First let me say that I have NO experiance with lathes, but I have always wanted to aquire one and learn how to use it. So heres the deal, I have an opportunity to purchase a lathe like the one linked below for under 1k and would like some input. Thanks guys!

sharp 1764T

If you have 3-phase power or don't mind running a phase converter. Jump all over that deal.
That is a super deal on a lathe.
Joe

If you have the room, it's alot bigger than you need for gun work.

That's a real good deal ; Even if you need to replace headstock bearings and it any tooling goes with

a " Super Sweet Deal " !. A Quality phase converter for up to 10 Hp. would be the ticket if 3 phase is

unavailable too you .

I would use a VFD instead of a phase convertor. Several advantages. It is larger than I would want for the majority of GS work.
Butch

I have operated several of the "Sharp" lathes over the years and they are good machines. For a grand, if it's in operable condition, you can't go wrong.

great machine for a great price.

Not a good machine to learn on.

Kind of like learning how to drive a car in a top fuel dragster never having driven anything else before.

I'd recommend learning on a small belt drive where the machine won't eat you if you make a mistake. There were some horrible pictures of a large lathe with a taste for Asian over on the benchrestcentral forum a while back.

A belt drive Southbend could take one of your fingers and then slip the belt but a 7 1/2 HP large gear drive lathe could eat you in a few seconds.

Buy the lathe, then check with a vo-tech school and see if classes are available. There you'll get the basics.

Enjoy!

IMO, its too big. It will work for gunsmithing but as often as I change out chucks I don't want to deal with a 4-jaw that big without a crane. But Sharp makes nice machines and it sounds like a good price.

What chucks and tooling do you get with it?
What is the condition?
Is that the actual photo of the machine you are talking about.

There are several alternatives

1. Good machine and tooling
Buy it and put smaller chucks on it suitable for gunsmithing.
2. Same condition - Buy it and swap it for a 13" lathe of equal quality with lots of tooling

3. Indifferent condition and or little tooling
It is a roll of the dice to mess with it.
You have to move it and you either have to spend more money to get it running or you have to hope you can trade it off.

It would be good for working on .50 BMGs but I would prefer a 13" for general use.

My 2 cents worth-

I'd pass on this machine. If you own a forklift company maybe it's different for you but this is a big machine, and it is going to require some electricity to use. A phase converter would be simple and cheap to make up, but I'd be afraid everything else is going to be costly, especially mistakes because we all make them when learning.

I think you'd be better off getting something with a 4" swing than a huge machine like this. You can use it to learn and make little items and then decide if you want something bigger, and if so then how much.

Jump all over that bad boy!

at my level, i would buy it in a second .. if a beginner, it's a deadly contraption that will hurt/kill you...

i wish i lived closer, i would just come get it and save you from the temptation

7;5hp vfd or phase or rpc .. all are going to cost a bundle.. replace main with a 2 or 3 hp 220 single phase and be done with it

I've made my own rotary & static phase converters in the past and use VFDs as well. If I were hooking up the lathe in the picture I'd try and run three phase to it. It could be running by your shop and don't even know it. Best way to hook up a 3 phase machine. If you plan on getting a mill & surface grinder later it could be money well spent installing 3 phase. If it's available.

dood that's big, and 7.5 hp is not small, it's half of a 15-amp circuit.

I started with a much smaller lathe, it still keeps me on my toes.

that lathe would be like learning to pilot a big yacht when learning to drive boats.

I learned on a 20" LeBlond. Of course we had hoist and cherry pickers to lift things. I think L00 or D1-4 tooling is as large as I would want to change by myself.
Butch

Butch
You say "I learned" in your first sentence and "we had" in the 2nd. This leads me to believe that there was someone right there to guide you in the right direction as well as someone to come running if you yelled for help.

My impression of what idahoelk101 is saying is that he would buy the machine, hook it up in his garage and learn to use it with no one there to help if he got in trouble. Wish he'd chime back in.

I got my shirt tail ripped off in high school by a 9" SBend lead screw. I was pulling with both hands on my shirt while someone else hit the switch. At least the newer machines have the foot brake you can stomp on. I've got a 9" SBend that I've had for years and hope to teach my boys to run it when they are old enough. I've thought about building a foot brake for it.

This was in the 60s in a defense industry plant. It took about 5 minutes instruction on reading a mic. I was shown the on and off button, it had a clutch release arm that was both the engagement for the chuck and the brake. I was making the body of the 155mm artillery round. It was a tracer lathe. He ran 2 parts and left me with the machine. Would they do that today? No. On the weekends for overtime I worked the larger lathes to turn both ends of the 2,000lb bomb bodies. Yes, we had overhead hoist and didn't have to change tooling. After 6 months I went into the tooling dept., which did maintenance on all of the machines, repairs, and built tooling. I mostly did Jigbore work. It was the best job as it was in an air conditioned room. It gets hot in a big manufacturing plant in Texas in the summer.
I did get a few cuts from chips, but no other accidents in my 5-6 years in the shop.
Butch

Wait a minute ; Who said a lathe will kill you ?. So will a gun !.

The two biggest errors for beginning lathe operators are Lose clothing A NO NO !.

The other is lack of concentration pay very close attention to speed depth of cut and one of the most

important NEVER leave anything like the chuck wrench in the chuck !.

I still say it's a Very Good Deal , and as others have suggested . Community colleges generally have

basic as well as advanced programs to learn from . Even some local machine shop operators

would be willing to let you observe or even train you to use it properly . A kind word and

financial motivation GO ALONG WAY !. That's how I started , also on a LeBlond and Monarch .

I Lived !. Besides if it proves to much for you to handle , it's resalable as well as

trade able for something you could handle . A 5 Hp single phase motor wouldn't be out of the question

if 3 phase isn't available or you have no further intentions of additional 3 phase machinery .

You guys nailed it TOOO BIG for a rookie. Seemed like a good deal and if I had the space and EXPERIANCE I might have thought about it. Condition was OK, and the guy had someone else on the way to look so I took a pass and will have to keep looking.

Thanks

I think that you will regret it later.
Butch

I was making a spider for my 4 th lathe this week and grabbed at a long spiral chip that cut my fore finger and thumb.

Buying a lathe is more like getting married than buying 100 shares of a securities common stock.

It is a pain to move her in and a pain to move her out.

I am building a lathe cradle today.
When I was younger, 80 pound chucks were heavy. Now 40 pound chucks are heavy.

quote:

I was making a spider for my 4 th lathe this week and grabbed at a long spiral chip that cut my fore finger and thumb.

Please DO NOT ever do that again, get a chip hook or anything that isnt skin...Please!

quote:

important NEVER leave anything like the chuck wrench in the chuck !.

The rule is simple - NEVER TAKE YOUR HAND OFF THE CHUCK KEY WHILE IT IS IN THE CHUCK!

For safety, there are procedures and do's and don'ts. Learn them first. And good luck!

Don't yawn while making interrupted cuts.

Don't use strip of emery cloth wrapped around your part to polish it.

Don't use lathe files without a handle.

Don't use a screw on chuck unless you put it on really tight.

quote:

Originally posted by SR4759:
Don't yawn while making interrupted cuts.

It is just a Lathe not some machine of death. I never met a machinists without a scar but they had all there body parts.

quote:

Originally posted by J_Zola:
It is just a Lathe not some machine of death. I never met a machinists without a scar but they had all there body parts.

ABSOLUTELY DO NOT view these pictures if you're squeemish. This is what can happen in a worst case scenario. Rotating machines are not something to be taken lightly. I never thought things like this happened. But on rare occasion they do. I would guess that this guy had run a lathe before.

http://www.benchrest.com/forum...ghlight=lathe+safety

Back in High School we saw a safety film where a long haired lathe operator got his hair wrapped around something in the lathe and it ripped a big chunk of scalp out of his head after bouncing his head off the chuck. The link above is much worse then missing part of your scalp.

quote:

Originally posted by J_Zola:
It is just a Lathe not some machine of death. I never met a machinists without a scar but they had all there body parts.

WRONG -- It is a tool that WILL kill you, if you feed it skin, clothing, or hair. If you fail to respect it, it will cause you great harm or death.

However, so will a car, a gun, fire, a chainsaw, electricity, and a million other tools.

RESPECT THEM and understand you can't stop them. Newbies FREQENTY reach out to grab something that will hurt them.

I know a machinist that had twenty years of experience when a 15 inch lablonde Regal took his hand off. He was polishing a shaft with a 50yrd roll of emory cloth. instead of pulling off small pieces, he had the box on the floor and just pulled the end up to the work. He got wraped up in it and in the end it pulled his hand off. The doctors reattached the hand but it did not mend and had to come back off.

Experience can cause one to become complacaint and forget about the basics. mostly safety.

We all need a reminder from time to time to work safely.
Timan