I am thinking about getting a newer lathe for some personal gunsmiths projects.
I currently own a clausing classroom lathe but it only has a 1" spindle bore so it won't handle bench rest barrels through the head stock.
I also have a 20X65 HES lathe which is a great lathe but a little large for gunsmith work.
I am looking for suggestions for a decent quality lathe that will handle barrels through the head stock. I am thinking about a new lathe but don't know what brand to shop for.

Thank you.
Wayne

I do barrel work on centers so I have never looked for a machine like you are after. Personally I would use your Somua. It's really no bigger than a Colchester Mascot which quite a few gun plumbers use. Whatever you can do on a little machine, you can do just as well on a big machine. And, whatever you do on a big machine, well you can use the little machine for a paper weight to hold down your drawings while you're doing the job on the big machine. The big machine won't set up chatter near as bad as the little one when you are turning barrels or cutting chambers and it will cut a lot smoother if you thread with full form carbide.

I bought a Grizzly 12x36 (G4003 IIRC) before they came out with the Gunsmith version. Maybe 10 years ago? I like it. It's held up and it's accurate. I don't use it every day though. Today I'd buy the Gunsmith version. Comes with a spider/cat's head for holding barrels through the spindle bore so you don't have to make one. Also comes with a lot of tooling.

If you have the money, space, and ability to get the thing off the truck and where you want it, you might want to get the 13x40 or 14x40 model. A guy I met at the gunsmithing school at Trinidad had the longer one and really liked it. He figured it was more stable, plus he had more room/swing if he needed it.

Most experienced folks suggested getting an older Southbend heavy 10 or other older American lathe, but most I found weren't complete or didn't work or had no tooling. Many didn't have a big enough spindle for chambering barrels through the headstock. Or transportation was going to be a pain.

Anyway, I took the chance with Grizzly because they did have a customer service dept and good reviews. And I've been happy.

+1 for the G4003G. I've had one for going on 9 years. It's accurate and works fine. You might want to get better tooling than comes with it though. I bought a Bison Set-Tru chuck and that really does the job for centering a chambering job.

Use the 20". I used a 20" Lodge & Shipley for gun work. Crown a barrel, the hole in the headstock would take striped action.

Dave

A lathe to chamber in the headstock only needs good headstock bearings, short length, and a 1.375 hole. If you need the lathe for other things, an otherwise worn out one is not desirable. I use a 6913 Clausing. A Rockwell is a good machine. Depends on your needs and pocket book. A G4003 will do the job, but hold out for a heavier machine.

Don't forget to consider if you are going to be threading metric and standard. I to have the older Grizzly 12X36 and with better tooling it does fine. Mine came with a 4 jaw chuck and I made a spider. Not an expensive machine but I just work for me most of the time with it.

God Bless, Louis

Thanks for all the advice.
The HES lathe is a joy to run and I can thread between centers. When I saw the barrel off what is the best way to establish a center chamfer in the bore?
thank you.
Wayne

There is LOTS of aerospace surplus on your coast. I know because I drool over it but cannot afford freight.

Hold out for a nice 10EE x 30" and you'll have the dream machine of most gunsmiths, machinsts, and tool makers. Cost you about the same as the Grizzly.

The 10EE is a wonderful machine. Had two of them in the shop where I taught machining technology. When I left the new guy scrapped them to get a couple of new machines made in China or somewhere. Wish I'd known as they would be in my shop now.

quote:

Originally posted by drhall762:
The 10EE is a wonderful machine. Had two of them in the shop where I taught machining technology. When I left the new guy scrapped them to get a couple of new machines made in China or somewhere. Wish I'd known as they would be in my shop now.

That man should be shot.

I picked my 10EE up in Cleveland from a small machine shop who wanted to pass it on. They were out of room, loved the lathe, and I was lucky to find it. Spent a small fortune on ebay buying a NOS Jacobs collet chuck with a set of NOS collets along with a drawer full of tooling. Only thing I do not have for it is a steady rest. I have steady rests on the big south bend and the little south bend.

A very good friend of mine has a very successful business built around one of those grizzly gunsmith lathes. He builds rifles that are incredibly accurate. He's not a machinist or a mechanic and wanted a machine that was up and running, no issues, and accurate. Against my advise he bought the grizzly. It has been wonderful for him.

I think I have less money in my two South Bends and Monarch.

Hate to throw salt in your wounds but I also had 3 Jacobs collet chucks and collet sets that got scrapped. There was a lot more. He just went through wholesale and threw anything "old" in the metal scrap buckets. A pallet full of miscellaneous 3 and 4 jaw chucks went. Put a 60 ton punch press up for auction with a Japax EDM wire machine. I got the EDM wire machine for $250.00 and the 60 ton punch press for $100.00.

Keep an eye on eBay, as Nathaniel said, there always seem to be a lot of machines in California for sale.

I bought a Grizzly to solve the shipping headache but I probably wouldn't do it again. It's taken lots of tinkering to get it where I'm comfortable using it for barrel work: the chucks are garbage, I had a major vibration issue that took lots of work to solve and my start capacitor went out almost immediately.

I've heard good things about some of the Enco lathes and used one in another guy's shop that worked very well. If I were going to buy a new lathe and wanted to keep the price under $10k, I would give the Encos a close look.

quote:

Originally posted by drhall762:
Hate to throw salt in your wounds but I also had 3 Jacobs collet chucks and collet sets that got scrapped. There was a lot more. He just went through wholesale and threw anything "old" in the metal scrap buckets. A pallet full of miscellaneous 3 and 4 jaw chucks went. Put a 60 ton punch press up for auction with a Japax EDM wire machine. I got the EDM wire machine for $250.00 and the 60 ton punch press for $100.00.

He should be shot, given medical attention until he recovers and then shot again.

One thing I forgot to mention, Woodhits reminded me. My friends lathe didn't thread metric when he received it. I tried talking him through it a couple times on the phone and we could not get it to thread metric. He spent several hours on the phone with Grizzly and never got it resolved. They wanted him to pay for a guy to fly out and fix it. He sends his metric stuff to me or avoids it.

I have a 10EE and it is not suitable for chambering. Mine is 20" between centers. You will have a better chance sleeping with Miss America than finding a 30" model.
I love mine. It is a WIAD model 4000 rpm, with 3 jaw Tru Adjust, face plate, 4 jaw, and several chuck adaptors, taper, steady rest, 5C collet closer, Jacob's chuck with all the flex collets, and ELSR. I have a spare set of the high dollar vacuum tubes also.
I don't think a finer manual lathe has been made,
but just not a machine that will do it all.

I have a 10 x 36" 1 3/8 spindle hole tool room lathe by South Bend with taper attachment. Got it from the original owner, purchased in 1946.

Stand is cast iron, very heavy wouldn't trade it for anything I've used or seen.

Seen some turn up for sale, but most are kinda used up

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
You will have a better chance sleeping with Miss America than finding a 30" model.

I don't think a finer manual lathe has been made,
but just not a machine that will do it all.

I didn't realize my chances of sleeping with Miss America were that good? If you have the cash to spend they turn up on ebay regularly. One about 6 months ago went for $8k in MA. I think there are one or two on there right now for ridiculous prices.

The only thing I like better than the 10EE is our 1000 EE.

Those vacuum tubes sure hurt the wallet!

Butch, how close can you run that ELSR? Our model 60 has lead screw reversal but frankly I do not know how it works, it isn't like the 10EE's ELSR. Machine was built in 58 if I remember right. Came out of the United States Bureau of Standards. It'll run right up to a shoulder but we haven't had the minimal's to really test it hard up to a shoulder.

quote:

Originally posted by Fal Grunt:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Monarc...c:g:~DEAAOSwYIxX9ToI

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Monarc...f:g:USwAAOSwEetV8GTJ

Well according to your link of 2-10EE, they have one 30" at $16,500 and one at $18,000. The other 30" ones are are not 10EE. Mine is a 1956 model. The ELSR is for production threading. Not worth doing for a one time thread as the setup time will kill you. You set the ELSR to feed to a particular point, say close to the shoulder, set your cross slide as it will also have a stop.Assuming you have the thread pitch set properly you run your compound in the amount you want the cut to be, engage the half nut and ELSR. Threading speed is not important. The machine will thread to your set stop and the machine stops and I mean stops. Crank your cross slide back, hit your ELSR lever and it rapid travels to the right. Crank your cross slide into the stop and adjust in your compound for your next threading cut. Remember that I did not fool with the half nut, it stays engaged until your threading is completed. Engage your ELSR lever again and another threading pass is made.

Here's one if you real want a barrel threaded.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LODGE-...8:g:VccAAOxyyFhTch2I

quote:

Originally posted by Fal Grunt:
One thing I forgot to mention, Woodhits reminded me. My friends lathe didn't thread metric when he received it. I tried talking him through it a couple times on the phone and we could not get it to thread metric. He spent several hours on the phone with Grizzly and never got it resolved. They wanted him to pay for a guy to fly out and fix it. He sends his metric stuff to me or avoids it.

FWIW, my Grizzly lathe threads metric. Had to swap a couple of gears on the side of the machine. Only time I needed that capability so far was to make the spider (the outside of the spindle was a metric thread).

quote:

Originally posted by drhall762:
Here's one if you real want a barrel threaded.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LODGE-...8:g:VccAAOxyyFhTch2I

I've just added a 15'X30' to my shop, but!

The two eBay links are the same machine no? I looked at that very lathe in person while in Minneapolis picking up a mill it is pretty nice. You may as well go all out and get one of these. It does meet your requirements....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tHhVN9QONmU

Chris has some nice machines. He just bought a new 3D printer also.

Providing it's in good shape. I would still take that 20x65 inch Somua lathe that he already has over all the ones mentioned. Including both of the 40 inch ones I currently have !



I'm betting this is the same machine at this link:

http://blog.sterlingmachinery....post-foot-brake-rap/

The 150 x 20.5 inch Lodge & Shipley is variable speed, very handy. Probably '70s vintage.

Dave

Speer.
That 550 lathe looks just like mine!
I have a Bridgeport hydraulic tracer on it and it works very well. I am going with your advice and use the HES.

Thanks for all the help.
Wayne