Lathe or Mill for Home Use?

531blackbanshee wrote: all of the late model sportbikes that i have dealt with use aluminum spacers.

i use 6061-t6 for all the custom spacers i make.

hope this helps.

leon

cool, thanks. I was thinking the newer bikes used aluminum so I figured it would be OK. I was able to catch my friend today so I got the spacers turned on his lathe. He has some nice stuff. It's old but it's the good stuff. He has a couple of Bridgeports, a couple of lathes, and lots of saws and welders, and all kinds of goodiess. Not much he can't do.

I think I'll keep my eye out for an old one on craigslist. An old, beat up American made machine is probably way better than a Harbor Freight Chinese unit.

Old yes, beat up no, don't waste your money. People unload old, worn out lathes to unsuspecting buyers all the time. Always make sure it runs and make some cuts before committing to buy. You don't want to end up with a sloppy hunk of iron that can't even make a facing cut in aluminum without backing away because the ways are shot. If you run across a good deal ask your machinist buddy if he'll take a look with you. Also try to stay away from unknown names as there used to be tons of machine tool mfgrs who aren't around anymore and nobody carries their parts. My Clausing was made in 1974, still works great and I can still get parts.

Phase Perfect with or without the gold plating option, same price. I'll stick with my old rotary until it croaks, then maybe a VFD.

Big Al

531blackbanshee wrote:
i use 6061-t6 for all the custom spacers i make.

All the cool kids are using 7150-T7 . How come you didn't say billet? Doesn't adding "billet machined" or "aircraft grade" aluminum mean it's better? :laugh:

Big Al

al,
7150-t7 = overkill + unneeded expense.

imho,sir .

i didn't say "billet" because i use extrusions :whistle: and understand the difference .

leon

I was being sarcastic Leon. Because I understand the difference as well.

Big. Al

531blackbanshee wrote: al,
7150-t7 = overkill + unneeded expense.

imho,sir .

i didn't say "billet" because i use extrusions :whistle: and understand the difference .

leon

It always amuses me when I see ads for "billet" truck grilles, wheels, etc. By definition they are not billet. Ed

Haybus wrote: I was being sarcastic Leon. Because I understand the difference as well.

Big. Al

thats what that smell was :laugh: !!!!!!

leon

Haybus wrote: My Clausing was made in 1974, still works great and I can still get parts.

Phase Perfect with or without the gold plating option, same price. I'll stick with my old rotary until it croaks, then maybe a VFD.

Big Al

5900 series Clausing? If so, the gears are available to convert to metric threading. I did it to mine.

There are no manual lathes being manufactured in the US any longer, so are you telling him to buy import? So he should pass on a Monarch 10EE, or a LeBlonde Regal, a Logan, a Sheldon or Sebastian, Harrison, Hendey, or even a South Bend? My first lathe was a 1937 Sebastian, and I managed to make every part I needed. I even had a 1920 Monarch that worked quite well.

Take what you can get and make it do, you're unlikely to be working to 0.0001" tolerances anyway.

steell wrote:

Haybus wrote: My Clausing was made in 1974, still works great and I can still get parts.

Phase Perfect with or without the gold plating option, same price. I'll stick with my old rotary until it croaks, then maybe a VFD.

Big Al

5900 series Clausing? If so, the gears are available to convert to metric threading. I did it to mine.

There are no manual lathes being manufactured in the US any longer, so are you telling him to buy import? So he should pass on a Monarch 10EE, or a LeBlonde Regal, a Logan, a Sheldon or Sebastian, Harrison, Hendey, or even a South Bend? My first lathe was a 1937 Sebastian, and I managed to make every part I needed. I even had a 1920 Monarch that worked quite well.

Take what you can get and make it do, you're unlikely to be working to 0.0001" tolerances anyway.

Umm, no and yes, depends. Some of the old manufacturers, like LaBlond (sp!!), still have a service presence in the US. They were great lathes and if you run across a decent one for a good price snatch it up. Same goes for all the other Mfgr's Steell lists (cept South Bend, yak) In the 70's LaBlond teamed up with Makino to make their lathes. At some point you're not buying American anymore, and Makino eventually bought them out and killed them off. EMCO, sold by Sears (sort of US?) made in Germany, was also a good lathe (I had one), and very well suited or home use, but good luck getting parts.

My point, which was misread, was do your homework before purchasing. A great name like Monarch is a pain to use if the ways are gone. Save your money and buy something in decent shape, hopefully with lots of tooling. Check out www.practicalmachinist.com for lots of information on machine to serviceability. "Take what you can get and make do" is exactly what people hope you'll think when selling their worn out 11" Logan with no tooling for $1200. Pass.

Big Al

My Clausing is a 1300 (13" x 36"), came with the metric gears.

Agree on the South Bend thing, Grizzly bought South Bend and are selling them now, but they are making them in China. I think the Chinese are slowly improving in quality, the Phase II stuff is pretty decent.

Never bought a machine with tooling, spent a bunch tooling my lathe and mill (Gorton), took a chunk of my disability back pay

Bought and sold a few things on Practical Machinist, don't ever mention "home shop" stuff there, the owner goes nuts.

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationWould something this size be OK for wheel spacers and small stuff like that?

That will work. If you're not in a big hurry just keep an eye on craigslist.

Nice thing about that size is it's portable, I can't hardly throw mine behind the seat of my truck to take it anywhere.