Thinking of Purchasing a Craftsman 12"

[matthewsx]

Ha, I appreciate your honesty! I know exactly what you mean but unfortunately I was not born into the, "secret club" as it were. I also don't really have friends that participate either. Not exactly my kind of crowd to be honest. Maybe I need to make friends with my local bishop, or meet some churchgoers in the neighborhood.

Yeah, me neither but I knew a guy through classic cars who was well connected. They're friendly enough people and if you're going to start contacting widows and such it would be good to have a connection. Just sayin....

John

 

[ChandlerJPerry]

We had one of those, $100.00, upgraded when we found next...

We all start with what we find and keep looking.

That being stated, $300.00 would be max amount with pickup.

That model is just barely more than a wood lathe.

The only good part is it is a learning lathe meaning it will hurt you less and once you figure put how to make anything with it you will have a decent skill set.

HF sells a mini lathe for about 500.00 on sale that does good work for its size and within the work space much better than this.

Portable and can be put on a shelf so you can learn and get buy until next one comes along.

We had both...

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I was actually just at Hazard Fraught the other day and looked at the 7x14, cute little thing but ultimately the quality on it seemed poor, and frankly even smaller than I would want for my purposes. They're a fun little machine to learn on I would imagine, I certainly wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth if one crossed my path for cheap, but I think I would put my money elsewhere rather than buy a new one.

 

[tq60]

You may need to make a road trip or as others suggested place a wanted ad

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[wa5cab]

I'll have to take exception to your comment that it is barely better than a wood lathe. In the first place, wood lathes won't cut threads and this one not only could but had what looked like probably a full set of Change Gears. In the second place, wood lathes don't have Back Gears, which this one has. And in the third place, your comments were derogatory and if repeated about anyone's machine regardless of who made it can and probably will get you banned for life.

In the fourth place, a lathe light enough to put up on a shelf when you aren't using it is in a totally different category from a lathe large and heavy enough to swing a nearly 12" part. The mini lathes have their place but it isn't in place of something this large.

Having said all of that, I will add that any babbit bearing lathe regardless of who made it should only be considered if (a) you only want it for parts that you can see are present or (b) you or if you don't know what you are looking at , someone who does can inspect the babbit or any other type of spindle bearings that aren't practical to replace. That applies to lathes made by anyone.

 

[ChandlerJPerry]

I'll have to take exception to your comment that it is barely better than a wood lathe. In the first place, wood lathes won't cut threads and this one not only could but had what looked like probably a full set of Change Gears. In the second place, wood lathes don't have Back Gears, which this one has. And in the third place, your comments were derogatory and if repeated about anyone's machine regardless of who made it can and probably will get you banned for life.

In the fourth place, a lathe light enough to put up on a shelf when you aren't using it is in a totally different category from a lathe large and heavy enough to swing a nearly 12" part. The mini lathes have their place but it isn't in place of something this large.

Having said all of that, I will add that any babbit bearing lathe regardless of who made it should only be considered if (a) you only want it for parts that you can see are present or (b) you or if you don't know what you are looking at , someone who does can inspect the babbit or any other type of spindle bearings that aren't practical to replace. That applies to lathes made by anyone.

I reiterated to the seller that I may be interested if I can conduct an in person inspection, and they never replied, so I think this machine is no longer on the table for me. But in better news a 1940's South Bend Heavy 10 has popped up about 5 hours away, maybe I'll work out a deal if it's a nice machine. I'll be on the hunt for awhile I think. Thanks again everyone!

 

[cjtoombs]

Yeah I more or less wrote the tools and accessories off as junk, there might be a few good things in there if one were to pick through it, but they aren't much of a selling point to me. Currently I would like a QCGB but it's less of a requirement anymore. In my current position turning down a machine for lack of it would be silly.

Most of that stuff is probably junk, but those change gears would probably cost well over a hundred dollars if you had to buy them seperately. The bad thing about the lathe is that it doesn't really come with many of the other accesories that make the lathe useful. No 4 jaw chuck, steady rest, follow rest, quick change toolpost. There might be some dead and live centers in that mess, I don't know. Of course, all that stuff is readily available used or new (some of it), but then that runs into more money. I paid about $500 for a 12" Craftsman that came better tooled than that one and I probably have about $2000 in it now, total, but it is very well equiped. My biggest problems with the lathe are that the headstock was on crooked, which I fixed, and it's a bear to part off with, due mainly I think to lack of rigidity, which I am working on. The Atlas/Craftsman machine tools were not the best of the day, but they are more affordable, easier to find parts and accessories for and you can do good work on them.

 

[Dhal22]

I'm a bit lost trying to find the 'derogatory ' comments that could get one banned in this thread. In my 15 years of forums membership I've seen many banned for obvious reasons but don't see anything here. Please explain.

EDIT - He violated Rules #6 and #7. If anyone dislikes a particular brand/badge of machines, then he/she had best avoid that Forum and thus avoid the temptation of making deliberately disparaging remarks about someone else's equipment.

 

[JPMacG]

Yes, lathe accessories are a killer. I recently paid $200 for an Atlas steady rest. A good set of accessories are more valuable than the lathe itself.

 

[matthewsx]

I'm a bit lost trying to find the 'derogatory ' comments that could get one banned in this thread. In my 15 years of forums membership I've seen many banned for obvious reasons but don't see anything here. Please explain.

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I believe rule number 6 means that whatever you think of any specific machine one needs to keep their opinion civil and factual. Since the comment was only directed at the machine itself and not the owner it apparently didn't cross the line, thus only a warning from the moderator.

If you spend any time on other machining forums you probably have seen comments that disparaged owners of certain "hobby level" machines or outright bans on even mentioning them. That's one of the things that makes this forum different, it doesn't matter what machine you have or how you use it, you are welcome to discuss it here.

That's just my take, if you have more questions contact a moderator.

Cheers,

John

 

[gr8legs]

If you are still interested in the lathe why not make a best offer at about $300? Worst that can happen, seller says 'no'

You may get a counteroffer that you can live with - or not.

Your offer shows you are a serious buyer and gives the seller a reality check if no other/better offers are received and the transaction may continue.

Keep in mind with the rust, lack of tooling and no QCGB or QCTP (among other shortcomings) this is definitely a 'starter' project.

YMMV

Stu