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There's nothing magical about the term Oil Country Lathes. That is unless your company has the need to machine massive parts with equally massive metal removal requirements. For these applications, Oil Country Lathes are indeed magical. Named for their widespread use in processing oil and gas components, these heavy-duty machine tools are now found in a range of industries. Aerospace, agriculture, printing, timber, and mining'these are just a few of the markets where the term Oil Country is now commonplace.
But what exactly are Oil Country Lathes? And how are they different from other lathes? For starters, Oil Country Lathes are quite large. Some manufacturers offer models boasting a 78-inch swing and up to 320 inches between centers. The spindle bore on these lathes is also quite large, so as to accommodate the tube and pipe used in the oil and gas industry. The lathe just mentioned, for example, might have a through-hole of 15 inches. This gives Oil Country Lathes an alternative handle, namely Big Bore Lathes. Do check out our other blog about the things to consider when shopping for an oil country lathe.
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Because their users ask them to remove huge amounts of material quickly, Oil Country Lathes must be both rigid and powerful. As such, look for a design with a single-piece bed and base. The best ones also have a third rail for additional support during heavy cutting. Also, a tool post that locks in place is a must-have to eliminate deflection. Auto lubrication systems assure precision and easy maintenance for the long haul. And for very long parts, a steady rest system will be needed, and possibly even a secondary chuck where the tailstock normally sits.
If you're going to make big heavy parts, it goes without saying that the lathe should be equally heavy. A high-quality Oil Country Lathe can easily weigh between 30,000 to 50,000 pounds and have a spindle with 30 horsepower or more. Sometimes way more. Massive steel rollers, large diameter flanges, long shafts for ships and power generation'these are but a few examples of parts turned on a typical Oil Country Lathe.
There's lots more to discuss about these amazing machine tools. We at Kent USA have some of the largest, highest-quality Oil Country Lathes available. What's more, we have many of them in stock. If you'd like to hear more, send us your part drawings or give us a call. We'll have you 'turning big' in no time.
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I do not know when Lansing went to Korea. On about , I was shopping for a really big engine lathe. We needed a lathe which would swing work 60" in diameter over the cross slide x about 15 ft long. I did NOT want to buy a new import, so was shopping for a used American made engine lathe. One shopping trip took me to S & S Machinery down in Brooklyn, NY. S & S had a great number of Lansing lathes as new inventory on the floor. They told me they were teh US distributor for Lansing and explained the Lansing lathes were made in Korea. S & S had had machine tools made under their labels in Italy & Spain prior to this- stuff like boring mills, radial drills, engine lathes and precision grinders. They explained that they had various firms overseas they dealt with to build machine tools to their order and put their own brand-name on. Lansing was one such example. They had a wide selection of Lansing lathes and tried to convinceme to consider having them quote a custom built Lansing lathe for our job. I took alook at the new Lansings and said "no way". Not enough iron or bed width, and seemed too light when compared with a heavy duty LeBlond or big American. We never did buy a lathe from S & S, and it was my only real exposure to lansing lathes. For whatever reason, there were a number of the new Lansings on the floor with 8" holes in the spindles & double chucks. Who or what these were for is soemthing I never found out. No way that they looked heavy enough for that 8" spindle bore, and certainlynowheres near an Oil Country lathe. We did not need a big hole thru the spindle for the jobs we would be doing, so it was a moot point. I held out for a used US built lathe. We got a very heavy duty wide-bed LeBlond from Bob Yancey, and it has been a great machine ever since. Subsequently, we replaced our Nordic 25" lathe with a LeBlond NK heavy duty engine lathe, also supplied by Yancey Machine Tool. This NK series LeBlond lives up to Jim K's description of heavy duty LeBlond lathes.
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