> Therefore personal experience/recommendations from fellow modelers
> also carries a lot of weight towards search and final choice.
Tony,
Are you absolutely locked into getting a brand new lathe? Since the
introduction of CNC machining, there is a glut of machines on the market
of Industrial quality with almost no wear, but as they are obsolete as
far as industry is concerned, can be had cheaply and will get you a much
better lathe for the money. Even the old bugaboo of 3 phase powers is
meaningless anymore! The advent of Variable frequency drives allowsa n
infinitly variable speed control on older three phase motors with a 220
V. single pahase line in, and a 3 phase output that will give you the
full H.P. potential of the original motor! I even know of one gent who
took off a perfectly good single phase motor, and replaced it with a 3
phase motor so he could gain the advantages of the VFD! You can jog the
motor, a portion of a turn, or run up to full speed. Or, set the running
speed, and the motor will automatically slowly accelerate to the set
speed.
I personally use a 1916 built South Bend lathe (9" swing 16" between
centers) without the VFD, and have been very happy with that lathe. With
it's back gears, I can cut threads on 3" diam stainless. (not fun, but
can be done) or running at top speed, turn parts for gauge one steamers.
Jim Curry can testify to it's ability to work to closer tolerences that
I am capable of working to! I would much rather have an older machine,
that had been well taken care of, by a machinst or amateur, than
virtually any new machine on the market. One posting mentioned how happy
he was, but then went on to talk of de-burring, gib adjusting, cleaning
etc. I bought my lathe, did none of thiose chores, started right from
the get go and probably paid half of what a new machine goes for! You
just need to be patient, and look in places you don't expect. Tell
everyone you know what you are looking for. You never know when someone
will say, "Hey, I know where there's one of those gathering dust in my
Uncles basement!" I bought a beautiful Derbyshire Model A Instrument
makers lathe at a meeting of Clock and Watch collectors!
Keith Taylor Very happy owner of a 1916 South Bend lathe!
