I have a opportunity to get a free lathe but not sure if it’s worth trying to move it
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Gunsmithing Anyone know if these lathes are any good? Or what this is?
- Thread starter Sniperwannabee
- Start date
That is a very unusual looking lathe. Not sure what exactly it would be used for. Looks like multiple slides for tooling.
Almost looks like an old spring machine. Curious what others think. Dosnt look like a very handy machine
Almost looks like an old spring machine. Curious what others think. Dosnt look like a very handy machine
Ok. I looked again. I am 95% sure it is a spring machine. It has cams on the lower shaft that push on the linkages that have the micrometer adjusters. I have never seen one like this but it resembles the ones in a shop I worked in after high school.
Cool machine but I don't think you will be doing any gunsmith work with it
Cool machine but I don't think you will be doing any gunsmith work with it
Thanks for the reply! Nothing in particular just want to learn something new with my teenage son and mess around with it. The guy said it was a gunsmith lathe? It didn’t look like anything I seen before so I figured I better post it up here to the people that know
looks like a capstan style lathe,
they were used for repetition & handy if you wanted to make batches of same parts
they were used for repetition & handy if you wanted to make batches of same parts
That's an old swiss screw machine. They are better suited to turning small, intricate parts for volume production. They were originally designed to make watch parts. Notice how the cutting tools are surrounding the spindles; the cams you see on the side of the machine control depth of cut, spindle and feed rate are controlled by gears (or by the looks of that machine, pulley size).
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Now whether or not if it's worth it would depend on if you want a low volume production machine, if machine parts are available, particularly spindle bearings and collet lock ups. Are the manuals in German or English? Is an English manual even available?
Thanks guys for the replies, I’ll pass, the manual is in German and not Sure if I’d be able to figure it out
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Yeah, there is a steep learning curve to get the full potential out of a screw machine. But, it could very easily be a profitable venture once you get past that curve. The downside to screw machines is maintenance, downtime and cost. Tooling isn't cheap either. Another difficulty you would run into is chip removal and trying to keep the area clean in general. They use large volumes of oil and like to spit it everywhere.
Cam driven swiss turns are interesting machines for sure. My step-dad used to set them up at AC Delco to make spark plug shells. Get it running, and aside from keeping it fed, ignore it for tens of thousands of cycles. He did share that when something went wrong, like getting a cams timing off, it was a shit show. Something about 2 (or more) tools trying to occupy the same space at the same time along with the part resulting in the mechanical version of a smoking crater.
bro don't even bother , its free for a reason , if you want a lathe to do barrel work the bigger and heavier the better. you'll need something with a 4 jaw chuck , not this monstrosity . this lather is probably industry specific and good at one specific type of parts .
Or weld the tool holder to the part, lol. If a person's slow to getting a machine stopped, it can catch fire. Nothing says exciting like watching a less experienced coworker trying to put out a tool fire with an air hose. Oil is flammable, especially so when turned to a mist with a blast of air.
