rotary phase converter? I paid under a K for a new American Rotary that powers the entire shop (garage sized, just two machines). Chucks? A new Bison will run around a K. DRO? Again, probably a K, though you could certainly spend a lot more. So the extra 3K is not really any savings - you could buy all of the high-ticket add-ons new for the same amount of money.

So: counter with 2k, or pass. Maybe 3K if he moves it for you.
 
It has been my experience when trying to buy a used lathe the seller will balk at 2k and hold out for a sucker at 5k. If he doesn’t find one he will let it sit where it is. Perhaps my experience is simply a result of being in a machinery desert. I agree that much more than 2k is too much. Hope it works out in your best interest either way.
 
Back
Top