New (Grizzly) South Bend lathe - $1000 discount

[clivel]

For some time I have been looking to replace my Unimat lathe with something more substantial - around 8 to 10" swing.
Not having a fortune to spend the obvious choice would be something like one of the Chinese 9x18s, but not being in a huge rush either, I thought that it might be worthwhile waiting in the hope that I manage to find a better quality second hand machine.
Well seven months of scanning Craigs list on a daily basis has taught me one thing, hobbyist sized used lathes just don't seem to exist around my part of the world. And on the rare occasion that one does come up, either the price is completely obscene like for example the Emco Compact 5 currently listed at $3500, or snapped up almost immediately like the 9" South Bend six weeks ago.

As a result while searching for alternatives I came across the SB1001 8x18 and SB1002 10x22 South Bend labelled lathes made in China and Taiwan respectively. Given the premium price, one would hope that the machines are similarly of a premium quality. But, as they are way out of my budget except for occasional idle speculation I haven't paid them too much concern. However, every now and again out of curiosity I do a web search for reviews or any feedback from users. So far nothing. But today I did turn up one new result, Grizzly has discounted the smaller of the two machines to $2,265.00 - SB1001 South Bend 8K, 8" x 18" Benchtop Metal Lathe Heavy Duty, NEW w/ warranty!

Although a lot more affordable, at about double the price of a similarly specified generic Chinese lathe it still doesn't seem to offer value for money. It is tempting though, it does looks so much classier, but then again looks aren't everything.

 

[sunworksco]

Looks like a very nice lathe but there is nothing about anyone using this lathe on any of the forums or YouTube. Why hasent Grizzly promoted this lathe ?
Seems very lame !

 

[bret4]

I have no idea if they are good or not. One thing I do like in a lathe is a quick change gear box. I have had plenty of lathes over the years and got tired of changing feed gears the 1920's way. I'd keep an eye out for a older south bend with a QC gear box.

 

[Tin Falcon]

Looks like a very nice lathe but there is nothing about anyone using this lathe on any of the forums or YouTube. Why hasent Grizzly promoted this lathe ?
Seems very lame

grizzly has a full page add promoting this lathe on page 17 of the November /December Home shop machinist. Listing a sale price of $2995 $300 off.

it looks like a great lathe. I like the d camlock feature a real plus. Also variable speed on the fly and a digital tach. 1 1/2 hp motor (3 times that of the old 7x lathes) will do sae and metric threads.
but no qc gear box and face plate 4" chuck steady rest and follow rest are all EXTRA.
Tin

 

[flylo]

I have a very nice Wabeco D6000E I'd sell for that & it sells for $7k from MDA.

 

[sunworksco]

Why does the #1001 SB need quick-change gears if it says that it can thread ?
I have never threaded and do not know anything about the QC gears.
Can someone enlighten us ?

 

[bret4]

If your never going to thread its not as big of a problem. QC gears also controls how fast the machine feeds for turning and facing. If you want to cut faster to get a job done quicker when power feeding you can just move a handle to change the feed rate of the machine. If you want a finer finish (slower feed rate) with the QC gear box you can again just move a handle and in a few seconds be getting a finer finish. Without the QC gearbox you have to open up a cover remove gears and install new gears to do the same thing. This can take a while to do and can be a dirty job if the gears are oily. Plus if you find that you do not like the feed rate that you changed to without the QC gearbox you have to wast more time unbolting gears and changing again.

 

[kvom]

A camlock spindle nose is an excellent thing to have on a lathe. The Grizzly 8x18 has this, but aside from lacking a QC gearbox, it also lacks a QC toolpost.

 

[steamin]

Google "Used Lathes". You will be surprised at the amount of used machinery companies out there.

Good luck,
Larry

 

[clivel]

Thanks Larry, I've tried that
Unfortunately nothing much in this part of the world

 

[Tin Falcon]

Why does the #1001 SB need quick-change gears if it says that it can thread ?
I have never threaded and do not know anything about the QC gears.
Can someone enlighten us ?

Yes it will indeed thread!
In early days of of the screw threading lathe the only way to change the pitch of a screw being threaded is open the head stock cover, if it had one.( sometimes they were exposed) and change out the gears to set the ratio of gearing between the head stock spindle and the lead screw. these gears are furnished as a set with the lathe, Hence the term change gears and change gear set.
a set will allow for all common threads to be made either imperial , metric or both.depending on the lathe.

Modern production lathes have a gear box with a series of levers or knobs that allow to change the ratio of gearing in the head stock quickly .
this gearing also sets feed rate for automatic feeds.

Modern hobby lathes may be a hybrid you can quickly change thread pitches with levers or knobs but within limits like imperial threads or feed rates or metric threads . if you need to change MODE open the box and switch change gears.

the old way saves money on production cost but takes time to change out gears.

A full featured QC gear box is an expensive option. but in a job shop where things change fast an furious it save production time and setup cost.

the hybrid is a compromise it makes threading setup easier and faster and keeps costs reasonable.

Some of the small hobby lathes like taig and sherline have no head stock gearing at all . this is an added option.

Single point threading was one of the basic skills learned on the lathe in tech school for me. As a hobbyist one needs to decide how important the skill is and how important the threading capability of his or her lathe is.

Tin

 

[bret4]

Well said Tin.

 

[ccstudent]

There is a grizzly in the machine shop at school. To my knowledge its never had any problems. The one at school is a gunsmithing lathe. My teacher says he doesn't know the difference. It gets used everyday and people who use it like it. I have not personally used it so no opinion there

 

[efenley]

I'm not sure if you ever had your questions answered, but I've had this lathe for about a month and I'm generally quite impressed with it. I've looked at the smaller lathes in the Grizzly showroom in Muncy and found them to be cheaply made; plastic gears and the like. But at the prices they sell at, that should be expected. I liked the SB lathes because I don't want to spend a lot of my time refurbishing an old lathe or tinkering with a new, lower quality one. They (Grizzly) market the SB brand as a high quality product at a reasonable price. It is a market niche that has little competition. I believe that this lathe fits that space very well. It has high quality components and lots of power. Note that there are few bells and whistles and little extra tooling. There is no cross feed or quick change gearing but if you are a hobbyist and not trying to make payroll with it, these things are of less importance. You can change the speed belt (hi/lo) or thread gearing in a minute or so, and frankly I've had to do this only a few times. I use it in my home business to make prototype parts and don't run production on it, so I'm OK if it takes a little longer to get set up. In summary, I chose this lathe because it appears to be a precise, well designed piece of equipment, and it was light enough to get into and out of my basement. I recommend it if your needs are similar to mine.

 

[Cicerorob]

I just ordered the SB1001, Would anyone know of a bed extension for this lathe so it can have 30inches between centers. I"m not looking to turn anything more than wood at that length. I used to make pool cues and would like to be able to do repairs possibly cut shafts. I also am purchasing this lathe for wood working hobby and will tinker in the metal working department. Grizzly right now is selling this lathe for $1965 for about three hundred more than the variable speed grizzly I figured I couldn't go wrong.