If you are buying a lathe ONLY for hobby work then the recommendation of "not getting in a hurry" is a great one.
A local smith quit gun work and went to cabinet making when the Brady Bill was passed. He gave me a great deal on a 2yr old "Precision" (Harbor Freight") lathe in '99, $1975 with 9 reamers, most new. I never did care for it but when I was forced to quit work for health reasons in 2000 I had no place to put it at home and sold it. It didn't break my heart to see it go other than I sold my small one to and didn't own a lathe.
Two yrs later I had a reloading room and wanted a lathe again. Bought a fairly well used Craftsman/Atlas 12x36 to get me by for $600 with a butt load of tooling at an auction. Rebuilt it with new bed etc 2yrs later. All this time I kept watching, waiting, waiting knowing if I didn't get stupid and spend my money on junk I might get lucky. There aren't many "great" used lathes in western SD. I have done 14 barrels on the Craftsman between centers and all shoot well. It is a bottom end lathe but knowing its limitations and taking time now that it is near new will produce nice work. Learned more on it then any other so can't seem to part with it.
Well, my wait pd off. 2yrs ago a state college closed most of its Industrial Arts classes. Things were listed in a state surplus auction very poorly with only a couple of pics and poor descriptions for what I thought were 3 SB lathes. I made a couple of phone calls and found out there were actually 4 lathes. Well when me and brother got to the auction 180 miles away I was disappointed. There was 1 SB 10K, 3 SB Hvy 10L's and the other I believe was a 13 or 14"x about 48"(I didn't measure things. The 10L's were all long beds of different yrs.All had both chucks, centers, drive plates and 2 had steady's, all had follow rests but no tool posts or holders, dogs etc. That was all sold seperate and I never stayed as the sale was HUGE!!! Each had small issues with wear on compound or crossslide, a knob broke or on the one I got a broken tensioner handle as these were all taken out of a 2nd story window. ALL had not one nick, gouge or anything on the beds. The beds were near perfect. The paint was the biggest issue on them all. I jsut knew with the crowd and the condition of these lathes I would not be able to afford one as my budget was 2k.
The 10K or light ten fetched $1100 to a Hutterite Colony in southern MT. Next honey comb bed 10L with the most wear on compound, no steady and only a drive plate brought $1400 to a gunsmith just starting up in Phillip, SD. Second 10L I run up to $1800 and probably least compound/crosslide wear went to Gillette, WY to a welding shop. I bought the 3rd 10L(1985) for $1750 that had not only drive plate but a 10" face plate, 2 follow rests one of which was new, but broken tension handle which cost me $15 to have welded. To say I was a happy camper would be an understatement!!!!
The bigger 13/14" was older but had taper attachment and brought $3K. All were 3 phase.
So, it is a long rambling story but I tend to do that. If you have to pay someone else for a couple barrel jobs while you wait for "the right one" it will be worth it. Just don't get in a big hurry or you will end up with something you later wished you wouldn't have bought. My only regret is not having the money to buy the 4 10" models that day as they were all a steal. I have seen comparable condition ones fetch $4k off Ebay. Hope this calms your impulse buying urges. LOL
Respectfully,
Dennis
