How Much Lathe?

[butchlambert]

Connerexum,
If you will poll the gunsmiths you will find that we buy our barrels profiled. The amount of money saved trying to do your own contouring is nothing. As far as your comment about the tolerance of the chamber, it has nothing to do with the ways. You don't use the ways chambering a barrel. If you have good and tight headstock bearings and you use good machineshop practices, you will have a very close tolerance chamber. I gonna watch Texas A&M beat Penn State, so will be away from the computer. Have a wonderful evening.
Butch

 

[ConnorExum]

Connerexum,
No, but what does that have to do with the subject? Are you or your Bro a gunsmith? How many barrels have you chambered or him? I'm sure your Bro is a talented machine person and that is not my contention. If you will read my posts you will not see me say that a Nardini is a POS. It is a decent machineshop lathe. If you and your Bro will look at a barrel set up in the headstock for chambering, then tell me why I am wrong. I just don't want any of this"Butch is wrong because my Bro is a tool and diemaker". Give your Bro a call and if you know how they are setup, ask him how soft ways affect chambering. Ask him how much machine is required to cut a 1" long tenon from 1.250 to 1.062 in diameter. Ask him how much faster a $17,000 machine can do it than a $3000 machine.
Mr. Connerexum, we are only discussing the lathe in the context of chambering a rifle, not a tooling shop machine. Your Bro and I would probably agree on machines that we would like to use in a machine shop environment.
Butch

Well I'll just let him answer, because you're right all my knowledge about machines like this is limited but I do know this he says go with the best. So I'll get him to sign up and tell you all the reasons why he would use a Nardini or Monarch over this machine... Especially the super-tolerance Monarch machines..

Wait a minute you're saying now the lathe is only going to do chambers? But gunsmiths do more than just chambers, there is truing of actions, tapers on barrel blanks... I would expect that anyone that is buying a lathe for gunsmithing is intending to do more than just chambering.

By the way he prefers to be called a "Tool and Die Maker" it seems that it is more a craft orientated title.

 

[fslflint]

first off- don't be scared to get a grizzly. for the ammount of stress put on a lathe by the demands of a gunsmith the grizzly is PLENTY of machine.

second- nardini has better ways then a grizzly? that is more conjecture then anything. the fact is that if you take care of a lathe properly it will outlive you. keep abrasives off the ways. ie, if you polish over your ways, grind over your ways, use emery cloth over your way then you better cover them and wipe them down afterwards and re oil them. that is just proper usage of a lathe.

any new production lathe will have softer ways then older lathes. that is thanks to the fine grain castings going the way of the buffalo except is very high priced lathes.

I am just a machinist, but if I were to buy a lathe for me to gunsmith on it would be an old monarch 10ee variable speed, but only if I could find one with a longer bed. most are only 10x20 toolroom lathes.

a close second would be an old Bridgeport Romi 17x40.
even a well taken care of vintage southbend would work just fine, but I personally like gearhead lathes or variable speeds.

both of these lathes are hard to find and often expensive. and for good reason, they last forever and are bulleproof.

 

[squirrelduster]

Looks like you guys are getting side tracked.

The question was eectech was looking for a cheap lathe that could be used to chamber a barrel. He has a small budget and no room but wants something that would work well for his application.

Connor you are recommending a lathe that weighs 2 1/2 tons. ok for my concrete floor but if I have a wood floor in a barn or shed it won't hold the weight. The lathe you are recommending is better than the Grizzly but it is neither cheap or small. Won't matter what it will do if it is unaffordable.

I too was looking for information about a lathe and that was the only reason I read the post. Even the Grizzly is too much for me to handle so I understand what eectech is after.

 

[ConnorExum]

Looks like you guys are getting side tracked.

The question was eectech was looking for a cheap lathe that could be used to chamber a barrel. He has a small budget and no room but wants something that would work well for his application.

Connor you are recommending a lathe that weighs 2 1/2 tons. ok for my concrete floor but if I have a wood floor in a barn or shed it won't hold the weight. The lathe you are recommending is better than the Grizzly but it is neither cheap or small. Won't matter what it will do if it is unaffordable.

I too was looking for information about a lathe and that was the only reason I read the post. Even the Grizzly is too much for me to handle so I understand what eectech is after.

I was just suggesting the brand more than anything else. Not any one specific lathe model.

 

[Shiraz]

My brother says that Grizzly's ways are soft and that if you want to cut tough stuff on it you put way too much stress on the machine.

Connor - "ways are soft"? Which exact model of Grizzly lathe are you referring to in your comment?

 

[butchlambert]

Shiraz,
This is one of the things that I hate. I heard somebody say something, so it must be true. It would be nice to know how that knowledge was gained. Sorry you get this kind of introduction to this forum.
Butch

 

[Eddie Harren]

Butch, this very thing happened the other day on the topic of barrel rifleling procedure. One poster said Polygonal bores could not be hand lapped. He read this on another web site and accepted it as true. I suggested he call Gary Schneider and ask, so as to be informed by the barrel maker himself.
Now, I personally have no idea whether Polygonal bores can be lapped or not but, rather than spread conjecture I would rather ask the maker.

 

[ConnorExum]

My brother says that Grizzly's ways are soft and that if you want to cut tough stuff on it you put way too much stress on the machine.

Connor - "ways are soft"? Which exact model of Grizzly lathe are you referring to in your comment?

It is all subjective.

 

[memilanuk]

Connor,

FWIW... the guy you're talking to,Shiraz) is the president of Grizzly... and a pretty accomplished shooter to boot. He brought lathes like the 4003G to market specifically to address the features needed/wanted by shooters and gunsmiths. Might want to keep that in mind. Let your brother log in and cite specifics, if he wants.

Monte

 

[ConnorExum]

Connor,

FWIW... the guy you're talking to,Shiraz) is the president of Grizzly... and a pretty accomplished shooter to boot. He brought lathes like the 4003G to market specifically to address the features needed/wanted by shooters and gunsmiths. Might want to keep that in mind. Let your brother log in and cite specifics, if he wants.

Monte

No such thing as free lunch in this world.

 

[ConnorExum]

Connor,

FWIW... the guy you're talking to,Shiraz) is the president of Grizzly... and a pretty accomplished shooter to boot. He brought lathes like the 4003G to market specifically to address the features needed/wanted by shooters and gunsmiths. Might want to keep that in mind. Let your brother log in and cite specifics, if he wants.

Monte

If you and the rest of the shooting community loves them than who am I to argue with the masses.

 

[Shiraz]

It is all subjective.

Connor - I take it, then, you have no clue which machine you were talking about? Next time you get a chance to even see a Grizzly lathe, look at the specs and you will see clearly "Hardened & ground bedways".


Butch - thanks. Looks like it's a case of a keyboard "expert" at work.

 

[Steve]

Shiraz, if a person was interested in setting up a private shop as a hobbiest and he got one of the 4003G's, what all tools would he need, other than reamers, to do his own gunsmithing work to chamber and rebarrel his own guns if he has a limited knowledge in machinist?
This may be a dumb question as I have been know to ask a few, but I figured one way to find out is ask, Is there any videos other than Richard Franklins out there that deals with gunsmithing in general?
Thanks again,
Steve

 

[Steve]

Well I just seen the advertisement on this site, looks like there is another dvd out there from Grizzly and it's gonna be on order. If it also list needed tools in the dvd then never mind on the question about what tools are needed.
Thanks again.

 

[rayjay]

Steve,
Find the book in the pic below. You can get them at university book stores or used off Ebay. It is a textbook and filled with lots of info I find invaluable. Also, Midway has "The Gunsmith Machinist". I personally feel it is overpriced but I am the consumate cheapskate. It has lots of rebbl'ing and action truing info. In the chapters that don't pertain to target rifles you will also find lots of excellent nuggets of info.

 

[ConnorExum]

It is all subjective.

Connor - I take it, then, you have no clue which machine you were talking about? Next time you get a chance to even see a Grizzly lathe, look at the specs and you will see clearly "Hardened & ground bedways".


Butch - thanks. Looks like it's a case of a keyboard "expert" at work.

Shiraz--

if you say so.

 

[Steve]

Thanks for the info Rayjay

 

[Shiraz]

Well I just seen the advertisement on this site, looks like there is another dvd out there from Grizzly and it's gonna be on order. If it also list needed tools in the dvd then never mind on the question about what tools are needed.
Thanks again.

Steve - there are a couple of real good threads on Benchrest Central about the G4003G gunsmith lathe and needed accessories. Most of the comments are from people that own the lathe and gunsmiths that own other lathes.

 

[Steve]

Thanks Shiraz