hmm,
Hopefully no one here will scoop you on that lathe. That is a very good price assuming the ways and spindle bearing are in good shape.
From the hobbyist perspective, a 13 x 40 is a really big lathe, and is about the upper limit for folks around here. Plenty of them on this forum, not a lot bigger than that though.
There are many pros and cons between an old domestic lathe and a new import. There are also many pros and cons between a smaller lathe in the 9" range, and a bigger lathe in the 14" range. Bigger is better in general, but tooling for a bigger machine can give you a heart attack when you check prices. The price difference between a 6" chuck and a 10" or bigger chuck will make you cry. You can pretty easily spend more on a 10" 3jaw chuck than the lathe you listed is selling for. You can always use smaller and less expensive tooling, but then why own a big lathe and little tools?
The starting point is trying to figure what you will need to be able to do on the lathe. This will dictate the size of machine. Once you have that, make a list of features the lathe must have or it is a deal breaker. Watching YouTube is a great way to figure out what size machine you need. Watch folks doing what you are wanting to do.
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Hi Corey,
One aspect that needs to be addressed is access to your shed or where ever you wish to store your lathe .
If you have plenty of room , concrete driveway and no steps a larger lathe is no problem but if you have restricted access getting 1/2 a ton of lathe through there can be difficult .
You may have an area that you could set up a small lathe and pillar drill on a movable bench that will allow you to have a go at machining before committing to building a shed .
The components you are looking at are not very large so even a C3 MINI LATHE would accommodate these and you can get a vertical slide to allow the lathe to be set up for milling although not with as much capacity as even an X2 Mill.
Another aspect you may wish to consider is whether you need to cut metric and imperial threads as some machines accommodate this and some do not ,one of my lathes has a Norton box fitted and cuts both but many machines are set for either metric or imperial only ' they can be modified but that's another story !
New or second hand ?
I would steer you away from second hand as you have stated you have little or no experience with lathes and you really need to know what your looking at as there is a lot of equipment that is mutton dressed up as lamb if you know what I mean.
Digital readout ' You can retrofit a lathe with a DRO but for a beginner in would not recommend them as once you get used to the dials they are easy to use and if you have an eyesight issue a cheap magnifying glass can be kept handy to read the dials.
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Cutting tools ' I would start you out with tool steel because they are cheaper to replace or repair if you damage them and you will ! plus there will be times that you need to make a tool for a certain job that an indexible tool can't do so you may as well learn how to grind tool steel bits up front .
I would stay away from the Dickson type tool holders and mount the cutting tool in the Tool post using shims to set the height correctly as this keeps overhang to a minimum .
If down the track you are still enjoying your time at the lathe you could buy or make an adjustable toolpost and there are a few designs but the unit made by Neil Wyatt and featured in Model Engineers Workshop is one of the better ones going around .
This makes setting your cutting tools at centre height a breeze !
Gaining the required knowledge ' there are many books ,DVD'S , Youtube vids etc around and I can recommend a few because I have either read them or seen them and the usual disclaimer applies .
Workshop practice series : there are heaps of them and I recommend them all especially those by Harold Hall as he along with Stan Bray have published books dealing directly with the lathe and how to use it .
Model engineering a foundation course by Peter Wright ' has a good coverage of many processes of metalworking in general.
Swarfrat enter[prises : I have watched all of the DVD series from this producer and even though the postage was a killer I found these presentations to be well made , informative and entertaining .
Youtube : tubal cain ( aka mr pete 222) there are many vids on youtube but these are some of the best and he does one about buying second hand lathes .
Ian
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