spitfire_er
Silver $$ Contributor
Last week a group of tools came up on craigslist. I originally contacted the guy to buy just the 6" rotary table and tail center. Thought about it. Decided to buy the whole lot. Not knowing what he all had, went picked it up and brought it home. Needless to say, homerun! US made mills and cutters worth more than what I paid.
In the past 10 years I've probably bought and sold 70-80 metal lathes, (my other hobby) usually smaller machines less than 14" swing, but nothing smaller than a South Bend 9". Seen and ran really nice lathes, and crappy ones. Used a few cheap mini lattes and was never impressed including the old 6x18" craftsmans.
One of the machines I recently purchased was this little metal lathe. Not sure the size, haven't even measured it. Been messing with it the last couple days. Made 2 bushings for my 20 tac dies (impatient waiting for some to arrive). First was a 0.232", second a 0.227" bushing. This little machine turned out very nice bushings. Bored the insides. Polished everything with 1000 grit fairly quick. My necks are running at zero runout measured on a surface plate, starrett v-block and a 1 thou test indicator. I'm happy. Not sure this lathe is available anywhere anymore, but I've been looking for a small lathe for some time, but never wanted a Chinese lathe. My "new" lathe came from the factory with a 3" Bison 3 jaw. The whole thing is very smooth. I guess it's a little precision lathe and of much higher quality than your average harbor freight lathe. Has a Mitsubishi motor. Sakai ML-360, Made in Japan! Later models made in Korea and possibly China were nowhere as nice.
Could have used this when I was turning out custom OAL cases, but it will come in handy for little stuff. I think my 14x48" clausing is a little large for doing small things like bushings and OAL cases. Did I say I'm happy! Very nice addition to my "reloading" equiptment.
Not to mention the German made precision mill I got in the deal too!
In the past 10 years I've probably bought and sold 70-80 metal lathes, (my other hobby) usually smaller machines less than 14" swing, but nothing smaller than a South Bend 9". Seen and ran really nice lathes, and crappy ones. Used a few cheap mini lattes and was never impressed including the old 6x18" craftsmans.
One of the machines I recently purchased was this little metal lathe. Not sure the size, haven't even measured it. Been messing with it the last couple days. Made 2 bushings for my 20 tac dies (impatient waiting for some to arrive). First was a 0.232", second a 0.227" bushing. This little machine turned out very nice bushings. Bored the insides. Polished everything with 1000 grit fairly quick. My necks are running at zero runout measured on a surface plate, starrett v-block and a 1 thou test indicator. I'm happy. Not sure this lathe is available anywhere anymore, but I've been looking for a small lathe for some time, but never wanted a Chinese lathe. My "new" lathe came from the factory with a 3" Bison 3 jaw. The whole thing is very smooth. I guess it's a little precision lathe and of much higher quality than your average harbor freight lathe. Has a Mitsubishi motor. Sakai ML-360, Made in Japan! Later models made in Korea and possibly China were nowhere as nice.
Could have used this when I was turning out custom OAL cases, but it will come in handy for little stuff. I think my 14x48" clausing is a little large for doing small things like bushings and OAL cases. Did I say I'm happy! Very nice addition to my "reloading" equiptment.
Not to mention the German made precision mill I got in the deal too!
