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Old April 15, 2010, 11:41 PM   #12
HiBC
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 13, 2006
Posts: 8,274
Her is more to consider.If I may use our member Longrifles for an example,he is setting up a serious shop with great capabilities.To make money these days producing something may take good CNC equiptment.
It is also possible,if you have a firearms line that requires some CNC work,you farm those parts out.Some very top rifle makers have a fairly modest shop,and make the most of what they have without a lot of capital investment.
Long ago I met a gentleman named Ron Long.He was a world class shooter and also had a shop which produced some Scheutzen and muzzleloader products.My Hawkin has a Long lock and double set trigger.His lathe was the same type I ran a lot,an older Clausing 10 in variable drive .They are a handy,fast little light duty lathe,but the drives wear out.Sheeve pulleys that sort of hang on an unsupported shaft.
In the days of many gunsmiths and milsurp custom rifles,the sort of Southbend 10x36 class lathe was a fine tool that got the job done.I expect Harry Pope and PO Ackley and names like Fischer and Beisen could do just fine with that class of lathe.
Do-All had a line,and A Bridgeport EZ-turn was a basic CNC.
The gap bed thing annoys me.I'm not making salad bowls and these little lathes aren't swinging a 300 lb chunk of 16" diameter.
I would look for two shafts coming out of the gearbox,one for feeds and another for threading.Be sure it says "Hardened gears" and Hardened ways.I have seen real problems in the older Jet and powermatic lathes in that the gears were soft and they just displaced the gear geometry.
An important part of smithing is threading.It would be nice if you could cut some threads and see how the threading features work.Some do not accurately repeat leads,etc..
An old,light lathe is likely to have some tailstock alignment problems.Things just wear different on the ways.Some of it is tunable,an indicator in the chuck spun in the tailstock taper ,or around the tailstoch spindle can be revealing.Remember,it starts holes,and drives drills and reamers.If you involve your tailstock in chambering,and it is a little funny,so is the chamber(ask me how I know,and why I have a floating reamer holder!!)

Good Luck!!I hope you find a good one.These tough times may cause some bargains to be on the market.
Feel it.I wouldn't buy one I couldn't feel.
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