Thoughts on a metal lathe?

[OregonCustom]

I noticed there has been a bit of discussion on metal lathes.

Thoughts on this one?

http://www.machinetoolonline.com/PM-1127-VF.html

My biggest question is it German made or the usual Chinese? And if you have one of these please PM me, I'd love to talk with you about it.

I used a 1950's era Clausing for many years when I worked as a machinist and was happy with its accuracy, but I have limited space in my shop and lack the room for an 8' long lathe. And my budget keeps getting smaller as the months go by.

[sethile]

It's Chinese. A number of pipe makers have them. A number of us also have the PM1236 12x36 Gear Head model, which I'm extremely happy with. None of these Chinese lathes will compare with an old Clausing, but finding an affordable American or European lathe in decent shape is tough. Here is a copy of my post from another thread, which may also be of interest: viewtopic.php?f=43&t=6923

I used both the 1127-VF, and the 1236 and decided for me it was well worth the extra money to go with the 1236. The 1236 is nearly twice as heavy and built much more like a professional machine shop lathe. I would say the 1127 is more like an advanced hobby lathe. The build quality is similar, with both comparing to the JET 9x20 in over all quality and finish. These are still a Chinese, but pretty decent. Expect to do a lot of clean up and a few mods. Expect to replacing soft metal screws and bolts here and there.

The advantages of the 1236 over the 1127-VF is that it is much more rigid. It also has the D1-4 camlock chuck mount, which makes it a lot more flexible in terms of chucks. And of course it is a gear head lathe versus the variable speed. There is a thread on the bluemachining forum about converting the 1127 to a different mount system, which sounds really complex and a bit risky. That forum is a good read if your considering a PM lathe. I'm very glad to have the standard D1-4 mount on mine. The pipe makers I know with 1127-VF are just chucking custom pipe chucks into the chuck that comes mounted on it. That seems to work fine, but it's a whole lot of spinning metal too. I would worry about extra spindle bearing ware over time. The variable speed of the 1127 is convenient, but the one I used seemed under powered, or maybe it was just not set up optimally. It bogged down when I really pressed into it when chamber drilling and it took a while to settle into the new speed after an adjustment. I also like the extra capacity of the 1236 for certain procedures, especially the swing over the cross slide. In short, I'm supper happy with my choice!

In terms of the wait. My understanding is that is supposed to be getting better, but I would say it is certainly an issue. Talk with Matt to try to get as good an estimate as you can, and then just be patient if it ends up taking a little longer. For me it was well worth the wait (7 months), but I had my old 9x20 to get me by.

[OregonCustom]

So I couldn't find overall dimensions for the PM1236...would you mind throwing a tape on yours?

[baweaverpipes]

So I couldn't find overall dimensions for the PM1236...would you mind throwing a tape on yours?

PM1236. Hmmmmmmm. 12 x 36?

It's on their website: http://www.machinetoolonline.com/PM1236.html

[sethile]

Please excuse my hillbilly friend, Bruce. He uses all his brain power on the beautiful pipes he makes, without reserving enough to figure out subtle nuances of language like this :

Overall footprint of the machine on the stand:
24" deep,
64" or so wide,
49" or so high

I'm 6'3" and find I like mine elevated slightly to have it a good working height. Mine is 52" high.

You'll want clearance behind the lathe, at least 6" to remove the electric panel cover, and get access to fuses and breakers back there, as well as on the headstock side, left side of the machine, at least 1' I'd say to remove the cover and have access for lubrication, etc..

[OregonCustom]

I will ignore Bruce....thank you for the info. Going to refigure some machine placement and see if can manage something that size.