Machine lathe recommendations?

[tableman]

I have (2) Cuesmith deluxe machines and I am now looking to buy a good reasonably priced machine lathe. What do you guys recommend, brand, size etc ? I've been looking at Grizzly, Enco, etc 12x36 or 14x40's. Prefer new or used that has only been used for cues. Nothing oily and greasy, ya know. Any recommendations appreciated.

 

[WilleeCue]

I bought the Grizzly 12x36 belt drive years ago for $1800 delivered.
It is fairly quiet and smooth running.
Until you engage the power drive / threading gears.
Then it gets noisy.
The only mod I have made installing a 6 jaw Set-True chuck on it.
I have had it for a few years now and it has served my needs well.
If I had it to do over I think I would chose the Jet to get the next level of quality.

 

[scdiveteam]

Hi,

Get a 40". I bought a 36" then added a 6 jaw chuck and that added lateral space. Remember the lathe is 36" between centers. When you add the chuck dimension it gets tight if you put a cue with a pin between centers with the dead side chucked.

Rick G

 

[MVPCues]

I have (2) Cuesmith deluxe machines and I am now looking to buy a good reasonably priced machine lathe. What do you guys recommend, brand, size etc ? I've been looking at Grizzly, Enco, etc 12x36 or 14x40's. Prefer new or used that has only been used for cues. Nothing oily and greasy, ya know. Any recommendations appreciated.

Nothing oily and greasy? When a new machine comes in, it has cosmoline all over the unpainted ground parts. You will have to diligently clean it off. You have to keep certain parts lubbed up with oil. You will use a little less oil than you would for metalworking because the loads are lighter for cue work and you don't want to get oil on your wood, but if you ignore keeping certain parts lubed up, you will pay for it. You should change the oil in the gear box and carriage once a year according to the manual. How often depends on its use, but it should be done now and then.

I guess I can understand you not wanting a very used machine from a machine shop because of what it has gone through, but you should be hesitant due to wear and tear on the machine that you might not be able to diagnose yourself just by looking at it. Cleaning a used machine when you get it, while it may be a little more involved than a new machine, should be a trivial concern at best.

This topic has been discussed many times. For the most part, all of the imports are about the same. Some will show better tolerances right out of the box than others. Some will need a little more cleaning and tweaking. And sometimes luck of the draw plays a big part. Customer service and warranty varies between them.

Generally (again, your mileage may vary), the pecking order (best at the bottom) is:

Harbor Freight
Enco
Grizzly
Jet

There are a host of miscellaneous brand names such as Birmingham and lathemaster that probably hover around Enco. Some maybe below, some maybe higher. Grizzly has good customer service according to most, but it is all phone service and mail the product back. Jet has an actual onsite service when something is covered under warranty. The Jet warranty is 2 years. I am not sure about the length of others.

They all use import motors, and have their share of electrical issues from time to time. My Jet had some repeated centrifugal problems until I figured out what the issue was and had the repair guy make an adjustment. Because it was under warranty, it was all payed for and a repair guy came to the house each time to work on it.

EDIT: I think I should add that all of the imports are of decent enough quality to do cue work. It just depends on if you want to spend a little more time cleaning and tweaking it when it arrives with less customer support at a cheaper price for say the Harbor Freight. (Dickie should be along in a little while saying the same thing....like I said....topic has been discussed many times)

Kelly

 

[Paul Dayton]

Get the 40". You will never think it is too long and if your 36" is too short for a particular job you'll kick yourself. The prices for the two are pretty close and you will be happier if you buy a mid price range lathe.

I have a Sharp 13 X 40 variable speed which is great but maybe not worth all the extra $$$.

 

[olsonsview]

I have both ends

I have a Jet belt driven lathe which I bought used, and the Harbor Freight . Both are 12x36 size.
The Harbor Freight is gear driven which is convenient and not as noisy as one would think. The manager at the store threw in an extended on site warranty for 2 yrs for free when I bought it. I had to use the warranty twice. A motor contactor did not work properly right after uncrating, and to repair that I had to call the service line and an engineer helped me trouble shoot the problem. My included wiring diagram was hard to read, so the engineeer sent me a factory electrical print of my system to help me in the future. And she sent a new contactor, which did the job and worked fine. I could have had a rep come out, but I am inclined to repair electrical issues myself, and wanted to learn. The second time I needed a repair, was due to an oil leak. They sent out a local machine repair tech and he repaired it free. I got service within a couple days. One would think Harbor Freight is junk and the service is crap from what I have read here many times in the past. But I cannot complain one little bit. The extended warranty service is terrific.
I also crashed the carriage into the gear box and ripped up some parts. I called the parts dept, this repair was due to my own stupidity. They sent me new parts promptly and the critical parts were in stock. One part needed to be shipped from China, but it was minor, a shaft, so I made one myself and I have not had a problem since. The parts were very inexpensive I might add. I was floored that gears were so cheap!
Now: the JET is an older Taiwanese made unit that is really a 12X38 in size. It is belt driven. It had a bad CounterGear and a worn gear to drive the carriage. The countergear was not available anywhere. JET makes the lathe in China now and redesigned it. NO parts were available. I have a friend that owns a machine shop, together we made both gears and it works super now.
I will say that after measuring the tolerances of both machines: the Harbor freight wins ! But again the JET was purchased used. I know logic would have the JET win, but in all important measurments the HF is a winner.
And as a final note: those hints to buy a 13X40 instead of a 12X36 is all good. I would have not crashed my carriage( I did it more than twice) had I a longer bed to work with. It is too easy to be watching a cut closely and not notice a coming collision of the carriage into the gear box. At least put a switch in so that the machine cuts off when you reach the end. I did that and all is well now.

 

[MVPCues]

I have a Jet belt driven lathe which I bought used, and the Harbor Freight . Both are 12x36 size.
The Harbor Freight is gear driven which is convenient and not as noisy as one would think. The manager at the store threw in an extended on site warranty for 2 yrs for free when I bought it. I had to use the warranty twice. A motor contactor did not work properly right after uncrating, and to repair that I had to call the service line and an engineer helped me trouble shoot the problem. My included wiring diagram was hard to read, so the engineeer sent me a factory electrical print of my system to help me in the future. And she sent a new contactor, which did the job and worked fine. I could have had a rep come out, but I am inclined to repair electrical issues myself, and wanted to learn. The second time I needed a repair, was due to an oil leak. They sent out a local machine repair tech and he repaired it free. I got service within a couple days. One would think Harbor Freight is junk and the service is crap from what I have read here many times in the past. But I cannot complain one little bit. The extended warranty service is terrific.
I also crashed the carriage into the gear box and ripped up some parts. I called the parts dept, this repair was due to my own stupidity. They sent me new parts promptly and the critical parts were in stock. One part needed to be shipped from China, but it was minor, a shaft, so I made one myself and I have not had a problem since. The parts were very inexpensive I might add. I was floored that gears were so cheap!
Now: the JET is an older Taiwanese made unit that is really a 12X38 in size. It is belt driven. It had a bad CounterGear and a worn gear to drive the carriage. The countergear was not available anywhere. JET makes the lathe in China now and redesigned it. NO parts were available. I have a friend that owns a machine shop, together we made both gears and it works super now.
I will say that after measuring the tolerances of both machines: the Harbor freight wins ! But again the JET was purchased used. I know logic would have the JET win, but in all important measurments the HF is a winner.
And as a final note: those hints to buy a 13X40 instead of a 12X36 is all good. I would have not crashed my carriage( I did it more than twice) had I a longer bed to work with. It is too easy to be watching a cut closely and not notice a coming collision of the carriage into the gear box. At least put a switch in so that the machine cuts off when you reach the end. I did that and all is well now.

That is the first good service report I have heard from harbor freight. Good information, thanks. I wonder if buying from a store and getting the freebies is a better choice than mail order.

Kelly

 

[rhncue]

That is the first good service report I have heard from harbor freight. Good information, thanks. I wonder if buying from a store and getting the freebies is a better choice than mail order.

Kelly

I agree with all you've said in both posts. I've never owned a H/F lathe but I've looked them over many times and compared them to my Enco and Jet lathes and they are nearly identical and when I needed parts for the Enco , if they were out I would just get them from Grizzly so they all must have the same pedigree lineage. Just like getting a new dog. You've got pay more for the pick of the litter and then work your way down.

Dick

 

[rhncue]

I have a Jet belt driven lathe which I bought used, and the Harbor Freight . Both are 12x36 size.
The Harbor Freight is gear driven which is convenient and not as noisy as one would think. The manager at the store threw in an extended on site warranty for 2 yrs for free when I bought it. I had to use the warranty twice. A motor contactor did not work properly right after uncrating, and to repair that I had to call the service line and an engineer helped me trouble shoot the problem. My included wiring diagram was hard to read, so the engineeer sent me a factory electrical print of my system to help me in the future. And she sent a new contactor, which did the job and worked fine. I could have had a rep come out, but I am inclined to repair electrical issues myself, and wanted to learn. The second time I needed a repair, was due to an oil leak. They sent out a local machine repair tech and he repaired it free. I got service within a couple days. One would think Harbor Freight is junk and the service is crap from what I have read here many times in the past. But I cannot complain one little bit. The extended warranty service is terrific.
I also crashed the carriage into the gear box and ripped up some parts. I called the parts dept, this repair was due to my own stupidity. They sent me new parts promptly and the critical parts were in stock. One part needed to be shipped from China, but it was minor, a shaft, so I made one myself and I have not had a problem since. The parts were very inexpensive I might add. I was floored that gears were so cheap!
Now: the JET is an older Taiwanese made unit that is really a 12X38 in size. It is belt driven. It had a bad CounterGear and a worn gear to drive the carriage. The countergear was not available anywhere. JET makes the lathe in China now and redesigned it. NO parts were available. I have a friend that owns a machine shop, together we made both gears and it works super now.
I will say that after measuring the tolerances of both machines: the Harbor freight wins ! But again the JET was purchased used. I know logic would have the JET win, but in all important measurments the HF is a winner.
And as a final note: those hints to buy a 13X40 instead of a 12X36 is all good. I would have not crashed my carriage( I did it more than twice) had I a longer bed to work with. It is too easy to be watching a cut closely and not notice a coming collision of the carriage into the gear box. At least put a switch in so that the machine cuts off when you reach the end. I did that and all is well now.

I believe you and I have the same model of Jet lathe. Mine was made in 1983. I got it used in very good shape but it had no chuck nor backing plate, just a Turning plate. When I tried to get a properly threaded chuck mounting plate is when I ran into problems and found it was a real oddball and no longer made. I was going to make a plate out of a cast blank but ran into a deal on a Hardinge d-6 closer, backing plate, collets and the mount from the front of the spindle. I adapted the front mount to my spindle and now have a very accurate J-2 collet system that goes from 1/8 to 1 3/8 inch in 1/16 increments. Very happy with it.

Dick

 

[cueman]

I have a 13 x 40 Jet that I use for metal work. The only cue work I have done on it is some coring. I can see for sure that if I want to use it for all types of cue work that I really do need the 40 inch length instead of the tighter 36 inch one. Grizzly and Jet make tighter machines over all than Enco and HF. But Enco and HF often charge less for replacement parts. Many of the machines have interchangable parts from one brand to the next, so you might can get the part for a Jet from Enco and save some dollars if you can figure out the Enco equivilant model number. I really think my Jet is over priced compared to Enco or even Grizzly, but many have told me that the Jet is a little better made machine. Is it worth the extra hundreds of dollars??? Who knows!

 

[tableman]

Thanks for all the input guys. I understand the lubricating aspect Kelly. I just don't want to find a lathe that's been used in a machine shop for 50 years that is caked with gunk. (like some of the ones I've used on jobs before ) Just as I thought, it sounds like the 40" is the best choice. I can see where tooling will take up space quickly.