Gunsmithing Lathe/Mill Questions

[renegadelizard]

Hey all, I have a bit of a confusing question here, for me anyways. A bit of background first...im a woodworker and im up on who is who and what is what when it comes to tools for woodworking...metal smithing however, leaves me feeling confused. It seems there are no mills or lathes out there that doesnt require a second mortage to buy..am i right on this or am i not looking in the right places? Also, what is considered to small for hobby gunsmithing and what is overkill? ahh..if only guns were made of wood....

 

[lanwickum]

Re: Lathe/Mill Questions

grizzly is about the best In know of for "cheaper" metel working equipment. also, I would expect to double the price in tooling after the purchase.
I came a across an older american made Enco lathe. I traded work for it. Had to do some repairs to it, was tipped over and broke some handles. I have used it very very little so far. I hope it turns out cutting true.
Took years of looking and waiting for this one. I couldn't justify just going out and buying one. Now to get a good sized mill. I have a cheaper bench top Harbor Freight one that can do stock work and very light cuts. I have atleast a thousand into tooling that fits in a small tool box.

 

[fockell]

Re: Lathe/Mill Questions

They all break the bank unless you buy something really small and crappy. Harbor Freight offers some desktop size machines for under $1000, but would not reccomend them. The Grizzly stuff is no where near a commercial machine, but seems to be a great toolroom equipment for the hobbies and light machining. Infact, you might research want you want and show up early for their annual parking lot sell here in Springfield, MO. Their dist. center is here and have tons of damaged mills, lathes and other machining equipment. Most of it is transit damage coming from overseas. I also know lots of contacts for used machinery, most of which is 3-phase. --Brandon

 

[renegadelizard]

Re: Lathe/Mill Questions

Thanks guys..i kinda figured a much..i got my wood lathe for 1500 and about 150 in tools...but i guess at this time its kind of hard to justify a metal lathe for hobby work....anybody interested in wooden bolt knobs...lol...

 

[triton19]

Re: Lathe/Mill Questions

Renegade, you can get into a grizzly mill for as little aS $1295 Plus another $2000 for tooling and a lathe for $2795 plus $1200 for tooling. Grizzly is great on a budget but remember you get what you pay for. ALWAYS pay the extra for carbide bits you will get way more bang for your buck. Its all in the set-up.

Jason

 

[Rarebreed93]

Re: Lathe/Mill Questions

I've had a Smithy 1238 it's a mill, lathe combo for 15 years and had no real issues.
Still works great.

 

[LRI]

Re: Lathe/Mill Questions

Your lucky. Your in the eastern part of the US.

All you have to do is start hunting equipment dealers in the NE region or the upper midwest. You can be assured that wherever there is a large body of water there is a healthy manufacturing community.

Scour the equipment dealers and auctions. Deals are out there. The days of "buying American" are sadly beginning to come to a close. That being said the import machines are better than ever. Both of my turning centers are made in Korea and are top shelf production centers. Rigid castings, excellent spindle bearings, and robust/powerful computer controls (still American made in that regard)

The 1st rule I encourage is to buy as much machine as you can possibly afford. You'll never stop "wishing" you had more travel, spindle bore ID, etc.

Good luck.

C

 

[CS223]

Re: Lathe/Mill Questions

If you're shopping I'd advise not to get in a hurry. Get up to speed on what to look for in used machinery. There's a lot of stuff out there that gets a coat of paint slapped on it and the rust sanded off and its only worth its weight in scrap iron. There are a number of metal working forums, practicalmachinist.com for one, that will help bring your knowledge up to speed as far as what to look for in used machinery. Likewise, the established members there are much like the members here and it's not uncommon to see someone represent & sell a machine honestly to another member.

In lieu of that, to parrot a phrase: "new chicom iron is still better than worn out American iron". Grizzly seems to have better QC than the rest of the Chinese/Taiwan imports and definitely better support. You'll regret buying something that is too small so don't fall into that trap. Buy enough lathe for the job. For gunsmithing, a 13x40 is considered the minimum thought folks have done more with less. And for a mill 9x49 knee mill is more or less the standard.

 

[colchester]

Re: Lathe/Mill Questions

For grins I checked Craigslist in Cinci not sure how close you are but I found some decent macines. Try searching craigslist in your area with searchtempest search helper you might find a winner. There is a 13" colchester on Ebay right now It is probably to far from you to be practical, they are very nice machines if they are in good condition

 

[TCA4570]

Re: Lathe/Mill Questions

OP,

Try this.
http://www.hgrindustrialsurplus.com/
Good old iron, might be found cheap.

You're going the right way from wood to metal.
PITA. going the other way.

TC

 

[colchester]

Re: Lathe/Mill Questions

I was at HGR today. They had a decent Harrison but it was kinda short for gun work. That place rolls the stuff in and out.

 

[c1steve]

Re: Lathe/Mill Questions

Keep your eye on Ebay. Lots of lathes there. My favorite is the Clausing-Colchester. New they are 15K$, but used $2,000 or so. Most of the ones I see on ebay are well used, but a few REALLY nice ones come up. The C-Colchester is much preferred to some of the other Clausing lathers.

Most of these lathes are located close to the east coast, so shipping would be minimal.

-Steve

 

[Decoy]

Re: Lathe/Mill Questions

Search around and find your local machine dealers and give them a call. Tell them what you need and what price you can afford and ask them to look around for you. More irons in the fire the better and sometimes they will come arcoss something in their travels that might be just right for you.