I spent more than the cost of two new Hepburns for my mid-1970's Graziano SAG14 (Italian).
I respect "American Iron" as much as the next guy, but show me a quality lathe built within the last 40 years that is affordable to the home hobbyist. Some will not like this answer, but, my opinion is to ignore where the lathe was built. I was trying to say a few words in regard to finding a lathe, but then my cat stepped on the power strip and killed my computer. I had a friend who owned Sobel Machinery, sadly he passed away, and over the years I saw a lot of machines, he dealt in machines for the small shop, of all descriptions come and go. Having said that I did build a 3/4 inch scale Raritan Live steam locomotive on a 6" Atlas with a milling attachment, but than again I didn't know any better. You are probably not going to build a single shot action on one. Lathe milling attachments are VERY limited in what they can do. I am partial to american made machines of the past. Some of the imports I have seen have the D1-4 spindle nose (it is a pin lock and not a threaded nose and is a standard) and that is fine. You have to be careful if you buy a new import, that you get one with a standard spindle nose that you can get extra chucks and backing plates for. Some of the smaller import lathes have large spindle bores.
Whatever you buy it won't be big enough, it is one of Murphy's laws. Before the Logan I had a long bed 12" Atlas with a quick change gear box. As of a few years ago you could still get atlas parts from the factory and there are a ton of accessories floating around. That aside the 10-12 inch Atlas is a great medium duty machine. I would avoid any machine with the 1 1/2 x 8tpi spindle nose as the spindle bore isn't big enough to pass a barrel through, that is if you want to do that. The 12 or 13" Sheldon with the 2 1/4 inch threaded spindle or The D1-4 spindle nose are also good. The 11" Logan with a 2 1/4 threaded nose is a good one and the one of the ones I have, the other is a 13" Sheldon. As it is, I wish all the time I had a larger machine. If you don't work on single shots with long heavy barrels, just barreling mausers and remington 700's, the atlas lathe will work fine. Changing gears by switching gear sets is so irritating that you won't do work because of it. Parting off and knurling are also tough on my machine, the tool holder, slides, etc are not rigid enough.Ģ) They don't wear as well especially older ones have a lot of slop you have to account for to do good work.ģ) Generally they are not quick change gearing. No forklift needed.ġ) Not rigid enough, chatter becomes a problem. But, my lathe can be disassembled enough to carry it into a basement or shop. And, you have to chamber with the steadyrest. I've threaded and chambered 32 inch long octagon barrels that are 1 1/4" across the flats. It is barely adequate the headstock is too small to take a heavy barrel, and I can only turn 32 inches or so on centers. For affordability and availability, some of the better Chinese machines sold by Grizzly are not bad. The smaller south bend and atlas lathes are good choices in older machines for hobbyist machines. When you get the spindle size big enough to put a heavy barrel inside, it's out of the hobbyist class and weight and size become hard to deal with. There's a separation point between "real" lathes and hobbyist lathes.
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