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Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Gunsmithing
Looking at some lathes and mills on auction
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<blockquote data-quote="Trickymissfit" data-source="post: 726032" data-attributes="member: 25383"><p>keep in mind that the American lathe parts are near impossible to come by these days. Those LeBlonds are probably in the same catagory as well. Not sure about the Southbends. On any of them you can get a new lead screw from a shop up in Traverse City Michigan. Clausings are still being built last time I heard, and are pretty good lathes. The condition of the equipment is what you must check out (I wrote a long post on how to look over a lathe and a mill a while back). The issue with the tubes can be hit or miss, but you can often still buy them. Avoid any thoughts about converting one to solid state. I've yet to ever see one work well. Bridgeport parts are fairly common, and if it's a step pulley head you got a good one. They still have a lot of trouble with the variable speed heads. If the slides are hard chromed, they are very hard to rebuild, and seem to wear rapidly. The best lathe for gunsmith work is a Monarch EE with a 10" or larger chuck. They made them with tubes and also solid state. Parts are hard to come by, but a good one is a Cadillac (pretty much any Monarch)</p><p> </p><p>You pretty much figure that if it's a used lathe you need to rescrape in the compound at the least. That will set you back anywhere from $400 to a thousand dollars or more (gibs being shot). Make sure that the spindle is free of dings and hickys where the chuck mates to it. Clutch parts are out there, and the designs are fairly simple. A motor rebuild can be expensive. Bearing packs will vary on spindles, and can be anywhere from $300 to $3500. Tail stocks seem to catch a lot of abuse, so check the quill very closely and expect to shim the tail stock into proper alignment after the bed of the lathe is properly leveled (90% are never done right). The cross slide can be a real animal, and the only good way to check it is to pull it. If the apron has hardened ways your ahead of the game. But if they are messed up you can do nothing but send the complete apron out to somebody like Viking for a complete regrind ($$$). If the bed ways are showing a lot of wear you have a real problem that's not an easy fix. You could be looking at $4.5K for a complete regring of the apron and ways plus shipping. By the way Viking is the absolute best I've ever seen and used. Normally somebody that knows what they are doing will charge about 45% of the cost of the machine when new for a complete rebuild. Some are higher and some are lower, but you usually get what you paid for here.</p><p> </p><p>I few years back I rebuilt a couple Bridgeports (42" tables with chromed ways). I ended up sending the tables and saddles out to Viking for about $1700 each. Had them grind all the way surfaces and table top and sides for installation of optical scales. Dovetails came in at about .0002" or maybe slightly less measured off gauge pins. The saddle came in at about one tenth, and were pretty much done when I got them. The knee was in pretty good shape, and simply had the chrome stripped and a minor rescrape (about two days work on each knee). I used the ball screw setup from Lead Screw International. The variable speed heads had to have a complete rebuild with new quills and one new frame ( bearings had spun in the quill, and the bore on one frame was worn out). Been cheaper to buy a complete head from Bridgeport in the end! I ended up with two machines that had less than .0005" compound error in 16" compaired to Bridgeports normal .001" in 12". Not really worth my time, but that's what they wanted. Could have bought new machines for that kinda money, and I tried to tell them that at the start.</p><p> </p><p>You also might want to look for a Southwest Trac vertical mill that uses a similar head to the Bridgeport. I think they are a better mill, and are easilly rebuildable. My favorite is the one built by Willis Machine. It uses #40 tool holders and has a much better way design that's very easy to rebuild. Spindle is similar to a Bridgeport but built a lot heavier. Ways work off Turcite, so they should show much if any wear. It's easy to change the Turcite or simply Moglice it and forget it.</p><p> </p><p>Lastly none of the machines you listed will work very well with a three phase convertor. You need the real deal here!</p><p>gary</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Trickymissfit, post: 726032, member: 25383"] keep in mind that the American lathe parts are near impossible to come by these days. Those LeBlonds are probably in the same catagory as well. Not sure about the Southbends. On any of them you can get a new lead screw from a shop up in Traverse City Michigan. Clausings are still being built last time I heard, and are pretty good lathes. The condition of the equipment is what you must check out (I wrote a long post on how to look over a lathe and a mill a while back). The issue with the tubes can be hit or miss, but you can often still buy them. Avoid any thoughts about converting one to solid state. I've yet to ever see one work well. Bridgeport parts are fairly common, and if it's a step pulley head you got a good one. They still have a lot of trouble with the variable speed heads. If the slides are hard chromed, they are very hard to rebuild, and seem to wear rapidly. The best lathe for gunsmith work is a Monarch EE with a 10" or larger chuck. They made them with tubes and also solid state. Parts are hard to come by, but a good one is a Cadillac (pretty much any Monarch) You pretty much figure that if it's a used lathe you need to rescrape in the compound at the least. That will set you back anywhere from $400 to a thousand dollars or more (gibs being shot). Make sure that the spindle is free of dings and hickys where the chuck mates to it. Clutch parts are out there, and the designs are fairly simple. A motor rebuild can be expensive. Bearing packs will vary on spindles, and can be anywhere from $300 to $3500. Tail stocks seem to catch a lot of abuse, so check the quill very closely and expect to shim the tail stock into proper alignment after the bed of the lathe is properly leveled (90% are never done right). The cross slide can be a real animal, and the only good way to check it is to pull it. If the apron has hardened ways your ahead of the game. But if they are messed up you can do nothing but send the complete apron out to somebody like Viking for a complete regrind ($$$). If the bed ways are showing a lot of wear you have a real problem that's not an easy fix. You could be looking at $4.5K for a complete regring of the apron and ways plus shipping. By the way Viking is the absolute best I've ever seen and used. Normally somebody that knows what they are doing will charge about 45% of the cost of the machine when new for a complete rebuild. Some are higher and some are lower, but you usually get what you paid for here. I few years back I rebuilt a couple Bridgeports (42" tables with chromed ways). I ended up sending the tables and saddles out to Viking for about $1700 each. Had them grind all the way surfaces and table top and sides for installation of optical scales. Dovetails came in at about .0002" or maybe slightly less measured off gauge pins. The saddle came in at about one tenth, and were pretty much done when I got them. The knee was in pretty good shape, and simply had the chrome stripped and a minor rescrape (about two days work on each knee). I used the ball screw setup from Lead Screw International. The variable speed heads had to have a complete rebuild with new quills and one new frame ( bearings had spun in the quill, and the bore on one frame was worn out). Been cheaper to buy a complete head from Bridgeport in the end! I ended up with two machines that had less than .0005" compound error in 16" compaired to Bridgeports normal .001" in 12". Not really worth my time, but that's what they wanted. Could have bought new machines for that kinda money, and I tried to tell them that at the start. You also might want to look for a Southwest Trac vertical mill that uses a similar head to the Bridgeport. I think they are a better mill, and are easilly rebuildable. My favorite is the one built by Willis Machine. It uses #40 tool holders and has a much better way design that's very easy to rebuild. Spindle is similar to a Bridgeport but built a lot heavier. Ways work off Turcite, so they should show much if any wear. It's easy to change the Turcite or simply Moglice it and forget it. Lastly none of the machines you listed will work very well with a three phase convertor. You need the real deal here! gary [/QUOTE]
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Looking at some lathes and mills on auction
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