Help with selecting bench top lathe and vertical mill

[257X50]

You sound like you know what you are talking about. So you were buying today and have to buy new, what would suggest for a lathe and a knee or bench mill?

40 years in the trade. Never production......
The PM are nice.
got to buy new a couple of times. A Hardinge HLVH and a SuperMax mill. Could of had a Bridgeport......
Bridgeport is a versatile machine. But not a great mill. The SuperMax had square ways and a few more inches of Y travel(that means a lot. And I got to spend the difference in tooling.
things are different now. And Gunsmithing doesn't use the mill near as much.
Don't know your big picture for use........
Any of the Taiwan latheswould do. A gun smith does not do much compared to other trades on the lathe.
This could be a long treatise......PM me a number and we will talk.
I bought used.......13x30 Graziano. Look at others that size......this one weighed 2300 lbs. lol

 

[arch408]

I keep looking at Precision Mathews, but they are always out of stock. I wonder if they will back order and how long it will take. Their knee mills are reasonably priced, but they are always out of stock too.

 

[Far North Hunter]

I keep looking at Precision Mathews, but they are always out of stock. I wonder if they will back order and how long it will take. Their knee mills are reasonably priced, but they are always out of stock too.

Give them a call. I spoke with them just 10 days ago and received info of delivery dates for what I wanted.

 

[Jeffrthehunter]

I purchased a PM1340 GT single phase several years ago. I am a CNC service technician and spend lots of time wrenching on Japanese and German top of the line stuff. If I had to start over I would by another PM1340GT, not the best but lots of machine for what I paid. I have chambered and threaded lots of barrels on it and it works great. Make sure and get a real good four jaw chuck.

 

[7MMMagnum]

A few years back I inherited an Enco 12 x 36 gearhead lathe with lots of tooling and since I recently retired, was considering giving it a go at some barrel work ( as a hobby). It was made in 1998 and the placard says made in China. It has not been used very much since new. In reading these posts makes me wonder if it is even worth my time messing with it. Does anyone have any experience with these or am I wasting my time?

 

[tobnpr]

It has not been used very much since new.

There ya go. Earlier ones (80's) were Taiwanese, but with light use you might be fine.
36" is just long enough for most barrels if you want to work between centers, or if the spindle bore isn't large enough to do so. You already have it, so why not see what it's capable of?
Indicators don't lie.
Run some basic tests, make some test cuts and see how tight the machine is.
You don't need a two-ton machine to turn and chamber skinny steel tubes. What you do need, is precise alignment and a tight machine.

There used to be a pretty good resource online on how to check out a used machine/what to look for if you're not experienced with how to evaluate them- I'll see if I can find it.

 

[257X50]

Like in shooting. There are more 1/2" rifles than 1/2" shooters.

Go to Practical Machinist.......don't mention cheap Chinese machines......but search how to check out a lathe.

And you can stiffen a lighter lathe.

 

[Mram10us]

The last two posts are spot on when it comes to lathe accuracy. 90% of you time will be devoted to accurizing your machine. I added 4" square tube to the bottom and rawls into the floor. It would be great to have a guy with experience help with the setup of your lathe. Threading and chambering are very basic. Mastering your lathe is the never ending part

 

[J E Custom]

If I were able to go back in time, I would probably go with the lathe J.E. linked...assuming you're new to lathes. I was in your shoes 6 or 7 years ago trying to figure out what lathe to buy, I ended up with a smaller grizzly, only has 1" spindle bore which limits me, change gears for threading, and just not a rigid as I would like. I bought that brand new though, cuz at the time I was scared to get an old used lathe, didnt know what to look for. I'm on my second lathe now...got over that fear pretty easily, and I have a bridgeport clone milling machine now and am having more fun than you could imagine. But like shortgrass said, the lathe is just the first expense, then comes all the tooling....between all the machines and tooling I'm probably $20k in at this point and I dont have near enough tooling to do what I want...every time I dive in to a new project i have to drop another $200 for something it seems (there goes that barrel i was going to buy).
I could have bought some really nice custom rigs with what I've spent putting together a hobby machine shop, but i never did it to save money, i did it just to see if i can...so far i haven't regretted a penny.

I went through 2 lathes before I finally bough one that could do the job and whished I had bought a good one in the first place. The one I bought has been a good one and didn't cost an arm and a leg. at the time the grizzly's cost more than I could afford or I would have bought the one I mentioned for the features.

Now they have become more affordable for some reason. I lusted over some of the best lathes but they were so far out of my budget all I could do is look and wish. also what I found out was the tooling is the biggest expense so I ended up building most of my special tools for the lathe. I tried the inserted tools and found that the more expensive inserts ended up being the cheapest in the long run and did a better job of cutting the best finishes.

I am also slowly changing back to High Speed steel because they can be ground to best suite the need and are reusable over and over. I try to use only inserts where I have to maintain the set up for multiple parts and can change the inserts without altering the setup like on threads but the best inserts are required for beautiful threads .

Learning how to grind your tooling is part of doing good machining instead of relying on premade inserts and can be a big help in controlling cost.

J E CUSTOM