Buying a lathe is a big decision. A machine shop owner should consider the type of work they plan to do and future plans.
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The lathe is one of the more complex machinery available to home workshop owners, or industrial production shops. It is also one of the most expensive tools to purchase. This is due to the level of engineering that goes into this machine, which can create metal shapes with incredible precision and accuracy. It is no wonder that this tool is so sought after for making everything from aircraft parts to automobiles.
When shopping for a new lathe, there are a few essential factors that should be kept in mind. The first thing to consider is what you will be using the machine for. The size of the work that you will be doing is important as well. It may not be the final decision-maker, but it will help narrow down your options as you shop.
Other things to look at include the swing measurement and bed measurements. Swing is the maximum diameter of a workpiece that can be turned, and bed is the overall length of the lathe that you will be working with. Also be sure to check out the chuck, as this is what will hold your workpieces. Most lathes will have a chuck that can secure workpieces up to about 66 inches in diameter. Some chucks will even have a through-hole, which can allow longer barstock to extend into the back of the lathe.
You will also want to see if the lathe has a quick change gearbox. This makes it much easier to swap out the gears depending on what you are doing, and will save you a lot of time and frustration. The quality of the gears is another important factor; a good set will have little to no backlash and will run smoothly.
A final factor to consider is the power of the motor. The more torque a lathe can provide, the better it will be for things like screw and thread cutting. Many smaller lathes will use a brushed DC motor, but larger machines will likely have an AC induction or brushless DC motor. These are more efficient than a traditional brushed motor and provide more consistent power, especially at lower speeds where the most torque is needed.
Most modern lathes are powered by a geared headstock. This is attached to a carriage for longitudinal movement and a cross slide for axial motion. The geared headstock drives a series of changeable gears, and this in turn provides plenty of power to the rotating spindle.
Depending on the type of work being done, you’ll need different types of accessories. For example, if you’re turning long shafts, you’ll need a steady rest. This bolts to the bed of the lathe and supports the shaft while you’re working on it. You’ll also need a live center and a dead center to hold the workpiece in place. For the tailstock, you’ll want a three-jaw or four-jaw chuck. You can also add a faceplate to work on larger pieces that cannot be held in the tailstock.
Another feature you’ll want in a lathe is speed control. This allows you to run the tool at the correct cutting speed for any diameter you’re working on. This can be manually done by changing belts on stepped pulleys or electronically with a rheostat similar to a light dimmer.
Before purchasing a new lathe, machinists need to decide what type of work they will be doing with the tool. Lathes are divided into a few categories, including engine lathes and turret lathes for metalwork and woodworking lathes for other projects. When deciding what kind of lathe to purchase, shop owners must also consider the size and geometry of the parts they plan on producing. For example, if a project requires a long, slender shaft, it’s best to buy a lathe that can accommodate this length or consider an addition of a tailstock to the machine.
The basic two-axis lathe consists of the headstock with spindle, chuck for holding the part, carriage and cross-slide, and tool turret. If a project requires the part to be turned on an axis other than the headstock, then a mandrel can be used to hold it. A mandrel is a tapered axle that can be forced into the hole in the workpiece. This can be used for supporting the piece between centers or in a faceplate.
To ensure that a machined workpiece is accurate, the tool bits must be made from the correct material and ground to the proper angles. For example, a roughing tool should have a smaller radius than a finishing tool. In addition, the overall shape of a tool bit can affect the quality and performance of the cutting action.
Shops must always keep a good supply of spare parts and accessories on hand to make the most of their lathes. These include three- and four-jaw chucks, faceplates, live center, and various Morse taper adapters for the tailstock. They should also consider adding a collet chuck and a steady rest to their arsenal of lathe equipment. Lastly, it’s important to have enough power capacity for the lathe machine. If possible, a 220-volt, three-phase electrical system should be used. If not, a phase converter can be purchased to increase power capability.
A lathe is probably the most important machine tool in any shop. In fact, anything that involves moving or round parts probably has a part made by a lathe somewhere in its construction. This makes it a vital tool for the engineer to have, and one that requires careful consideration when buying.
First of all, the size of the workshop is a major factor in what type and size lathe to buy. There is little point in buying a large, expensive lathe that will only be used for small jobs. On the other hand, a smaller, cheaper machine might be left unattended and unused for long periods of time. In this case, the value of the machine may drop significantly in comparison to its original purchase price.
The next thing to consider is the headstock spindle and chuck. The spindle should be a good fit for the chuck and should not have any looseness. The condition of the chuck should also be considered, as this will affect how true the chuck will spin. In addition, the threads and bearing surfaces on both the spindle and chuck should be well-lubricated.
Finally, a steady rest should be included with the lathe to support shaft work and other longish pieces while turning. This should bolt to the bed and provide a solid mount for between centers work. It should be drilled through with a Morse taper for both live center and tailstock work.
There is no substitute for hands-on experience with a machine, so if you can find a used lathe at a garage sale or at an auction, try it out and see if it meets your needs. It is always better to do this than to be disappointed when you buy a machine that has a number of features that aren’t useful to you. In this way, you can avoid a costly mistake and get the best value for your money.
If you’re financially squeamish, this might not be the right story for you. We’ll finish out this series by significantly increasing our investment of space, time and money, but we’ll also significantly increase our capabilities. We’ll cover our purchase of a lathe in this installment, then talk about our Bridgeport vertical knee mill next time.
These are real tools that cost real money, and you’ll need to budget a few thousand dollars to follow along at home. On the bright side, you can accumulate these machines and tools gradually, and if you buy right, they’ll actually appreciate in value as you build parts.
Lathes and mills may look different, but they’re remarkably similar. The lathe spins the work while holding the tool steady, while the mill spins the tool while holding the work steady.
Seriously, that’s all there is to defining the genres. We’d call them complementary tools, and every well-equipped machine shop has both. If you can only have one, though, we recommend starting with a lathe.
The basic layout of a lathe is simple: There’s a bed with ways, on which the carriage slides back and forth. One end has the head stock assembly and spindle, which holds the spinning part, while the other end has a moveable tailstock, which holds the drill chucks, centers and more. To build parts, metal is put into the chuck mounted on the spindle, then tools are attached to the carriage and used to cut the metal.
What can you build with a lathe? “Round things” is the standard answer, but part of being a machinist is figuring out how to use the tools at hand to solve the problem–even if that means using the tools to make new tools.
Rule number one: There are no rules. As long as you don’t do something unsafe, just about any combination of tool, setup, machine and technique is fair game if the result is the part you were hoping to create.
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A skilled operator can use a lathe to make bushings, spacers, shafts, hubs and more. Basically, if a part can be drawn with cones, spheres and cylinders, you can probably make it on a lathe.
And that’s before you get creative. With the proper attachments, you can also use a lathe for light millwork, like cutting a keyway or milling a slot, or for some more specialized techniques, like winding your own springs.
We’ll explain it this way: Some tools are obviously designed to do one thing out of the box incredibly well, like a balljoint press or an inner tie-rod removal kit. Other tools, like a vise, don’t have any obvious purpose or project out of the box, but over time you wonder how you could ever live without one on your bench.
Lathes fall firmly into the latter category. Drag one home and you’ll soon realize why every great shop has a lathe in the corner.
“I think I’m going to bid on a mill at this furniture auction.”
That was how we opened our call to Steve Eckerich, lifelong friend, machinist and advisor when it comes to our every tool purchase. His response was a sigh, an explanation of how to evaluate a used mill, and then a simple statement: “If I could only keep one tool in my entire shop, it would be my lathe. Are you sure you want to start with a mill?”
Damn right we were. After all, buying that crappy mill from the back corner of an off-brand couch auction would open up a whole new world of building parts, and we couldn’t wait to bid it up to the top of our budget–just $300.
We watched the bidding unfold: $50, $100, $150, $200, $250, $300 and….
Nowhere near sold. That tiny off-brand bench mill sold for more than twice the cash in our pocket, and a smirking old man opposite us in the crowd became its new owner.
The group walked over to the next lot, a lathe that looked like something you’d buy out of a Sears catalog at the train depot, and the bidding began: $50, $100, $150, $200…SOLD.
Shockingly, we were holding the winning paddle. Maybe it was fate, maybe it was divine intervention, or maybe Steve Eckerich really is that powerful. We’d just bought our first lathe.
What does $200 buy in the used lathe market? If you’re as lucky as we were, you’ll get a Craftsman 6-inch lathe, also sold under the Atlas brand name. We also received a few buckets of random tooling, some extra chucks, milling and taper attachments, and a stand to put it all on.
If that read like Greek to you: same.
Our Craftsman lathe was serviceable, but ultimately too small for our needs.
We had no idea what we’d purchased, but over the next few years we slowly learned the ropes of maintaining and running a lathe. We learned that 6-inch refers to the maximum diameter of work that can be turned. We learned that our lathe’s antique “lantern” tool post was frustrating and slow when changing tools.
But we used it. There are parts made on that Craftsman on our LS-swapped 350Z and our Isuzu Trooper. Thanks to YouTube videos, we were able to learn how to run a lathe effectively, even when cutting tough metals like stainless steel.
But we also learned that, above all else, our lathe was just too small for what we wanted to do.
After giving the little Craftsman a bath, a tune-up and a modern quick-change tool post, we sold it to a friend for $500. We credit the pandemic for most of our lathe’s appreciation, but this is also a great example of how well these sorts of tools hold their value.
Our first lathe wasn’t great, but it was a great learning exercise. We kept a wish list every time we used it for a project, culminating in the following:
Wishlist in hand, we cruised Facebook Marketplace for a few months until we stumbled across our next lathe: a rusty JET PS on a homebuilt stand. The asking price was just north of $, and its location was less than 45 minutes from home. After talking the seller down to $700, we loaded up our newest acquisition with the help of the seller’s old tow truck and headed home.
Start buying real tools, and you’ll need a real plan to drag them home. Ours involved a tow truck, flatbed trailer, engine hoist and car skates.
What exactly is a JET PS? This imported machine is about 40 years old and definitely one solid step up from the Craftsman. It’s about the best machine we could reasonably fit into our garage and budget. It weighs about 800 pounds and has a 12-inch capacity with a 36-inch-long bed–hence the in its name. It also has the other niceties on our wish list: a quick-change gearbox, a much bigger motor and a quick-change tool post.
We spent a week or so getting our the JET ready for action, which meant a thorough wipe-down with ATF, replacing the seals around the spindle, and rewiring the motor to plug into a 220V outlet. Along the way, we got to take an intimate look at our new lathe’s condition and realized it was in great shape–we’d rolled the dice and gotten lucky. Finally, we had a real lathe in the garage.
Meet our newest tool, this JET PS. For just $700, it wasn’t perfect but didn’t have any major flaws. We cleaned it up, fixed the wiring, replaced a few seals and started making parts.
But we soon realized that, just like pet guinea pigs, pet lathes are happier with a buddy. In our quest to build the best parts possible, we’ll find a milling machine companion for our lathe in the next installment and take our home machine shop to the next level.
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