Lathe

Two years ago, you guys put my welder and /r/Skookum on the front page after it was lost by the US Postal Service. I had just started a new job, so this was particularly demoralizing.

A year later I had changed jobs again and acquired a 1956 Monarch 10ee after Tom Lipton (my supervisor at my current position) saw me browsing government surplus auctions for Monarch lathes. I had it for a year as life kept me from really kicking the restoration job into high-gear. Finally, just last January, I decided it was time to vacate my personal project shop of the last 15 years in a West Oakland DIY space after finding something horrible out about a friend.

I had a fire sale for all the machine tools I had been customizing and building except the lathe; it still needed paint and the tube-based speed control system was NOT fixed (I thought I fixed it in [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DV

I apologize if this post isn’t allowed, but I searched through the wiki and previous posts but can’t seem to find an answer. I am looking at getting a new lathe and am having trouble finding one I can be sure about.

I turn almost exclusively baseball bats, so I need something with at least a 34” bed. The one I originally had in mind was a grizzly G0842 but saw a post saying that it was not a smart buy for various performance reasons. Then I thought about just a cheap central machinery 40” lathe and saw on the wiki that it both had issues, and was no longer in production.

All I have now is an old craftsman tube lathe that has really run its course and causes serious vibration when turning. Now when I google, I have trouble finding anything less than a thousand dollars, that meets the length I need. If anyone could point me in a decent direction I would be very appreciative.

I found a colchester master 6 1/2 lathe that I want to buy. Do you guys know anything about them? Any wisdom to share? I know how to use a lathe already, but Ive never used a Colchester and I dont know if they have any quirks or weak points. The lathe itself is in pretty good shape, the cross slide has seen better days but I think for my hobby type of projects it will be totally ok.

Anyone here have a drill press or lathe that might be willing to help me finish my form 1 can? I need to drill out the end cap. I've reached out to a couple of gun smiths in the area, and they're a bit apprehensive claiming they don't do that, or are super backed up. I could provide the drill bit, and am willing to pay you for your time in either a gift card or cash. It's an endcap that is already center punched but needs to be drilled out with a 17/64 in bit. Don't really want to use a hand drill, and unfortunately don't have a drill press due to apartment living.

Edit: ended up getting an offer to use one. Should be set.

So as the title says, I have no idea what I am looking for.

My father has started woodworking in the last few years. And in a recent conversation he mentioned that he would like a lathe. So my brother's and I would like to get him one for his 60th next month.

I have seen prices from $400.00 to nearly $4000.00. Some are obviously more than he will need. But I also don't want to get him something that potentially low quality, it is his 60th.

For usage, it would be predominately woodworking. But he has also expressed that he really wants to try stuff with epoxy resin. He is learning, but is also a heavy equipment technician, so isn't afraid of learning to use new machines.

So if anyone could offer advise, or a recommendation, or things to avoid, it would be greatly appreciated.

Our budget is between $1000-1,500 ideally. Thank you, for any information you can provide.

I hope I’m no bogging down the sub with requests for help in a new lathe. But based on a previous post and some fantastic help from other redditors, I have landed on these three lathes as a new purchase. I am primarily buying a lathe + bed extension just to turn baseball bats, and I am looking to do so as cost-effectively as possible. The comet 2 only has 3/4 HP while the others have a full 1 HP, but is significantly cheaper. Person at Woodcraft was helpful but I wanted a few more opinions before I pull the trigger. Thank you guys so much.

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