I know somebody who's father has an enco lathe (details are at home) that he has only used for woodturning and is interested in getting rid of it. I don't have the money to even consider it but thought that if it was a good one for gunsmith purposes I would let you guys know.

any interest and I'll find the details and post them.

Red

Hey Red,

Don't even consider an Enco lathe, there are better lathe on the market for about the same price.

EMCO .. okay
ENCO -imported from china

jeffe

Where do you get a NEW, non-imported (at least 12X36 for rifle barrels), lathe for under $2000?
I'm not a "real" machinist or gunsmith but I've fitted barrels to at least 10 or 12 Mausers and single shot rifles in the past 5 years on my $1800 Harbor Freight "Central Machinery" (Chinese) lathe. I've had ZERO problems with this machine and it's accuracy is as good as the SouthBend 10 Heavies I used in a high school adult machine shop class.
I looked at a number of used American and European lathes before buying the Chinese 12X36. If they were any good at all they were way over $2000 and all needed expensive work to equal the accuracy of the new Chinese machine. Also, the Chinese lathes are now very common and parts (if needed) are available and cheap.
I know some have had bad experiences with the Chinese lathes and hate them...but not me. As a retired "amateur" on a fixed income I feel I made the right choice. I would probably see it differently if I were a "pro" running a production operation. I think if you look at the Chinese lathes OBJECTIVELY and operate them with reasonable care you won't be disappointed.
Sure, I would prefer to buy American but heck most of us shop at Walmart and buy lots of other Chinese stuff so why not lathes? BTW, the Central Machinery (Harbor Freight) 12X36 is the same machine as the Enco, Jet, Grizzly, Birmingham, etc. The only difference is the paint and the price.

Jon

Dago
This may sound stupid, but make sure your looking at a metal lathe, and not a wood lathe.
Wood lathes are lighter in construction, tend to run higher RPM's, don't have the power feed/threading, etc

The Chinese stuff can be horrible. A retired gunsmith/machinist friend of mine got one. He had five other lathes at his house. The Chinese one was in the 13 x 40 is size range. I did not get all the details of what was wrong with it but I do remember several points.

The ways were not right, the bearings in the headstock were junk, and the belts in he headstock had humps that trashed the bearings. It is a SOB to take it apart to change the belts. The tool post is all floppy. You can see it dip down when you try a cut. That was because the saddle did not fit on the ways properly. All the controls feel rough and nasty. It is made if very soft and weak cast alloy.

He sold it for 1/3 of what he paid and warned the buyer what a piece of junk it is.

I can not see why a guy would set him self up for such frustration. With all the tech schools, high schools, and colleges selling off high quality machines for bargain basement prices it seems like a bad move to pay more for junk. Also remember many machine shops are upgrading to CNC gear and are getting rid of their "obsolete" lathes.

Get a La Blond, Atlas, Southbend, or something else that was made right. I had a 15 x 48 Sebastian that was 10-times the machine of the Chinese one my buddy sold in disgust. I just sold it for $1000. They are out there.

like i said eMco is okay, and eNco is junk..

emco/jet uses taiwanese, which is fair...

the chinese stuff... well, join the yahoo group "minilathe" and read a on them...

actually, in cali, you can get an american lathe, on ebay, for 2-3k

but what you CAN NOT do is get one for 110 or 220 1ph (household)

if you do get an import (go grizzly, at least they'll get you parts) the grizzly 12x37 gearhead is a nice lathe....

at least it's patterned off a nice Taiwan pattern

jeffe

For this guy wanting a 12x36 lathe for rebarrelling and has $2k to $4k for lathe and tooling, his choices have been:

1) 40 year old American lathe, beat up and used, look for one with original paint.
You may need to take apart and fix up.
Add the 5th layer of paint.

2) Chinese good brands, Jet, Enco, Turn Pro.
Works great box stock.

3) Chinese bad brands, Grizzly.
You take apart the glob of cast iron and make a lathe out of it.

4) Grizzly out store.
Not a real glob of cast iron to make a lathe from.
Gibs over cut. Not possible to fix.
Great voids filled with bondo and spray painted.


rec.crafts.metalworking threads on buying lathes