Lathe questions??

[Al Smith]

To the above machinery brokers from all over the USA sometimes would converge on the larger auctions .These were big time operators taking bids over cell phones .Stuff went high .However the smaller job shops things went a lot cheaper .At one sale I bought an entire pallet of lathe chucks for $65 and sold half of them for $300 at the sale .Of that job lot I have a few still .One is a 20" 4 jaw chuck so heavy I can't even lift it any more .Lots of difference in a persons strength from age 35 until the ripe old age of 76 .

 

[S&S_Work_Saws]

Does anyone have a prefered place online to purchase lathe parts and tooling from?? I'm wanting to upgrade my 2 bolt cross slide hold down to a 4 bolt and get some of the movement out of it. The places I've been ordering from don't carry that item and it's been really hit and miss on finding one. I can only find 1 on ebay and it's way over priced.

 

[Al Smith]

I would just say depends on the machine .Something like the relatively newer ones such as JET or Grizzly you might find new parts .Older machines like Atlas,Lodge and Shiply .or South bend you'd about need to find a scrapper who sells the parts .Then again those older machines have enough adjustments they don't actually wear out Best I can suggest is trot on off to Google land However you might try MSC .

 

[Paul Fithian]

Little Machine Shop has these for a
- Grizzly G0602 (made by Belfanti) 10x22 https://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=5857&category=
- Grizzly G4000 9x19 https://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=5536&category=

Belfanti has the G0602 version direct from their site, they also sell through LMS above: https://belfantimachineworks.com/store/compound-clamp-kit-grizzly-g0602-lathe

Here's how the Belfanti 6 bolt compound clamp looks on my setup, just installed it last night:

 

[S&S_Work_Saws]

My jet BD-920N should be the same thing as the grizzly G4000 I believe. Should be able to use that one. Thanks!!

 

[Paul Fithian]

Correct,

 

[thedude74]

Lathe before mill. 9” swing, 24” bed minimum. The Harbor Freight machines and similar are pretty bad. But saw work is fairly straightforward machining. Most new machines should handle it without difficulty. But a Lathe is a very useful instrument. I recommend getting the highest quality and heaviest machine you can fit in your shop and budget. There’s a similar recent thread you might want to read…

Introduction and lathe question.

Hello, I am new here and I am just getting into working on saws in the sense of trying to port and other mods. I have always been fascinated with chainsaws, and im not looking to try and make a living doing this, just want to make my saws run better and maybe have a hobby I can enjoy! haha. That...

opeforum.com

Curious why 9"x24" minimum? Trying to learn what I can about lathes for machining cylinder bases and maybe squish bands. Thanks

 

[srcarr52]

Curious why 9"x24" minimum? Trying to learn what I can about lathes for machining cylinder bases and maybe squish bands. Thanks

A 9" swing lathe will have enough room over the carriage to spin almost all chainsaw cylinders over it so you can cut the base without having to make a really long arbor.

 

[Ketchup]

Curious why 9"x24" minimum? Trying to learn what I can about lathes for machining cylinder bases and maybe squish bands. Thanks

What Shaun said on the swing.
The 24” bed fits better in small spaces but still has enough room for the tail stock and carriage travel. No problem having more bed if you have the space. Many 16” lathes have 12-16’ of bed. I’ve been looking for a 16”x36” for a while now.
Below 9” swing the lathe itself is also pretty light. More vibration, less deep cutting ability. Not such a big deal for aluminum but pretty annoying for hard metals.

 

[srcarr52]

What Shaun said on the swing.
The 24” bed fits better in small spaces but still has enough room for the tail stock and carriage travel. No problem having more bed if you have the space. Many 16” lathes have 12-16’ of bed. I’ve been looking for a 16”x36” for a while now.
Below 9” swing the lathe itself is also pretty light. More vibration, less deep cutting ability. Not such a big deal for aluminum but pretty annoying for hard metals.

13 or 14x40 gets about everything we need done and then some.

I have a 13x40 Jet and I've never even needed to remove the gap. Maybe if I start working on dozers/excavators and big hydraulic cylinders I'll need a 16"

 

[Bill G]

It will be interesting to see 20 years down the road what folks think of the Grizzly stuff they bought. In 1983 the school added a new machine shop and outfitted it with Jet lathes, mills, surface grinders, and related tools. These were the old puke green ones. We always had one down out of service.

 

[thedude74]

Thanks gentlemen. I was tempted to buy a cheap Chinese lathe...but I'll save some more and get a decent one.

 

[Al Smith]

At the risk of sounding like"I told you so " where I worked for 29 years ,Ford Motor tried those Asian made lathes .Most of them after about 5-6 years got scrapped .It was a case of accountants thinking they knew more than engineers and trades persons
As a cost cutting measure they scrapped out most small lathes used for repairs .Southbend,Lodge and Shipely ,Logan etc got scrapped .As a result I got a lot of chucks tool holders and so forth on salvage passes ,freebies .
What the deal was in some areas or departments they had their own little machine shops with those little machines,surface grinders ,Bridgeport mills .They had the bright idea to scrap them out and take them off for tax reasons .Didn't work out well .Fact the main tool room had some big old Monarch and American Pacemaker lathes in nearly perfect condition basically sold for scrap iron prices .It was a shame .Big old lathes sitting outside to rust up .

 

[Bill G]

You should see what the Federal government does at the military bases. The Arsenal here has a huge manufacturing facility here and sells off equipment quite regularly.

 

[Al Smith]

Like I've said many times it's all where ever you live on what you might find .In Ohio it's not really a problem but in Montana or Alaska it certainly could be . In my example the Monarch 10" EE cost me $800 and the Bridge Port Model M milling machine was also $800 but that was 25-30 years ago . Now I had to do some work on those and at the moment the Monarch is awaiting me to installing a new solid state controller because the old electron type DC controller is made with nearly obsolete parts and thus nearly impossible to find .However the model M Bridgeort is nearly perfect in spite of being made in the 40's .I did a lot of work on that thing to get it that way .

 

[Paul Fithian]

Thanks gentlemen. I was tempted to buy a cheap Chinese lathe...but I'll save some more and get a decent one.

You can’t buy a new lathe for home or small shop use that is not made in China. Sad but it’s where we are now.

Grizzly has a lot to offer, spare parts are readily available and their customer service/warranty support is outstanding. They also own South Bend, basically the rights to use that brand name on the asian lathes they spec and sell

Grizzly’s owner Shiraz knows how to use a lathe and has created a fine company from scratch

 

[Bill G]

In 2004/2005 I went to one of the Arsenal auction inspection here. They had a lathe with a 16 ft bed and a 48" swing. Since this was post September 11 we had to be escorted by a guide. It was amazing to see the warehouse of machines and tooling they were selling. He said that lathe was still used on gun barrels for the Navy but since it had been tagged three times for non use it had to be sold. Of course later tax payer dollars will be spent to replace it.

We were after a small CNC mill and some 600 amp Miller CC/CV power units....yes overkill I know. They were pretty rough

 

[Bill G]

Grizzly is bastardizing the South Bend name just like Jet did to Powermatic.

 

[Paul Fithian]

Grizzly is bastardizing the South Bend name just like Jet did to Powermatic.

South Bend did that to themselves

South Bend Lathe: What Can We Learn from an ESOP “Failure”? | Center for Economic & Social Justice

by Norman G. Kurland South Bend Lathe, the bête noire of the ESOP movement, may forever hold the dubious distinction as the company where "owners went on strike against themselves." While this popular characterization has long diverted attention from the hidden issues involved, the South Bend...

www.cesj.org

 

[Al Smith]

You should see what the Federal government does at the military bases. The Arsenal here has a huge manufacturing facility here and sells off equipment quite regularly.

What I have seen is when the plant that makes the Abrams tank was reactivated .I spent about a year and half upgrading those old machines which were perfect when myself doing the electrical work and a tool and die maker doing the mechanical .Only to reinstall them and shortly afterwards having them be decommissioned and replaced with new stuff mostly CNC controlled .Typical government nonsense .
Funny part about that deal was the new upgrade prints would not work .They wanted me to redraw them showing the changes .I only did so if my name was on the prints just being an azzhole .I never had an engineering degree only a journeymans card from the IBEW .---never judge a book by it's cover-----