Lathes for High School Shop

[NitrousBIG]

I would value you opinions on what I should look at.

I have 2 older Chinese lathes and one South Bend SB1002 in my shop. The South Bend is going strong but we can no longer get parts for the Chinese ones (one no name and one Advance).

Any suggestions on what I should be looking at for less than $10,000.

They almost never shut off during class and because I am dealing with kids they make the odd mistakes so they need to be robust and parts availability has to be good. The South Bend is great but the chuck is a little small, mainly just the bore in the chuck is too small for a lot of jobs.

I would like to buy good quality, American made if possible. But I can't find anything but Chinese stuff!

Any suggestions?

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[NitrousBIG]

Used won't work for this. The school board wants me to buy new.

[Lotus23C]

I'm a technology teacher in New Zealand and have been in this situation a few times. For the money, you'll only get chinese, but try and get higher end chinese lathe from a supplier who services trade / industry / polytechs and has been established for years. Some lathes have the same bed length and swing and other specs but can weigh half. Get as heavy a machine as you can. Weight = rigidity. Some of the light lathes have beds which are too narrow and skinny tail stock quills. You can't push them hard, everything flexes. A DRO is handy also.

Interestingly I had a chinese Run Master, it needed a few parts and the supplier had changed hands, they dicked me around for ages and couldn't supply parts, didn't know anything about the 9 year old lathe etc... I dropped into an another supplier on the off chance who were long established, they recognized the part as it fitted their cheap generic lathe and had parts off the shelf.

[Paul-JB]

I'd check out Colchester "2500 student" lathes. They are available new, replacement parts available. Might be close to the 10k price tho.

[RCaffin]

Used won't work for this. The school board wants me to buy new.

Will they give you the money needed for new?

Cheers
Roger

[mbservice]

Speak to Clausing they will do a really good deal as you get a huge educational discount on Lathes in their range including Colchester
WE could quote you from England but of course you would then have transport costs

[awerby]

What about a few Sherline lathes? You could get a bunch of them for your 10 grand. They are small, but work pretty much the same way as regular lathes. When they break a small part, it won't cost as much to replace as a big one, and they're less likely to damage the students if they make a major mistake. Shipping is considerably cheaper than with full-sized lathes, and handling is a lot easier as well. Plus, I'll give you a good deal on them...

Andrew Werby
computersculpture.com