Small metal lathe

[spressomon]

So I've been wanting a small metal lathe for quite some time. I keep wanting and nothing shows up in the garage ...so its time to start figuring out what to buy.

Bench top and <$1000 is the world I live in right now. I understand tooling will add to the cost but for now my machine only budget is less than a grand. And I understand its going to be chinese...but even within that there is the relatively OK/good, the bad and the ugly. Trying to avoid bad and ugly

Any good pointers and/or direct reviews of small metal lathes from you guys?

Thanks,

Dan

 

[Pin_Head]

I know how you feel. I think you should look for a good used one that is tooled the way you want on Craig's list. Even if it is over 50 years old, it still may be more bang for your buck as long as the ways are not worn out or sprung. Everything else can be fixed.

I used to be able to use one at work, but our machine shop got closed and the tools sold off in the recession and now we just contract any work out.

 

[saryon7]

I feel your pain. I was in a similar situation and was watching craigslist for 6 months. Could not find a perfect lathe. So, I went out and bought one new. The very next week a brand spanking new 1940 southbend lathe shows up for 1200! I mean, it was almost unused. Some old guy had it in storage. I could not believe it.

Anyway, this one is $1250 so a little bit higher than what you wanted to spend. I did a ton of research and this lathe seemed to be one of the best buys out there. Lots of DIY support on youtube and forums too. There are several people that have tutorials on turning it into a cnc lathe too in case that is something you are interested in down the road. I have really liked the lathe and think it is a good quality machine.

Grizzly G0602

 

[spressomon]

^ This one is on my short list...thanks for your feedback! Reno isn't exactly an epicenter for old used metal lathes...and the units I've seen come up for sale are extra proud priced.

 

[Pin_Head]

Those are decent machines for the money, but the 1 inch spindle bore won't cut it for many of the things I want to do. There is nothing more frustrating than buying a new machine that won't do many of the things you need it to do. Put a lot of thought into what types of things you will be doing before you buy.

 

[spressomon]

Yeah...I'd like to have a 3" through bore for some of the stuff I machine but aside from a big commercial lathe that's not going to happen.