Better lathe: Jet, Grizzly, Enco, or Precision Matthews?
clarkm...@gmail.com
Mainly I do amateur gunsmithing.
I cut threads, chambers, and make tooling.
Is there an organized way to look at the variety of brands?
Of course I want something accurate and reliable.
Thanks is advance
Wes
>I am replacing my old 13x36" 1200 pound 5914 with something newer.
>Mainly I do amateur gunsmithing.
>I cut threads, chambers, and make tooling.
>Is there an organized way to look at the variety of brands?
What is wrong with your old one?
Wes
Jim Wilkins
wrote:
http://grizzly.com/products/Gunsmith-s-Bench-Top-Lathe-with-Stand/G4003G
There is also a much more expensive one in the catalog. One of the
additional features is centering screws in the left end of the
spindle, which I might add to my collet closer to stop thin drill rod
from flopping around.
I have no idea how good their quality is or what extra features you
need for gunsmithing, but the catalog says their president is a 1000-
yard competitive shooter.
clarkm...@gmail.com
I just sold it.
I needed restoration, and I just want to use a lathe, not work on it.
ignator
progress. The cross slide is rough machined, the MT4 tail stock would
not accept a MT4 tang tool, as it was mis-machined. I'm convinced
every bad part manufactured went into this machine for export. I
bought this because it was not 60 inch long between centers (don't
have the shop space) and it has 3.125 inch bore through head stock for
shaft and other long piece (like gun barrel) work. Gib adjustment on
cross slide ran out of adjustment range as screw was turned in fully,
but did not take slop out of gib. Had to make a spacer and place
under screw head. This took a long time to figure out what was up
with machine. However, last week I bored a 30 mm inside bore, 1500 mm
deep, and found it was perfect. Measured taper less then 0.00015 inch
(I know I'm mixing dimensions, but bore gages are SAE, and project was
metric).
Grizzley has real good wood working tools, and I would guess their
small high volume metal lathes are good, but this 5400 lb. machine has
some issues. They have very good customer support, but they need it.
They sent me a new tail stock quill to fix the one I had, but it was
0.003 inches bigger then the one on the machine, had to rig up the
tool post grinder to machine it to size. They took it off a "spare
part junker". Rockwell hardness of quill that came with the lathe was
Rc 35, replacement was Rc 45. 4 bolt hole circle on tail stock was
not 90 degree spaced. Very inconsistent machining quality. Just hope
I don't shell out any gears in the headstock or power feed.
ignator with a bastard grizzley lathe.
ignator
What I intended to indicate by "cross slide had rough machine surface"
was the sliding interface, you can clearly see the rotating machining
between the slice and the carriage surfaces. They are not ground and
scraped. don't know if that's really needed.
ignator
Steve Lusardi
You are far better off finding a used high quality American, Japanese,
British or Italian machine and restoring it. If it must be Chinese, the ones
made in Taiwan are better than from the mainland.
Steve
<clarkm...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:ed6dac7b-656b-43a6...@40g2000prx.googlegroups.com...
Rick Samuel
What does that have to do with a new lathe?
Richard J Kinch
> Of course I want something accurate and reliable.
I have really done well with this, especially for the price and delivery:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=33274
Jim Wilkins
> If you are serious about owning a good lathe, forget these Chinese imports.
> You are far better off finding a used high quality American, Japanese,
> British or Italian machine and restoring it. If it must be Chinese, the ones
> made in Taiwan are better than from the mainland.
> Steve
He did have a Clausing.
My good old American South Bend 10L had plenty of problems even though
it was never used for production. Last week I had to surface-grind the
flat part of the compound ways and smoke and stone the gib to restore
the full travel without play or tight spots, in order to turn a steep
taper.
Jim Wilkins
piez...@gmail.com
I recently bouth a 1980s Jet 13 X 40. It was worked hard but
mantained well. I have no trouble holding 0.0002 in on 4" shaft.
Came with a nice DRO.
Wes
>I just sold it.
>I needed restoration, and I just want to use a lathe, not work on it.
I understand the sentiment. I just wanted to buy a lathe and not make a project out of it
also. Didn't happen.
Wes
David R.Birch
> I needed restoration, and I just want to use a lathe, not work on it.
I feel the same way, especially on Fridays.
David
clarkm...@gmail.com
Wes,
My Clausing was in much worse shape than yours, and the extent of your
repairs is way beyond what I would be willing to do, or possibly
capable of doing.
I wound up ordering a Matthews Precision PM1236 with PM DRO.
I thought I was on a study of Chinese quality, and found out I was
really on a study of branding, distribution, mark up, and support.
The analogy of Asian made rifle scopes it good.
3 points of manufacture and 100 brands sold.
I found the information I wanted at these sources:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/index.php
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php
http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/
functio...@gmail.com
> "I needed restoration, and I just want to use a lathe, not work on it."
>
> What does that have to do with a new lathe?