http://www.grizzly.com/products/8K-8-x-18-Lathe/SB1001
and I was so impressed with this benchtop lathe! The only lathes I'm familiar with are the small Harbor Freight "kit lathe" that I origionally bought and the Lathemaster lathe that I've been using for the last several years. I've been really pleased with my Lathemaster compared to the "kit lathe", however fiddling with the South Bend lathe at Grizzly really spoiled me! The dials were so precise compared to the Lathemaster and they didn't seem to have the backlash issues that I'm currently dealing with!

The specs are a bit puzzling though since they claim a MT3 spindle taper, but they also spec a 1 1/8" spindle bore. Personally I dont see how a MT3 could fit in a 1 1/8" bore. I did look at the spindle bore and it is indeed larger than the 3/4" bore of my Lathemaster so I'm "suspecting" that the spindle taper is a MT4.

Anywhoo.......I was really impressed with the small South Bend and I wish I had the $3400 to buy it!

the spindle so it accepts the MT#3 center.

ART

Seems like a lot of money for a lathe without a gearbox to me... I've been wanting this Grizzly Gunsmith Lathe for 5 years or more for about the same price. I've watched it go from $2300 to $3000 in that time frame.


http://www.grizzly.com/products/Gunsmith-s-Bench-Top-Lathe-with-Stand/G4003G

I actually ordered it once but they were out of stock and raised the price $300.

I'm sure the quality is excellent on the South Bend model you're looking at. I've heard good reports about the Lathemaster 9" lathe but once you get a lathe with a QC gearbox...



Airguns are a gas

Boomer

Just the gear train to the feed drive can be annoying enough to disengage it when not in use.

Belts can transmit more than enough power to ruin just about any tool or work piece!
Noise from straight cut gears are my big criticism of the gear head lathes in the shop.

Now that little Wade 98, what a honey!

I have an old Grizzly 12x24 belt drive with QC gearbox, does both metric and SAE threads simply by turning around one gear. Has a separate drive rod for carriage and cross slide travel, so the lead screw is ONLY used for threading, saves on wear and tear to the lead screw. The most recent improvement was replacing the standard v-belts with some Fenner PowerTwist link belts, night and day difference. This thing is now as smooth as oil on glass . Later.

Dave

It is a 12" X 37" gap bed(G1003) and I have also converted it to the Fenner belts, very smooth!
I live 15 miles from the Muncy, PA Grizzly, I have been looking at their new lathes....but just cannot justify new when this one works so good. The new ones are a lot prettier.
I have made a lot of attachments for this lathe over the years for gunsmithing so the new one doesn't have anything over it.

ART

Just a foot longer . In fact, when I got mine, I couldn't find an owners manual on Grizzly's site, so called and asked about it, they said use the G1003 OM. There is a mistake in it, if you ever adjust the preload on your spindle bearings, watch out. Where it says .1", is should say 1/10 of a rotation. Makes a big difference . If you want/need more specific info, email me direct.

I'd originally intended to buy a new 10x22, but when I went to order, they were out of stock, and I didn't want to wait on that proverbial slow boat from China . My wife found this on on Craig's List, I ended up with a much more capable machine for about the same price I'd have paid for the new one. And for what I do, I doubt I'll ever outgrow this machine, something I don't think I could say about that 10x22. Although if I do, I'll probably replace it with another Grizzly, the G4003G. Later.

Dave