Sites for used lathe or mills

[cs86]

Can anyone reference a good site to find a used lathe or mill that are on the smaller side. I've been eyeballing a smaller grizzly lathe and figured there could be someone out there that might be selling it used. It seems like I've found some things doing a search, but most come up with bigger equipment. I'm looking to start out cheap and start learning. I'd like to start finding some common sites and keep my eyes peeled for a deal.

[oldred]

You might keep a watch on this site since they have used stuff occasionally, http://www.machinetoolonline.com/index.html

(http://www.machinetoolonline.com/index.html)They don't appear to have anything right now but different machines do pop up from time to time, also ask at any of the dealers as sometimes they will have something used even if they don't normally list such items, I "think" even Grizzly has had some unlisted used machinery in the past but I don't know if they still do or not. Also keep a check on Craigslist in your area since they seem to be a popular spot to market these things. One thing I have found here locally is that some of the jokers who list machinery on Craigslist are either dreaming or just holding out for a sucker since some of their prices are simply obscene! An example was a recent listing of one the really cheap Harbor Freight type combo machines that probably sold for less than $7-800 new (and a rip-off at that!), the guy was asking $2000 for it and in the description he said "They just don't make them like this anymore"! :groner:


My point is don't be put off by the out-of-line prices that seem to appear more often than not because real deals do show up if you are willing to wait.

[M-Tecs]

one more

http://www.industrialmachinetrader.com/

If you live in a major metro area talk to the machine tool salesmen. When they sell a new machine they may have taken one in on trade or they are aware if the company is selling them outright. Good Bridgeport's at a realistic price come up fairly often. Hobby size lathes not so much. 15" x 60" or larger 3 phase lathes are much more common. Some companies replace their machines on a schedule and some run them into the ground so you have to check them out like any used machine.


About a year ago I lost out on a very low hour like new 10 year old Bridgeport for $2,750.00. Sale was open to employees and friends of employees. Price was fixed. Two people wanted it so we flipped coins.:killingpc

I live in a large metro area and K-Bid has some smoke'n deals at times https://www.k-bid.com/ This is a regional site but your area may have something similar.

[project]

If you don't have any experience using a lathe be very careful. It's easy to lose a finger on a mill but a lathe can kill you in the blink of an eye. 20 years of experience here

[oldred]

If you don't have any experience using a lathe be very careful. It's easy to lose a finger on a mill but a lathe can kill you in the blink of an eye. 20 years of experience here


Excellent point and I have to admit that maybe we have been a bit shortsighted by not covering safety already, a lathe can be a very unforgiving beast that seriously harm or kill you in an instant! Probably no worse than a lot of common woodworking tools but the problem is these hazards can be a lot less obvious on a lathe to someone who is not familiar with them, I won't post any links here but there are some rather gory pictures on the net concerning lathe safety that definitely get the point across!

A lathe is NOT an inherently dangerous machine to run but like any power tool it has no conscience and demands the utmost respect. Getting a sleeve snagged in spinning work is not going to be an "opps I won't do that again" event and that's only one of many scenarios, at least reading about lathe safety may make a person aware of a dangerous situation he may not have thought of before.

Thanks for bringing this up

[cs86]

If you don't have any experience using a lathe be very careful. It's easy to lose a finger on a mill but a lathe can kill you in the blink of an eye. 20 years of experience here

They do look like accidents could happen in a hurry if a person isn't safety conscious. Growing up on a ranch I've been taught to be very cautious with power driven equipment. Especially PTO's on the tractors which the lathe reminds me of. I've worked with a wood lathe, but metal looks like a whole new realm. The wood lathe has taught me that when not careful a person can end up with injury in a hurry. luckily I have all my body parts attached and hope to keep it that way.

Thanks for noting this.

[akajun]

craigslist, ebay, etc.

[project]

I have a very good friend that I used to work with. He was using Emory cloth to sand away light tool marks on a shaft he just turned. The Emory cloth grabbed the shaft and took his arm with it . It tore his arm off so fast that the back side of the removed arm flew out of the lathe and broke his jaw. Keep in mind that he had 20 years experience before this. A lapse in concentration or inexperience can end horribly.

[bangerjim]

I have a very good friend that I used to work with. He was using Emory cloth to sand away light tool marks on a shaft he just turned. The Emory cloth grabbed the shaft and took his arm with it . It tore his arm off so fast that the back side of the removed arm flew out of the lathe and broke his jaw. Keep in mind that he had 20 years experience before this. A lapse in concentration or inexperience can end horribly.

"Common sense" .............is NOT that common!

Unbelievable stupid procedure. Never let ANYTHING wrap itself around a spinning shaft.....polishing abrasive media, rags, etc.

[country gent]

Newer lathes and shop tools have gotten safer over the years. Around turn of the century to ww2 or so most machine shops had shafts on the cielings spinning and flat belts runnind down to individual machines all powered from same shaft. So every machine had a waist high to ceiling flat belt running out in the open most pulleys gears and parts were spinning out in the open. Horizontal mills were much more popular using big face cutter again spinning in the open. Shapers and planers were much more popular. Grinders seldom had gaurds around the wheels or drives. As for finding equipment watch the auctions in you area alot can be found at bancrupcy sales (Shops going out of buisness) Tool shops may have a line on or even handle used equipment. Net work put want adds in trade papers. Get it known who you are and what your looking for.

[oldred]

I have a very good friend that I used to work with. He was using Emory cloth to sand away light tool marks on a shaft he just turned. The Emory cloth grabbed the shaft and took his arm with it . It tore his arm off so fast that the back side of the removed arm flew out of the lathe and broke his jaw. Keep in mind that he had 20 years experience before this. A lapse in concentration or inexperience can end horribly.



That's an example of the very thing I mentioned in the lathe safety thread, at that mine there were two incidents of that happening but the results fortunately weren't so gruesome. In both cases, and I suspect the same in the above incident, the operator was was using a strip of Emery cloth around the spinning shaft and pinched it close so that it would contact all the way around. Once it got just a little to tight it simply grabbed their hands and rolled them up as it wound the strip around the shaft, one guy was left with a uselessly hand and the other lost most of his thumb. Just thinking about how that can happen it's easy to see just how easy it could but in spite of the obvious danger I have seen people doing this many times!

BTW, emery cloth and lathes don't mix very well anyway, the grit from the emery or sandpaper can destroy ways and other wear surfaces! In the rare instance I use any kind of abrasives around my lathe I cover the ways and any other parts prone to wear but that stuff gets into everything and acts like a lapping compound, not a good idea and any kind of sanding/grinding should be avoided when other options are available.

[project]

"Common sense" .............is NOT that common!

Unbelievable stupid procedure. Never let ANYTHING wrap itself around a spinning shaft.....polishing abrasive media, rags, etc.

It can happen so fast that you don't even have time to let go. That's the problem with lathes, everything happens very fast and it's not forgiving. Just respect it and be careful . You can get hurt on any piece of equipment if you get too relaxed. Ask me how I know.. Lol

[Fishman]

"Ask me how I know"

Alright, I will. How do you know? I hope you have healed from it.

[project]

"Ask me how I know"

Alright, I will. How do you know? I hope you have healed from it.

I was grinding a thin graphite electrode for an EDM machine I was running and I reached up to feel the surface finish and the grinding wheel caught my thumb and pulled it through the 1/8" gap. I can tell you for certain that having your fingers jerked through a tiny gap on a surface grinder isn't very pleasant .. At the ER they wanted to amputate it but I refused. It's not my prettiest finger but it's fully functional.

[oldred]

You might be surprised at some tools that you wouldn't think of as particularly dangerous, the lowly handheld hacksaw is a good example. While hardly likely to cause a life threatening or crippling injury these things can and have caused some VERY serious hand/finger injuries. It happens all the time, the user is pushing hard and sawing fast when either the blade breaks or comes off (happens all the time when the frame flexes) or the saw cuts trough unexpectedly. The user's hand(s) then strike the jutting end of the material being cut, this happened so many times at the mine shop I mentioned elsewhere that the safety supervisor mandated that these were never to be used without gloves. I myself have a bad scar as a reminder of this from an incident many years ago but the rather nasty looking cuts (some with bones exposed) in the pics that safety supervisor attached to the memo that mandated the use of gloves for these at that mine drove home the point even more that ANY tool can hurt you and it's doesn't have to have an electrical cord!

[Dhammer]

Lost creek machinery seems to get a regular inventory from old to newer.

[Ed K]

Craig's list is hard work but I've found my best deals there for sure. You will find machinery in any condition from rusted solid to near new. Also, pricing will be all over the place. My experience with ebay and specialty sites is that the sellers have a much better idea what they're selling and screaming deals are few and far between. Nothing is absolute but I do believe those generalities do apply. Oh, and don't rule out visiting machine shops to see if there is something in the back corner they no longer use but have not had the motivation to part with.

[Fishman]

I was grinding a thin graphite electrode for an EDM machine I was running and I reached up to feel the surface finish and the grinding wheel caught my thumb and pulled it through the 1/8" gap. I can tell you for certain that having your fingers jerked through a tiny gap on a surface grinder isn't very pleasant .. At the ER they wanted to amputate it but I refused. It's not my prettiest finger but it's fully functional.

Ouch! Thanks for the reminder to be careful.

[Clark]

I have bought and sold machines on all of these

1) ebay
2) craig's list
distant third) practical machinist classified
4) ad in the newspaper

Both my brother and I recently bought machines off Ebay that were "local pick up only" and got them long distance shipped. I wanted a minty Bridgeport and he wanted a minty Powermatic metal bandsaw. It takes a lot of emails and phone calls, but it CAN be done.


The smaller old used knee mills, Clausing 8520 and Rockwell 21-100 can be hauled into your basement in pieces by yourself, and will do gunsmithing.
The prices/availability on these is as terrible as used old American lathes.... forget about it. Yeah you might get lucky. The chance of getting an elk in WA state is 3%, but that includes guys on private land.

[warboar_21]

I to have been looking for a lathe. I learned how to operate them in high school but that was many years ago. So I have been doing a little research and reading a few books as well. At first I was thinking about buying a used lathe but honestly I couldn't tell the difference between a good deal and a polished turd. I have seen some on craigslist in various condition and prices ranging from fair to ridiculously expensive.
I have settled on saving my money and buying new. Some reasons that i'm going to do this are most newer machines have safety mechanisms built in where some of the older machines have none. Some of the older machines may have lived a hard life and will need rebuilt. Some of the older machines don't have the ability to cut metric threads if you needed to cut them. I haven't the knowledge nor the funds to rebuild a lathe. Also some of the older machines due to wear, won't achieve tighter tolerances. Also some of the older machines will be difficult to locate parts if/when something breaks.

Yesterday I went up to the Grizzly showroom at the Bellingham store. Spent a little while looking around and spoke with a salesman briefly about their G4003G on the showroom floor. It's probably more than I will ever need but it would be able to do everything I wanted to do or think of doing. For me the adage of the buy once cry once comes into play here. If i'm going to spend the money on a lathe just to learn on and then later down the road try and upgrade to a bigger one I will end up spending way more money than had I just made the initial investment. Think of all the tooling that you will have to buy for the older lathe that may or may not work on the upgrade that you decide to buy later down the road. You won't get your money back on the tooling costs.

Anyways this is what I have been pondering and planning. Good luck on your search.

[oldred]

Having considered in the past the very things you mention I can tell you that my experience matches your thoughts exactly, especially getting what you need the first time around. IMO a 12" swing and a 36" bed should be considered the minimum and something that has not been mentioned yet (unless I missed it) is that most of the import lathes of that size on up have a removable gap to allow for a great deal more swing for some jobs. When I got my 14x40 set up and leveled and tuned in the very first job I did required slightly over 16" of swing (a tractor engine flywheel that had been waiting on my getting a larger lathe) which the removable gap easily provided, since then I have found myself using that feature a lot more than I thought I would when I bought the lathe. Most of those older industrial machines do not have this feature and for that matter most of the more affordable ones are usually less than 14" swing to begin with! This matters and matters a lot because it doesn't matter for squat how accurate and dependable an older industrial machine may be if the work doesn't fit in the darn thing!

[JWFilips]

If you are interested: My neighbor is a machinest & has a machine shop across the street . He wants to downsize and is selling a lot of his equipment. I listed a few earlier in the year. PM me and I will give you his contact info. I saw the stuff he is selling and it is nice. Wish I had a place for it!