Metal lathe

T

Toxey

Joined
Oct 11, 2005
Messages
112
Is there any need in a knife makers shop for a metal lathe?
I recently came across an older Craftsman 12 x 36 metal lathe in great condition for sale by a fellow living near me.
I have always wanted to learn to use one of these machines,if for nothing more than just tinkering.I am just if it will come in handy for knife making?
Thx
 
absolutly for custome tang nuts, deep drilling round stock for handles, custom length sex bolts all kind of stuff.
 
I just recently put in a 12 x 36 lathe- what seems like a luxury quickly becomes a necessity! :D When you need to make a special tool or parts for a home made grinder or or or!


Ken Erickson
 
Once you get into using a metal lathe, it opens up many possibilties for making tooling, repair and knife parts. I only have a 6" Atlas, 18" between centers, really like it.
 
Thx for all replies.Yall are making it easier to decide.
Now for the big question.
Do you think $1000 is a fair price?
The lathe looks like it was well taken care of.It also comes with its own lathe table and various tools and chucks and bits.
I wish I would have taken a pic of it.
Owner says it was made in early 1950's
 
I have built several forging hammers and handles with just my 9x20 lathe. It has also been used for several hawk handles including boring out pipe hawk handles. Mine gets used several times a week. I used it to bore out a hollow handle knife with a forged blade. A fusion of new and old world technology blended together in one knife.
 
Thats a really hard question to answer. I have owned 4 lathes now. A used 12 x 36 Clausing, a used LaBlond that was owned by Browing Arms repair center in Arnold Missouri , a new 14 x 40 Enco and now a used 12 x 36 Grizzly (china import) less then two years old , sold by the local high school scaling down there metal shop. Repair parts and accessories are available from sellers on Ebay for example for the Craftsmen which is a good thing. Its hard to beat the older USA made hobby lathes as there quality was better than the current hobby lathes from China.. at least in my opinion. Before I bought my current lathe for $1150 with all the extras I spent many months looking at used lathes on Ebay and there is not many that go for less then a grand unless they are train wrecks. If everything is working, with no broken castings or gears, no missing handles etc and if from just the casual inspection no excessive wear I would think $1000 is a fair price.

I think bottom line is you have to go with your gut feelings if this lathe is worth the price.

Dont know if this helps or not but good luck!

Ken

By the way, I would assume this lathe has a quick change gear box or all the change gears for threading? including the thread chasing dial?
 
Thx for your relies guys.
I am gonna go get a second look at it tommorow and ask if thats his lowest price,and see how it goes.
Thx
 
If the ways are not trashed and the dovetails are in reasonable shape and it's got tooling it's worth 1000. heck you get a new one you'll spend that easily on toolin just to be able to use it.

just my opinion, but I use my metal lathe 2-3 hours a week, and it earns me more per hour than any other tool in my shop.

-Page
 
My Taig Microlathe II along with my Taig 2019S micromill are absolutely indispensable in my shop. I use them for everything mentioned in the above posts regarding knife making and several other pursuits as well. Really came in handy when I was building my KMG clone to make parts for it and tools to speed the job along.

Ken
 
A few tips when you get your new lathe, first LEVEL IT
find someone who is a machinist to help you, chances are they will have the appropriate master level (accurate to .0005 per foot or better) or know where to borrow it and know how to do it correctly. Do not use a carpenters level, they are worthless for anything but houses. a few thousandths out of level will seriously affect the precision of your work, a quarter inch out of level can damage your machine. Make sure your floor is solid. My LeBlond requires 6 inches of reinforced concrete, granted, my LeBlond is a beast, but a proper floor will increase the precision and longevity of your lathe.
Lastly the first thing any machine tool will want to eat is machinists, they are so much tenderer than high carbon steel. Watch your fingers, keep your clothing tucked in and away from rotating shafts, the torque on a lathe is scary, and unless you have the fancy safety brake my LeBlond has, it takes a few seconds to stop in an emergency. Keep your tools where they will not vibrate to a place they can fall onto something rotating and get thrown, never leave a chuck key in the chuck, if the chuck key is not in your hand it should be hanging up.

Indexable carbide tooling is expensive but well worth it for production. The time I have saved using my Carballoy and Valenite tooling has paid for the initial cost many times over!

Once you get past the learning curve you will have a hard time comprehending how you ever lived without one!

-Page
 
mete
If you aren't pulling our legs.
A sex bolt is basically a pivot screw. It has a male screw, and a female shaft (thus - sex bolt).They are good for any thru bolting, like scales and pivots.
Stacy
 
sunshadow said:
A few tips when you get your new lathe, first LEVEL IT
-Page
Click to expand...

Let me expand upon this.

You're aiming for all the same level. What you're trying to measure is bow and twist. The lathe could be set at a 10 degree angle, that wouldn't make any difference as long as the entire lathe was at that angle.

A twisted or bowed lathe turns cones, not cylinders.

So you're looking for a very precise level with calibrations of .0005" per foot. You measure level on one side of the lathe, them measure again on the other side. And you turn the level and measure the other way too. You'll find you can have one side of the lathe level without the other. It is bowed or twisted under its own weight due to imperfections in the floor.

Heat treat foil makes great shims.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top