So I have a cheapie HF small lathe that I've had for about 10 years now. It was always rickety and now even moreso. Thinking it's time for an upgrade.
Been off an on looking at smaller units. Space is a major concern. Saw a South Bend 1944 9A locally for 1700 with some tooling, and as much as I'd like to jump on it, I just dont have the space and I dont want to have to restore, mess with it, tinker, etc, etc. Seller states 'excellent' condition, but I dont know enough about them to verify that. I know there are a ton of these around and so good user support, but want something I can plug in and run.
So usage. I only infrequently use my current lathe. Partly because I dont have much I need to machine often, but also because I look for reasons NOT to use it because it's just not fun to use. It's fiddly, nothing on it seems 'tight'... I cant really do much with it other than delrin or aluminum without a ton of frustration. Case in point, yesterday I chopped off the choke on a barrel I intend to shoot slugs with. I could only get through 1/3 of the barrel and it was rough. Ended up using a hack saw and then facing it with the lathe, which was an adventure, but I eventually got it done.
I know Little Machine Shop sells the China lathes already QC'd and with upgraded parts and apparently their customer support is top notch.
I've looked at some of the larger benchtop Grizzly options, but see a lot of issues with them from folks. Seems hit or miss. I have a Grizzly band saw and after quite a lot of truing it up, etc, it does fine... but any adjustment to it is a PIA.
I think Precision Matthews is in the same category with LMS from what I've read.
Sherline has some interesting options, but their lathes are tiny... as in like 25lbs tiny. I've read that they perform above their weight, but would seem that there needs to be some mass there. Maybe these folks are making RC car parts and similar with them.
Any others I should look at or does anyone have any advice? Biggest criteria is I'd like to have a machine I dont have to mess with constantly to use. Price around the 2500 mark max. Benchtop size but still stout enough for some small parts from steel on occasion. I'm good with smaller cuts, been used to that.
Been off an on looking at smaller units. Space is a major concern. Saw a South Bend 1944 9A locally for 1700 with some tooling, and as much as I'd like to jump on it, I just dont have the space and I dont want to have to restore, mess with it, tinker, etc, etc. Seller states 'excellent' condition, but I dont know enough about them to verify that. I know there are a ton of these around and so good user support, but want something I can plug in and run.
So usage. I only infrequently use my current lathe. Partly because I dont have much I need to machine often, but also because I look for reasons NOT to use it because it's just not fun to use. It's fiddly, nothing on it seems 'tight'... I cant really do much with it other than delrin or aluminum without a ton of frustration. Case in point, yesterday I chopped off the choke on a barrel I intend to shoot slugs with. I could only get through 1/3 of the barrel and it was rough. Ended up using a hack saw and then facing it with the lathe, which was an adventure, but I eventually got it done.
I know Little Machine Shop sells the China lathes already QC'd and with upgraded parts and apparently their customer support is top notch.
I've looked at some of the larger benchtop Grizzly options, but see a lot of issues with them from folks. Seems hit or miss. I have a Grizzly band saw and after quite a lot of truing it up, etc, it does fine... but any adjustment to it is a PIA.
I think Precision Matthews is in the same category with LMS from what I've read.
Sherline has some interesting options, but their lathes are tiny... as in like 25lbs tiny. I've read that they perform above their weight, but would seem that there needs to be some mass there. Maybe these folks are making RC car parts and similar with them.
Any others I should look at or does anyone have any advice? Biggest criteria is I'd like to have a machine I dont have to mess with constantly to use. Price around the 2500 mark max. Benchtop size but still stout enough for some small parts from steel on occasion. I'm good with smaller cuts, been used to that.