Hey all,
Wondering if this is a good purchase opportunity - offered for sale at $500. Complete and in good condition. Not sure if any extras included - asking $500. It's not that I have $500 to toss out but more so what might I use this for I guess. Looking for your thoughts on price point and also use! Thx much
Just my 2 cents... I like a horizontal mill, but they are cost prohibitive for a lot of people because of thei cost of the tooling.. I haven't run a benchtop model.
$500 with some tooling is worth it, IF you can get what you want out of it. But for $1000 you can get a used ehh vertical mill.
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I haven't built anything I can't throw away. Perfection is the journey.
500.... .... probably ok for what it is.... which is pretty SMALL... I guess it depends on what you plan on doing with it???
LOL - yeah - I have no idea what to do with it is the problem - well a part of the problem! guess I could learn to use it to mill out some door handle pullers for people still afraid to touch public doors! also a South Bend Lathe is up for $500 - again - not sure I have much use.... just like gathering tools I suppose!
Just my 2 cents... I like a horizontal mill, but they are cost prohibitive for a lot of people because of thei cost of the tooling.. I haven't run a benchtop model.
$500 with some tooling is worth it, IF you can get what you want out of it. But for $1000 you can get a used ehh vertical mill.
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Thx Mac - guess I'm trying to figure out what I think I might get out of it - which right now - isn't anything in particular! LOL
LOL - yeah - I have no idea what to do with it is the problem - well a part of the problem! guess I could learn to use it to mill out some door handle pullers for people still afraid to touch public doors! also a South Bend Lathe is up for $500 - again - not sure I have much use.... just like gathering tools I suppose!
Hey!!! no problem with gathering tools been doing that most of my life you never know when you might have a use for something in the future!!!!
LOL - yeah - I have no idea what to do with it is the problem - well a part of the problem! guess I could learn to use it to mill out some door handle pullers for people still afraid to touch public doors! also a South Bend Lathe is up for $500 - again - not sure I have much use.... just like gathering tools I suppose!
$500 for a Southbend in good condition is worth it.
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I haven't built anything I can't throw away. Perfection is the journey.
On the other hand I am a jig builder / machinist so I do play more than some, matter of fact I have been loaned out to the machine shop so long I am going to be the crew chief at work.
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I haven't built anything I can't throw away. Perfection is the journey.
Nice... Small, but nice. I suspect you could do something with it. If no tooling, then more appropriatly "I don't have 1500 to toss out"
LOL!!!! Exactly It is cute though basically a dremel tool with an X Y table and heavier spindle bearings very handy for really small things and gun smithing trigger work.. that sort of thing... it's not that you can't do bigger stuff on it - say something in the 4 inch cube size it would just be very slow at whatever you were doing.... again it all depends on what you need it for on a particular job/fix???? I mean you could use it to put a 5 inch by 3/8ths keyway in a 12 foot long by 3.5 inch diameter shaft if you had to... with some added support slides so it's not like it's useless...
After using a 9” lathe and a 7” shaper for many years,
I’ve come to believe that small machines are pretty
limited and frustrating when trying to do anything but
very small work using steel. Aluminum is a different story.
The problem is more with rigidity than size.
Miller a/c-d/c Thunderbolt XL
Millermatic 180
Purox O/A
Smith Littletorch O/A
Hobart Champion Elite
LOL - yeah - I have no idea what to do with it is the problem - well a part of the problem! guess I could learn to use it to mill out some door handle pullers for people still afraid to touch public doors! also a South Bend Lathe is up for $500 - again - not sure I have much use.... just like gathering tools I suppose!
If you have no machines I would recommend getting a lathe first, mill second. Used vertical Bridgeport mills are around (at least here) for not much more.
I bought a Bridgeport that needed a little help and used the lathe to fix it.
Thx for the advice all - after reading and thinking - yep - a lathe would be much more useful - and fun to learn with. Here are some photos - looking forward to getting this into my playpen - errrrr I mean work shop.... this looks to be in really good shape.
title : horiz mill, looks vertcal to me . anyway, i may be wrong, or over reacting, but if that spindle is a browne & sharpe taper, i wouldnt want it. some of the atlas were b&s, don't have any idea if something that small would be. but if that is a set screw (staring to the right)in a end mill holder i might be seeing on my cheapo laptop, id be suspicious of it being b&s. i like ur little lathe alot, that thing can slide on the back of a welding truck, and be a mobile machine shop for he afternoon
title : horiz mill, looks vertcal to me . anyway, i may be wrong, or over reacting, but if that spindle is a browne & sharpe taper, i wouldnt want it. some of the atlas were b&s, don't have any idea if something that small would be. but if that is a set screw (staring to the right)in a end mill holder i might be seeing on my cheapo laptop, id be suspicious of it being b&s. i like ur little lathe alot, that thing can slide on the back of a welding truck, and be a mobile machine shop for he afternoon
The mill is small, but unless you're looking to do production work and need to churn out parts.... it's not going to hurt you to have it even if it collects dust for awhile. It could be great to drill-n-tap holes, make shoulders and a ton of other things. Working as a blacksmith, I can think of quite a few times I wished I would have had a small mill like that just to make things easier on me!
The lathe is certainly nice, imo. I'm not big on lathes, but I sure to appreciate the clean lines and nice styling on that thing. Mine's a belt-drive South Bend not much bigger than yours. Not a lot of power and easy to stall, but still fun to play with if you don't mind going really slow and taking off very fine chips. It'll take you forever to make anything, but it's fun nonetheless.
Now that you have the lathe, save your ducats and go back for the mill when you can.
The lathe looks to be in really good shape! I'm a novice machinist, so I don't have any expert advice, but there is one thing I will suggest...get a quick change tool post sooner rather than later. The lantern style tool post on your machine will work fine, but you spend a lot of time shimming and changing angles to get the cutter at the right height.
After buying three lathes that all came with assorted tooling, I have two large drawers full of lantern style posts, tool holders, bits, etc but I was always fighting to find the right combination. I finally bought an inexpensive BOSTAR wedge style QCTP off eBay after reading about them and wow....huge difference!
There are a couple of reasons I suggest switching to this setup. One, pretty much every video on YouTube about running a lathe will have someone using a lathe with a similar QCTP and you can easily copy the general angles and setup they use...it makes things a lot simpler, even if you aren't sure exactly what you're copying. Two, most of the tool holders now use inserts and are "indexed" meaning the insert is at the correct angle for most work if you put the holder perpendicular to the work. Three, once you put a particular tool in the holder and adjust it to the correct height, you can leave it there and swap it in/out without making any adjustments....they really are very repeatable for hobby level precision. Lastly, the smaller the machine the more critical everything is when it comes to rigidity so you have to get the tool at the right height, the right angle, and then get your speed and feed rates right or you're going to get chatter and terrible results. With a massive machine you can be off a lot more and get decent results.
Before switching to a QCTP I was really struggling to get consistent surface finishes...one time it would be fine, and the next it would be awful. Some of that was getting the speeds and feeds wrong, but some was tool height, orientation, etc. The very first pass I made with an inserted tool in a QCTP was as good, or better, than anything I had done prior...I about fell over!
The Aloris style QCTP holder is the one everybody copies, and they all use the same terminology. The models/sizes are OXA, AXA, BXA, CXA...from small to large (there are more). I'm not sure from the picture what swing lathe that is, but you would probably be in the AXA range....6" to 12" swing.
I also highly recommend watching the Blondihacks series of lathe videos on YouTube. Quinn does a really nice job of keeping things fun, simple and in bite sizes you can immediately apply. This is the start of the series:
Miller Syncrowave 250DX
Millermatic 350P with XR AlumaPro
Miller Regency 200 with 22A feeder and Spoolmatic 3
Hobart Champion Elite
Everlast PowerTig 210EXT
The lathe looks to be in really good shape! I'm a novice machinist, so I don't have any expert advice, but there is one thing I will suggest...get a quick change tool post sooner rather than later. The lantern style tool post on your machine will work fine, but you spend a lot of time shimming and changing angles to get the cutter at the right height.
After buying three lathes that all came with assorted tooling, I have two large drawers full of lantern style posts, tool holders, bits, etc but I was always fighting to find the right combination. I finally bought an inexpensive BOSTAR wedge style QCTP off eBay after reading about them and wow....huge difference!
There are a couple of reasons I suggest switching to this setup. One, pretty much every video on YouTube about running a lathe will have someone using a lathe with a similar QCTP and you can easily copy the general angles and setup they use...it makes things a lot simpler, even if you aren't sure exactly what you're copying. Two, most of the tool holders now use inserts and are "indexed" meaning the insert is at the correct angle for most work if you put the holder perpendicular to the work. Three, once you put a particular tool in the holder and adjust it to the correct height, you can leave it there and swap it in/out without making any adjustments....they really are very repeatable for hobby level precision. Lastly, the smaller the machine the more critical everything is when it comes to rigidity so you have to get the tool at the right height, the right angle, and then get your speed and feed rates right or you're going to get chatter and terrible results. With a massive machine you can be off a lot more and get decent results.
Before switching to a QCTP I was really struggling to get consistent surface finishes...one time it would be fine, and the next it would be awful. Some of that was getting the speeds and feeds wrong, but some was tool height, orientation, etc. The very first pass I made with an inserted tool in a QCTP was as good, or better, than anything I had done prior...I about fell over!
The Aloris style QCTP holder is the one everybody copies, and they all use the same terminology. The models/sizes are OXA, AXA, BXA, CXA...from small to large (there are more). I'm not sure from the picture what swing lathe that is, but you would probably be in the AXA range....6" to 12" swing.
I also highly recommend watching the Blondihacks series of lathe videos on YouTube. Quinn does a really nice job of keeping things fun, simple and in bite sizes you can immediately apply. This is the start of the series:
HUGE THANKS to your input here G-ManBart - very appreciative. I've never run a lathe before - so intro education is very much on my mind while I await to take possession. Will definitely go in the direction suggested with the quick change tool post. I'm not sure what tooling this come with either but assuming anything else in hand related to it - it's not a "part out for most $" type situation by my neighbor on behalf of the seller. Thanks for the video links - a great place to start.
My suggestion on carbide lathe tooling is simple, get the heaviest holder that will put you on center.. 3/4 beats 1/2, and 1 inch beats both of those hands down. But you need to be on center.
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I haven't built anything I can't throw away. Perfection is the journey.
You guys are killing me - propped me right back up on the fence of get it - if needed it's there - and it's also a decent price (around here) for it. I checked out some south bend lathes for sale on CL and other sites - usually $800-900 and up. Been watching the videos by Blondihacks.com - dig them - simple, basic and a good intro needed by someone like me - knocking them out like catching up on Cobra Kai on Netflix - just sayin! thx guys - I can still grow broke yet with my "hobby"!
Personally, considering my past experience, don't expect either to do precision work. They're both probably clapped out.
If you just want to sorta mess around, they might be ok. Be prepared to turn tapers, and prepared to mill less than flat surfaces. If it's just for fun, no big deal. But, I'm pretty sure you'll get fed up with the problems pretty soon.
Save your money, and buy something decent...........even if it means buying Chinese.
Everybody touts the old machines, but you really don't know what quality work they turn out. If you did, you'd be sick. The old worn out stuff is ....................worn out.
Definitely just for fun. So - no worries there. If I get fed up enough- I just unload it with lessons learned! Thx
Most guys with less than 10 years of good machining experience couldn't use the capabilities of a 100,000 dollar lathe any better than an old 500 dollar one so there ain't nothing wrong with starting out on an old used one!!! IF nothing else you'll learn how to adjust for it's 'character' and get better precision on it than you could on a newer one...
WeldingWeb Tradesman
ronsii liked this post
Originally Posted by ronsii
been doing that most of my life
you never know when you might have a use for something in the future!!!!
It is cute though
basically a dremel tool with an X Y table and heavier spindle bearings
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