Cost of having lathe ways reground ?

[keitholivier]

I'm considering the purchase of an older lathe which does have some significant wear at the headstock end of the bed. The leadscrew will also be loose in this position.

It is a nice heavy lathe with a bed that is a manageable length for me (32" bc) and has quite a bit of tooling and a DRO for a very reasonable price.

So I was wondering how much the cost would be to re-grind the ways on a bed of this length (48" overall ?). I am purchasing an 8x18 surface grinder, so I could make new taper gibs myself and grind surfaces on smaller parts.

I have looked at the 13-14" swing chinese lathes, but they look like toys until one gets up in the $5k range and that is more money than I want to spend (and that is without a DRO and tooling)...

I am curious to hear of recent experiences with having this kind of work done.

Thanks
Keith

[Mcgyver]

why not just try calling some places.....

i agree with you the old iron is superior to a lot of the junk made today - you couldn't put decent headstock bearings in a quality lathe for what a lot these sell for. However, were it I, if it's in that bad shape I'd expect the price to be next to nothing. I'd do a lot of looking, visiting used dealers, networking, joining the local ME club etc to get comfortable around value and what else was available before spending big bucks on a mega project. just last night spotted this in craiglist for example (i know its wrong geography for you) but they're out there

http://toronto.craigslist.org/tls/375424522.html

i guess I'd add, I'm bearish with the above comments, because if the bed is worn out, I'd think you'd find the other bearing surfaces and possibly leadscrew/feedscrew in bad shape as well. gears and headstock bearings may be ok because they're sealed and (hopefully!) in a oil bath. point being, it could be, probably will be, a much bigger project than redoing the bed

[DareBee]

Judging from the figures you have mentioned - I doubt you want to get them reground. You MIGHT get some desperate shop to do it for $1000 but 3 - 5k would be the norm.

You can grind and scrape the ways be hand, it is a long and tedious procedure to do it correctly, but will cost $0 dollars (assuming you work for free).

[keitholivier]

Folks, I did find an outfit in Detroit that had excellent references (from a machine rebuilder) they are Advance Precision grinding. The person I spoke to was Bill, and he said that their going rate for smaller lathe beds is $100/ft. That would make it about $500 for the regrind on this lathe. I did have bids all the way up to $2500, so it just shows that this is somewhat of a supply / demand problem.

Just to be clear, the lathe concerned is 14x32 and comes with a DRO, quick change tool post and 3 + 4 jaw chuck, collet chuck and collets and various miscellaneous pieces. For $900. I also bought a Kent 380 turret mill a few weeks back for $950 and that came with a 6" vice and a DRO and some collets.

I have ordered a Hitachi 3hp VFD that will provide the 3 phase power o run these.

Keith

[DareBee]

That is definately a good find.

[Zumba]

If the beds actually need to be reground, what else needs fixing?

[frankg521]

what is the name of the place in Detroit

[keitholivier]

Mr Zumba

Before I bought the Sheldon, I spent close to $800 for a (new) 9x19 chinese lathe. Frankly, I found it to be a completely pathetic piece of junk. The flimsy bed, not to mention that toolpost and cross slide. The quality of the chucks on them is so bad (how about the 4 jaw chuck that has bolts running in slots on the back of the chuck that hold the jaws in place ?). I thought it through, read through some of the catalogs and by the time I started replacing junk on that lathe with anything better, it would require a bigger investment than the purchase price of the lathe. That would all be money that one would never recover in resale value. Hence the decision to sell the 9x19 and buy the Sheldon.

A Lathe is a pretty simple machine. If you count threading, that adds the complexity of the gear box or change gears. I personally don't do much threading, but I do need to remove metal. Having the ability to thread is a bonus right now. In order to turn, I need a spindle, a motor to rotate the spindle, a chuck on the end of the spindle (the machine comes with 3 nice chucks). Then I need the bed, the cross slide, a decent tool post and automatic feed. I have a 3hp VFD so I could theoretically go with a direct drive to the spindle (1:2 belt drive) that would give me a speed range of 200-1700rpm. And that would eliminate a lot of the complexity in the old drive system. Even better would be a 3 pulley system that would maybe offer ratios like 1:4 , 1:2 and 1:1, combined with the VFD.

The automatic feed uses a rack and pinion, which is driven through a keyway in the leadscrew. As a short term fix for the worn out leadscrew, I am able to replace the leadscrew with plain key slotted shafting for $70+ a new key. Finding a leadscrew and half nut can wait for later. A "regular" acme leadscrew would run about $250 for 6ft. I don't know whether the original leadscrews were hardened and ground, but personally I doubt it.

Yes, the bed is worn. But I can have it re-ground for $500 and I can rebuild the saddle with Turcite for $90 + my time. This machine has a pretty massive bed, which has at least 6x the iron in it compared to my former pathetic 9x19 lathe. It will take a heavy cut in tough steel, which was impossible on the smaller machine. No modification can ever substitute for simply having the cast iron there.

I know that GMC and Birmingham have deals for $2400-$2700 out there, but that is for a pretty naked machine without a whole lot of tooling. If I rebuild the Sheldon, I'm sure it would compare favorably with anything else out there in the market, except for resale value and styling.

If I was running a business I wouldn't have to think twice before buying something new, but I'm not. This Sheldon has probably outlived others and with a little work it will probably outlive me. It doesn't have to do everything expected of a new lathe right away. It must however have the potential to do all that with a little effort and a bit of investment on my part.

Keith

[keitholivier]

Advance Precision Grinding Telephone #586 773 1330
Ask for Bill.