[rdoty1]

I want to upgrade from my current Birmingham YCL1236 lathe to something higher quality and have been considering either a Jet 1340 or Shop Fox. I've been told that Birmingham and Jet are both made in China by the same company and they are similar in quality but I've never heard of Shop Fox. Does anybody have any insight on either of these or have other recommendations?

[DRD]

I have a kent made in Taiwan, 14X40, 3 phase, foot brake, engine lathe purchased new in 2006. For the money it is a nice machine for sure. Almost all new machines are made overseas now days.
I looked at alot of machines before I purchased the lathe.
Good luck on your find.

[Zumba]

Neither of those machines will be much of an upgrade. This guy bought a Jet 14x40 and it sucked bad. I had a 13x40 for awhile and can confirm that it's not very good.
http://www.makeitsimple.com/sections.php?artid=14

Check out the Sharp
http://www.emachinetool.com/new/cata...&ProductID=846

and this Grizzly
http://www.grizzly.com/products/13-x...-3-Phase/G9731

[widgitmaster]

If you want quality, stay away from the Asian made machines! They look good, but all have many shortcomings and weaknesses. If you find a USED machine dealer in your area, and look at all of their lathes carefully, toy can find an old clunker with another 100 years of life in it for less than a new machine! Also, shipping is much cheaper!

I would look for late 70's to 80's vintage, as the USA's industry was really strong, and America made some really top quality machines!

My 13x40 is made by Birmingham, and when new it looked impressive!
I would NEVER buy another one, as the head is constantly going out of alignment, and the coolant has washed all the paint of the gear selector plates! Birmingham also has poor support & service!

So don't make the same mistake I made!

Widgit

[RICHARD ZASTROW]

rdoty 1, Good advice from Zumba & Widgit. I'd include late 60's American iron as well. Don't forget Standard-Modern from Canada.

There were some fine lathes built in Japan as well, but I'd check on parts availability.

There are good English & other European machines as well (check on builders from East Europe), but again, parts?

You should be safe with brand name North American equipment.

Dick Z

[Zumba]

If you want quality, stay away from the Asian made machines!

Don't confuse Taiwan with China. That's like equating the US with Mexico.

Birmingham sells rubbish.

[Chuck Pressure]

I bought a mid eightys Taiwan Victor 1340 and have been very happy with it so far......good little machine! foot brake, coolant tank 2000 rpm....don't be afraid to look for used.......

[ozzie34231]

Hey Widgit,
Sorry to hear about the birmingham, especially since I'm setting up my new Taiwan lathe.
Any tips about what specifically is going on with your head alignment, and what might be done to cure it, short of pinning it?
I noticed that mine sits on a rather small amount of surface area and that it has adjustment screws on one side only.
What think?
Ozzie

[widgitmaster]

Exactly

The head sits on the flats of the ways, without pins or keys!
Only 4 M10 SHCS to hold it in position!
Don't use an old fashioned knurling tool, as the pressure will move the head!
Use a clamp type knurl!
I was so P.O'ed, I would have welded the darn thing in position after spending hours trying to get it dialed back in! (if I had a welder)

It took a 6 foot 1" dia bar to push it back!

The 1st try I got it dialed in, just to find the tail stock was 1/4" off! ARGGGGGGG!

[ozzie34231]

Don't get your pressure up, you're retired, remember.
I don't know how much you took apart when you received your lathe, but because I'm converting to CNC I'm taking a lot apart and I'm finding the majority of bolts are not very tight, not nearly tight enough. Your head problem bothers me. I might lift mine off again to see how to stabilize it.

Anyway it's very interesting to see how much stuff I don't need. I must have 150 pounds of useless parts, dozens of gears, shafts, bearings, the entire apron of levers and controls!
Guess I'll see if I can get anything for them on Ebay.

Regards,
Ozzie

[RICHARD ZASTROW]

Ozzie, Judging by yours and Widgits posts (along with my own and Zuma's remarks) there should be a large replacement part market for Birmingham lathes. lol

Dick Z

[BobWarfield]

Lots of good "step up" lathes to choose from. Mori Seiki made awesome lathes. Think of something as accurate as a Hardinge or Monarch but with greater capacity. They also licensed several Korean companies to sell clones that are very well made. Hwacheon is one such. There are other great Japanese lathes as well such as Okuma and Takisawa.

Also consider the Nardinis. They were made in Brazil of all places, but seem to be extremely well regarded.

I mention these in addition to the Taiwan lathes, which seem a cut above Chinese lathes.

There are a number of good European makes. Emco (not Enco!) made lovely lathes that come up sometimes. For more money there are Schaublin and Rivett lathes as well.

There are various interesting and well made clones of the Hardinge lathes. For example, Feeler made them in Taiwan.

All of these are pricier than buying a "one better" model of the various Chinese machines, but they have correspondingly higher performance.

I keep a page of tool brands so I have notes on which things folks are recommending:

http://www.thewarfields.com/cnccookb...rcesBrands.htm

Visit Practical Machinist to see what the pros there like.

Cheers,

BW

[ozzie34231]

Hi Dick,
Please don't get the idea I'm bashing Taiwan lathes. Mine's not a Birmingham by the way.
Like others have said, I bought a kit. It's not an "out of the box", ready to go, machine tool. I bought a brand new, slightly distressed, 14-40, list price $4785, for $1700. It's a fantastic bargain. But it needs attention in places, and since I'm converting it to CNC, lots of it will be discarded.
The bed seems dead-on straight. I have it dead level as close as my equipment will show, and two days ago, while setting up, I cut a piece of aluminum, 10" overhang, straight within a couple tenth thou. I tested for spindle runout inside the morse taper and on an indicator with 0.0001" graduations the dial moved only the width of a line, not a graduation, a line! The outside of the D1-4 taper shows a TIR of .0003" and if I can't live with that I'll fix it. I'm happy.
Sounds like I'm ranting and I don't mean to be.
If my lathe head is like Widgit's, with a propensity to move, that problem needs to be addressed.
Sounds like Bob's brand page could be worth looking at, I'm headed there now!

Regards,
Ozzie