I am wanting to buy a small lathe to do basic gun smithing work, blue printing my own actions and threading bolt knobs. No barrel work. How big of a lathe does one need to do this kind of work? Would a table top size work? I already have a mill and lathe in my shop, but the lathe was bought cheap when the local Whirlpool plant moved to Mexico(still refuse to buy their products) and the threading function does not work. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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Gunsmithing Lathe size for R700 work.
- Thread starter AHart76
- Start date
It is a very old Lodge and Shipley. Pretty sure this thing was in that plant back in the 1930’s when they were building WWII planes here in Evansville. I’d love to have it fixed, but can’t find anyone who works on old machines like this. Also very limited information about it on the internet. If I could have the power feed and threading working on it again that would be fantastic as it would come in handy in numerous jobs working on stuff around the farm on top of dabbling in gun smithing.
Those were well regarded if I recall correctly. Have you investigated the issue at all. Is it broken shafts or gears, or just controls? How big is it’s spindle bore?
If that’s more than you want to deal with, consider selling it, and buying something turn key. As Easy E said, hit the forums, it can be fixed.
If that’s more than you want to deal with, consider selling it, and buying something turn key. As Easy E said, hit the forums, it can be fixed.
I would recommend a lathe with a minimum of a 12" swing, 36" between centers, and a 1.5" spindle bore.
This is not a table top lathe, but a 12x36 is a smallish lathe in most machining world's.
This is not a table top lathe, but a 12x36 is a smallish lathe in most machining world's.
To be honest I have no clue what the actual dimensions on the lathe are. It is big tho, 15hp 480 3 phase motor on it. I would say a person could get at least 72” between centers, never put a tape on it though. It is way bigger than what we need, but got it for dang near scrap price because they wanted it gone and didn’t want to ship it to Mexico.
I have no clue what is wrong with the machine though. I went through 2 years of precision machine class at tech school and worked in a cylinder repair shop for a year before returning to the farm. I never actually worked on one of the lathes though. I have done some googling but can’t seem to find much on it.
I have no clue what is wrong with the machine though. I went through 2 years of precision machine class at tech school and worked in a cylinder repair shop for a year before returning to the farm. I never actually worked on one of the lathes though. I have done some googling but can’t seem to find much on it.
There has got to be a retired machinist - maybe from the UAW or Westinghouse, that can show you the parts you need to get yours going. Yes 15 HP and 72" is huge for gun work. You won't have to worry about rigidity with that one.
I had a small benchtop Atlas and sold it about 10 yrs ago for $1500. It sold quick, my guess it is worth $2500 today. It had about a 3' bed and about 7" swing. It was 3/4" through the headstock, so everything was done between centers. It would be the smallest lathe I would use for gun work. Bigger is more rigid, yours is very big!! Maybe find a small repair shop (welding shop, farm equipment repair...) that has a smaller lathe and talk trade with them. A machine shop isn't going to want something that old and not CNC compatible. Maybe even talk to a large farm or ranch and see if they want to buy it. If you get $2500 or so, you can add $500 and get a good gun lathe. I would avoid bench top lathes and get one slightly bigger and more rigid.
I had a small benchtop Atlas and sold it about 10 yrs ago for $1500. It sold quick, my guess it is worth $2500 today. It had about a 3' bed and about 7" swing. It was 3/4" through the headstock, so everything was done between centers. It would be the smallest lathe I would use for gun work. Bigger is more rigid, yours is very big!! Maybe find a small repair shop (welding shop, farm equipment repair...) that has a smaller lathe and talk trade with them. A machine shop isn't going to want something that old and not CNC compatible. Maybe even talk to a large farm or ranch and see if they want to buy it. If you get $2500 or so, you can add $500 and get a good gun lathe. I would avoid bench top lathes and get one slightly bigger and more rigid.
I can see that no one actually read what they OP is asking for.
He is not interested in barrel work, just actions and bolts. That is easily done on a small lathe.
Question for the OP:
How do you intend to true the action?
Are you looking to just skim the action face and lap the lugs in?
Are you looking to single point cut the threads and machine the lug abutments as well as the face?
What is your budget?
The reason for these questions is this:
If you intend only on skimming the face and lapping in the lugs you can use a smaller machine and a mandrel like this:
https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-...ng-tools/receiver-facing-mandrel-prod415.aspx
You can chuck it between a three jaw and a live center.
for the more indepth work, you'll need a machine large enough to run a fixture to hold the action.
Smallest size typically recommended is a 12x24 or 12x36.
I have a PM1236, I have no issues with the machine, but I am beginning to wish I had bought the Grizzly instead.
However, PM does have a very nice, 12x28 lathe that will likely fit your needs very well.
It also sports a 1.5" spindle bore in the event you end up doing barrels.
https://www.precisionmatthews.com/shop/pm-1228vf-lb/
I strongly considered this lathe, but went with the 12x36, thinking that since the 12x36 came with both a 3 and a 4 jaw chuck, I would be ahead of the game. The 4 jaw was a piece of shit and I had to order a new one, so I ended up in the same price range.
Honestly, you should be able to do most of what you want with a 9x19 or 9x20 machine, however, once you get into it, you'll end up doing more and find you need a larger machine.
If you are going to true the threads you will need to do barrel work also, as you machine the threads on the tenon to match the threads in the action when you true a 700.
I supposed, but then I still don't understand the point. You only pay to true the action once. You pay for fitted barrels for that action every time. It would seem better to get into it for barrel work, and true your action for fun. Not that I don't spend money on hobby stuff I want to that isn't fiscally reasonable.
Just wondering, and wanting to make sure you don't get a lathe and find out you really wanted something else, or what you had. Can you do me up a 70" 300wm barrel, squeeze a few more FPS out of it. LOL
If you have the machine, you have the time and you are mechanically inclined, tear it open, figure out how it works and figure out what is wrong.
On a 15hp machine doing jobs that probably could be done with 1.5hp, there is a good chance that any broken gears could be brazed back together and work under that load. If you're lucky it might just be a shear pin or something designed to break before the gears do if the operator does something stupid.
On a 15hp machine doing jobs that probably could be done with 1.5hp, there is a good chance that any broken gears could be brazed back together and work under that load. If you're lucky it might just be a shear pin or something designed to break before the gears do if the operator does something stupid.
Lot of good replies. In Evansville we have TONS of machine shops since this is the number 1 plastics molding area in the world thanks to Berry Global. Maybe I should just pop into a shop and talk to a shop manager. If he doesn’t have a guy in his shop that could maybe work on it as a side job, he might have a number of someone to call. I am very mechanically inclined, and between me, my dad, and brother, I’m sure we could figure it out, but unfortunately 3 guys and 1 large farm doesn’t leave a lot of extra time for projects like that lol.
I envy your being close enough to a manufacturing center like Evansville to be able to talk with several shops. If I'd have lived as close to a place that that, I'd probably have been able to find a decent old American-made lathe when I started doing action truing & bbl work. Instead, living out here in western Kansas, I wound up buying a heavy JET 13x40 chicom lathe. It does decent work, and weighs a bit over a ton, so is rigid enough, but I'd have preferred to look around & hopefully found a good old U.S.-made machine.
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