Grizzly lathe

Paul Dayton said:
Get the 6 jaw chuck. I have collets that I use every 10 years or so and then only one or two collets. The 40 inch bed is the only possible choice if you have the room. The NSK tapered rollers and better are more than you will ever need and as a general rule, you get what you pay for and it is almost always better and cheaper to buy the good stuff new rather than having to try and improve what you have. I have a Sharp 1340 VS. I bought 9 years ago and it is my best investment. As an additional comment I have to point out that with what we are doing, spending huge amounts of money to get absolutely perfect results is questionable. A $150 live center will work every bit as well as a $400 precision live center. A Hardinge tool room lathe can do more accurate work but we are working with wood . In the end it will be the quality of the work you do that will matter the most and after a certain point the precision quality of the tools becomes irrelevant. If they do the job right, there probably isn't going to be something that will do the job righter. Merry Christmas
Click to expand...

Paul I'm going to get a 6 jaw chuck and clean up the face plate to match. Just need to doing everything I can to tweak the Grizzly. Thanks for the great info.
 
Long boring bar, brake cylinder hone and a few hours labor, is all it takes to true up a through hole. My first lathe had a 7/8" bore. I managed to take it to 1.125". Which was big enough to do joint work.

Larry
 
Sport666 said:
Joe I was looking for a old American steel lathe. I'm restricted to single phase, and only found crap for top dollar. I went to a machine shop to look at a Sheldon, I was excited and thought this is going to be my baby. Not only I was set back by the condition of lathe the shop was a war zone. Thanks Frank
Click to expand...

And a lot of people are delusional in pricing them.
I still have one Clausing. The greatest thing about these old Yankee steel is, they seem to have been made to make pool cues. They are so much easier to work with compared to these big gear heads today. You can spin the chuck much easier.
 
Looks like a quality piece of equipment that Eisen lathe Joey.
Wich model do you have?
 
Sport666 said:
Joe I was looking for a old American steel lathe. I'm restricted to single phase, and only found crap for top dollar. I went to a machine shop to look at a Sheldon, I was excited and thought this is going to be my baby. Not only I was set back by the condition of lathe the shop was a war zone. Thanks Frank
Click to expand...

You are NOT restricted by single phase. VFD's are very affordable and it doesn't take too much knowledge to get them set up. I've even done the unthinkable and wired mine up directly to the power supply of my lathe, using it basically as a phase converter. I've had it like this for 5 years. High speed doens't always spin up on first try, but nothing has ever smoked. Set up properly it's a lot better than the original setup. Don't count on every three phase motor to work 100% correctly when varying HZ tho.
 
You impose your own restrictions.
I also have only 1ph in my area yet I run 2 lathes and a mill, all 3ph from a single phase-converter
and all at the same time if I like; a SHELDON, a SouthBend and a BridgePort type mill.
BTW, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better suited cue-lathe than a Sheldon.
Dual V-Belt drive and 1.4" spindle bore even on the 10" models. Good Luck.

PS - I'll have the SB Hvy-10 for sale shortly. It has a 30" taper-bar installed.
Also have a big Logan looking for a new home. Again, belt dr. & big bore.
PM inquiries if interested.

KJ
 
Once you go 3phase for a lathe, you'll never want to go back to single phase.
KJ's set up is ideal, but not everyone can afford the converter up front.
With milling machines and having relays in them, full 3phase or the convertor is the only way to go.
I prefer belt drive lathes with a VFD, to a gearbox head lathe, but that is just Me.
Neil
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top