Thinking about getting a new lathe. What is the least I could get by with for chambering. Meaning between centers. My old lathe is 36 inchs between centers now and is getting worn out plus I dont have all the gears for threads.
I was looking at one thats 20 inchs between centers now. I been using short chambered barrels so dont need much between centers. Have old lathe for turning barrels. What do you guys think? Bill B.

Howdy and welcome to the forums.

On the lathe, you'll be most interested in LOW LOW speed, under 150, and acuracy.

a 20"?.. looking at a monarch?

next thing to worry about is a large spindle hole... should be 1.25 or larger

jeffe

Dear Bill,
Jeffe is right on the ball. If you are going to be sticking the barrel into the chuck, using a heavy duty steady rest for the chamber area and are ONLY going to be using light contour barrels a 20" lathe could work. Problems arise if the thru-hole in the headstock is only 7/8" or so like on some of the Encos etc. No way a varmint contour barrel will work and your bed is too short to hold the barrel and work full-length. If you find an old Monarch or LeBlonde with a big hole you can always make up a spider for the back side of the headstock and run that way too as long as the readout on the bore is under.001. I use my old 16x72 Monarch for most of my barreling and sometimes the 14x40 Sheldon. I`d stat with a longer lathe bed for the added versatility. Just my opinion. Good luck.

Aloha, Mark

I was thinking the same thing. The hole is small for sure. But I would have threads sizes on the 20" lathe. I've been looking for a good used lathe but they are hard to come by. The prices are as much as some new ones. Than I dont know about some of these cheap lathes you can by new if their worth the money your going to spend on them. My old lathe is missing a lot of the gears I need and to replace them is a almost as much as a new cheap lathe. Thanks Bill B

Most of the 20" length lathes I've seen just don't have the rigidity for good work. While you don't need a 36-40" length bed for barrel work, most lathes with sufficient rigidity in the bed, and a big enough hole in the headstock are going to have longer beds as well.

The import machines are capable of doing good work, so long as you take the time to do the work the factories don't do. Which is to say, strip them down and clean them, put good lubes in them, and properly align them. After this is done, the'll do work as good as you can, and should last the home metalworker a lifetime.

Paul,
isn't the monarch 10EE really a 20" between centers?

that's really what I meant to imply

j

One nice thing about the older Monarch 10EE is that the DC motor runs on single phase. The coolant pump is the only 3 phase item on the lathe. No need to buy a phase converter.
John