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Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Gunsmithing
Which new lathe?
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<blockquote data-quote="John Klingenberg" data-source="post: 1631956" data-attributes="member: 107749"><p>I've owned a bunch. I can say the grizzley is good. You'll deal with backlash on every axis so your setup time is longer and you have to pay more attention with a loose lathe. Their thread cutting I find to be sloppy. A cross slide that walks will make you crazy and the half nuts are always soft. Read the fine print closely. A lot of them have a PLASTIC internal gear. The initial outboard gear for threading on the banjo is plastic so you'll have to replace that right off the bat. They wear pretty fast overall. If you're just doing your own work with spare time go grizzley or a step up with Jet. For the savings you can get a milling machine too. My favorite is the monarch 10EE. It's a tight machine and very precise. The backlash is minimal on the several I've owned. They also make a compound slide that is golden for threading. It backs the tool out with a flip of a lever and makes threading a dream. Two flips and you shut off the feed and back off the tool. Takes literally minutes to cut a barrel shank. The half nuts on the monarch are long which makes for a smother feed. The cross slides are a deep dovetail and no lateral slop. The carriage is also fitted inside and out instead of just pinned to the outside frame. Even if you bought an older one and rebuilt it you would have several lifetimes of gunsmithing services out of it. Resale value is also way better. A grizzley depreciates to half the minute it leaves the warehouse. Buy once cry once. In my 40 years cranking on guns I can say quality tools will give you satisfaction, value, a better product, a precise product that YOU will have confidence in and if you have customers you can have confidence your work was as precise as your skills. Working with a good machine is also a joy. When your cuts are clean, precise and smooth you'll gain pride. Trust me on this, if you go the lower end you'll outgrow it in a year and you'll be telling yourself you could've done better with a better machine. Now I'll get some hits from guys on here turning out work on the lower budget machines. They could be doing better work equal to their skills with better equipment. Just my 2c.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="John Klingenberg, post: 1631956, member: 107749"] I've owned a bunch. I can say the grizzley is good. You'll deal with backlash on every axis so your setup time is longer and you have to pay more attention with a loose lathe. Their thread cutting I find to be sloppy. A cross slide that walks will make you crazy and the half nuts are always soft. Read the fine print closely. A lot of them have a PLASTIC internal gear. The initial outboard gear for threading on the banjo is plastic so you'll have to replace that right off the bat. They wear pretty fast overall. If you're just doing your own work with spare time go grizzley or a step up with Jet. For the savings you can get a milling machine too. My favorite is the monarch 10EE. It's a tight machine and very precise. The backlash is minimal on the several I've owned. They also make a compound slide that is golden for threading. It backs the tool out with a flip of a lever and makes threading a dream. Two flips and you shut off the feed and back off the tool. Takes literally minutes to cut a barrel shank. The half nuts on the monarch are long which makes for a smother feed. The cross slides are a deep dovetail and no lateral slop. The carriage is also fitted inside and out instead of just pinned to the outside frame. Even if you bought an older one and rebuilt it you would have several lifetimes of gunsmithing services out of it. Resale value is also way better. A grizzley depreciates to half the minute it leaves the warehouse. Buy once cry once. In my 40 years cranking on guns I can say quality tools will give you satisfaction, value, a better product, a precise product that YOU will have confidence in and if you have customers you can have confidence your work was as precise as your skills. Working with a good machine is also a joy. When your cuts are clean, precise and smooth you'll gain pride. Trust me on this, if you go the lower end you'll outgrow it in a year and you'll be telling yourself you could've done better with a better machine. Now I'll get some hits from guys on here turning out work on the lower budget machines. They could be doing better work equal to their skills with better equipment. Just my 2c. [/QUOTE]
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Which new lathe?
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