Precision Matthews 1440GT or South Bend Sb1114F lathe?

[butchlambert]

I loved my Monarch 10EE, but only 20" between centers and very very long headstock. I really like my 6913 Clausing. My Grizzly G0776 is a good lathe, but the controls seem to be back asswards. Dwight Scott used an Emco Meier lathe from Germany I believe. The Old Rockwall lathes are very good lathes to chamber with. I personally do not care for the Southbend heavy 10 lathes. I know they have a big following, but just not for me.
I will say that over many years Grizzly support is very good and you aren't dealing with a person from a call center in SE Asia.

 

[Sniperhandle]

I loved my Monarch 10EE, but only 20" between centers and very very long headstock. I really like my 6913 Clausing. My Grizzly G0776 is a good lathe, but the controls seem to be back asswards. Dwight Scott used an Emco Meier lathe from Germany I believe. The Old Rockwall lathes are very good lathes to chamber with. I personally do not care for the Southbend heavy 10 lathes. I know they have a big following, but just not for me.
I will say that over many years Grizzly support is very good and you aren't dealing with a person from a call center in SE Asia.

I have bought many parts from Grizzly, And yes they are very good to deal with.

I needed some parts for an older machine and they weren't listed on the website, The guy I spoke with on the phone said, Let me look around the warehouse I'll see what I can find and what do you know, He saved the day. I have nothing but good things to say about them, They are keeping many machines running, Many of them don't have a Grizzly badge on them, I know, The parts the guy found for me went on my Enco.

 

[Konocti's Wigwam]

I loved my Monarch 10EE, but only 20" between centers and very very long headstock. I really like my 6913 Clausing. My Grizzly G0776 is a good lathe, but the controls seem to be back asswards. Dwight Scott used an Emco Meier lathe from Germany I believe. The Old Rockwall lathes are very good lathes to chamber with. I personally do not care for the Southbend heavy 10 lathes. I know they have a big following, but just not for me.
I will say that over many years Grizzly support is very good and you aren't dealing with a person from a call center in SE Asia.

I hear 'ya Butch, loud and clear. The very reason I have the 10L, because the Rivett only has 20" between centers and a long headstock. The 10L does fit a home shop gunsmith well.

I like German machines, why I own a Deckel. I also own 2 Nichols mills.

What does it mean? I don't know, I'm just buying machines I can afford that will work for me.

But one thing I can say with certainty...I work on the Rivett most of the time. And it's a wonderful lathe to work on. It's not perfect, but it's an amazing machine, and that's what I use in my shop most of the time. I didn't move it to the new shop as I have it at my current house, and it works and functions fine. It is 100% made in America.

 

[butchlambert]

I hear 'ya Butch, loud and clear. The very reason I have the 10L, because the Rivett only has 20" between centers and a long headstock. The 10L does fit a home shop gunsmith well.

I like German machines, why I own a Deckel. I also own 2 Nichols mills.

What does it mean? I don't know, I'm just buying machines I can afford that will work for me.

But one thing I can say with certainty...I work on the Rivett most of the time. And it's a wonderful lathe to work on. It's not perfect, but it's an amazing machine, and that's what I use in my shop most of the time. I didn't move it to the new shop as I have it at my current house, and it works and functions fine. It is 100% made in America.

The Rivett is a great lathe, but kinda like the 10EE. It is great for small parts and extremely accurate. I did chamber a couple lathes on the 10EE using the method that Jackie Schmidt used in years long past. Make a bushing to slide in the spindle that fit the muzzle end of the barrel. Too much trouble making a precise fitting bushing and at that the bore was probably not centered in the blank.

 

[Konocti's Wigwam]

The Rivett is a great lathe, but kinda like the 10EE. It is great for small parts and extremely accurate. I did chamber a couple lathes on the 10EE using the method that Jackie Schmidt used in years long past. Make a bushing to slide in the spindle that fit the muzzle end of the barrel. Too much trouble making a precise fitting bushing and at that the bore was probably not centered in the blank.

That's what I mostly do in my shop, gunsmithing is a small portion of what I do, and in the minority of the big picture. I have 2 x 10Ls, and my plan is to sell one, I don't use either of them at the moment. It's not that I like them, it's that other people do and I can sell the one I don't want pretty easy. Most of them go for more than a Colchester, Clausing, Rockwell, et al.

I've been spending this weekend rebuilding an old axle and a transmission for my pickup. No lathe involved. I think I've posted enough on AS for some time...

 

[LVLAaron]

Anyone here actually been hands on with both these machine that can give an opinion? The PM 1440GT has 2" spindle, 40" between centers, and 15 1/2" spindle lenght...all perfect for chambering barrels, but it does not have EVS. The southbend 13x30 EVS is only 30" between centers with a 1.65" spindle, that is 21 1/2" lenght, but it's EVS with 5 hp motor. Looking for input on which one to go with...

If money is no object... the SB sure looks good. Spindle bore is kinda small, but it'll work unless you're doing huge elr barrels.

 

[xr650rRider]

That's what he said when I asked him about one 6 mos ago. Edit: I actually asked him about the whole kit, Not just a board, I could be wrong, Ask him.

I thought you were talking about Mark.

Mark doesn't use solid state PCB, he uses relays. Relays takes up 10x the space and cost 5x as much as this $40 board after the connectors and relay are soldered on.

 

[Sniperhandle]

Mark doesn't use solid state PCB, he uses relays.

I didn't know about this other guy, That's good to know.

 

[falconpilot]

Ended up going with PM1440GT..should be here next week. Got DRO and will be installing EVS..PM has great great to work with. I wanted a bigger bore spindle than the SB along with 40” between centers. SB was only good down to 100 rpm as well. The 5 year warranty on PM was factor as well.

 

[Bullwinklelol]

Ended up going with PM1440GT..should be here next week. Got DRO and will be installing EVS..PM has great great to work with. I wanted a bigger bore spindle than the SB along with 40” between centers. SB was only good down to 100 rpm as well. The 5 year warranty on PM was factor as well.

Just finished setting mine up and doing the vfd conversion, so far I am very happy much smoother and better build quality the my last lathe pm1236

 

[falconpilot]

Just finished setting mine up and doing the vfd conversion, so far I am very happy much smoother and better build quality the my last lathe pm1236

Nice...It looks like you got that thing tucked in there pretty tight. I've been going back and forth on where to place machine in my shop. I understood you need 2-3ft behind the machine, but maybe not..

 

[Sniperhandle]

I don't for DeWalt as I won't buy anymore of them, but I do have a problem with the Milwaukee cordless that is made in China that I own. You're right, it's almost impossible to not buy Chinese product and the current administration isn't helping that much.

Much of the DeWalt cordless seems to be made in Mexico.



I have to ponder, who would have more Chinesium, me or you? I think I know the answer to that already as I go out of my way to stay clear of Chinese products whenever I can. Even willing to buy vintage American over Chinesium. I will often pay more for products made outside of China, just based on principal.



I realize that, but willing to pay more, in order to NOT help China. I have an ethics problem with China, period, and doing whatever I can NOT to buy from them. Seems like you're more willing to roll over for them.

Hey I just saw an "Arken Scope" Thread you were participating in. Seems you love your Chinese Scopes, You know you could have bought a "U.S. Optics" Scope, Some of them are still made in USA. You know based on principles and all.
Or even an Old Unertl. But those aren't $300.00.

 

[itchyTF]

Nice...It looks like you got that thing tucked in there pretty tight. I've been going back and forth on where to place machine in my shop. I understood you need 2-3ft behind the machine, but maybe not..

Can’t speak for the 1440 but I’ve got a 1340 and the only thing you need space behind the machine for is the electrical control box and maybe the headstock. If you have the room go for it. You’ll probably do a bit of cursing if you didn’t leave enough room and have to work on the rear side.

 

[Sniperhandle]

Can’t speak for the 1440 but I’ve got a 1340 and the only thing you need space behind the machine for is the electrical control box and maybe the headstock. If you have the room go for it. You’ll probably do a bit of cursing if you didn’t leave enough room and have to work on the rear side.

Sometimes you need to take off the Splash guard and adjust the carriage gibs, It's almost impossible to do with the splash guard on and being able to get behind the machine. Also to clean DRO scales, Yeah I can walk behind mine. It takes up more space that way but you will need to get behind them, That's why it says that in the manual too.

 

[Bullwinklelol]

Nice...It looks like you got that thing tucked in there pretty tight. I've been going back and forth on where to place machine in my shop. I understood you need 2-3ft behind the machine, but maybe not..

I leave 12 inches behind mine and have never had problems servicing them, there is a better pic of spacing

 

[Walt Krafft]

Turn it 90 degrees to the wall for complete access. I need to get to the back of mine to easily remove chips.

 

[LVLAaron]

I leave 12 inches behind mine and have never had problems servicing them, there is a better pic of spacing

I need to raise mine up a few inches. Being 6'4" with a bad back... this lathe sits low! I've got some nice 3 inch pucks made up... just need to do it. I don't feel like a big re-leveling though.

 

[Bullwinklelol]

I need to raise mine up a few inches. Being 6'4" with a bad back... this lathe sits low! I've got some nice 3 inch pucks made up... just need to do it. I don't feel like a big re-leveling though.

I made some pucks out of 4" bar stock, I to am 6'4" with a crushed vertebra, the factory holes for feet are 1/2by 12tpi which is a bs thread so I tapped the holes next to the orignal holes to 20mmx2.5 and used some 20mm bolts

 

[LVLAaron]

I got a long piece of 4 inch hydraulic cylinder that I cut into "lift pucks"... I will just put the factory feet on top of them. It'll happen late winter after all of the post-season work dries up

 

[falconpilot]

Got VFD install completed(thanks to Mark Jacobs!!), and first thing I made on lathe was a spider. Chambered several barrels so far. Overall, I've very happy with the 1440.