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Old 07-23-10, 04:16 PM
  #17  
NoReg
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"What bed length should I be looking for on a lathe? I need to be conservative because of space and dinero."

Length doesn't normally cost you much for two reasons:

1) Big lathes larger than grampa jobs are bound for the dump and cheap, if you want to get into one. On the other hand the old small stuff tends to go for weight type prices unless it is special. The extra length does not add much weigth. Same is somewhat true of chinese lathes. Modern quality lathes will get more expensive if larger, but but only NASA is buying that kind of stuff. There is one old brand that shows up pretty often for 400-3000, and they are still made run like 1000K for the same thing!

2) Longer saves you money since a large capacity through the head of the lathe tends to make a lathe more expensive, but you can get the same turnigng capacity from a long bed with a steady rest.

For frames, I would buy a 36". Keep two things in mind. Different cultures measure lathes differently. Some measure the arbor to quill distance, some measure the bed length which is sorter by the who head mechanism and tail stock, and some measure between centeres. OOn a small lathe like an SB 9", you want to have enough bed lenght to get something done between you jaw chuck with the toolpost outboard. On a longer tube that would be minimum 36", and could be 48. If you have a big hole in the arbor, you rarely use more than about 12" of ourboard bed, but it doesn't hurt to have the longer bed. If you buy a desireable lathe, it resells at no loss because it is already trading in the secondary market.

"Where are you seeing the 100.00 mills! Yikes!"

Normally low prices are on Kijiji, or craigs. Free come from knowing people. For horizontals I see lots of them from 400-500. I saw one for 100 in Barrie ontario. It sat there for quite a while. A farmer had it for a while. It was a perfect size to run a hole saw through a tube. I saw a 400 that looked brand new lasted a few hours was bridgeport quality, I just didn't have the space. To get these deal you have to have the money in your hand and saw "I coming over cash in hand".
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