Lathe for swap or sale

I have a Prewar Nuttel lathe. I am wanting to swap it for a 40ft trailer either boggie or triaxle, or low loader. I know it's a long shot but i wanna get rid of it.

hope you have better luck than the last two big lathes i had.....wouldn't / couldn't make scrap price...

good luck anyway
chocs

If not it's going into the shed. I got all the bits for it so i am hoping a get a deal.

Brian

Brian - Sorry to tell you, but flat-belt drive lathes aren't worth the proverbial two knobs of goat $h*t. The same old story, it's like trying to sell someone a Model T Ford truck, and telling them it'll do all the haulage a modern truck will do.

The Chinese lathes have wrecked the used market .. and the same goes for the older used welders. Modern technology has overtaken this stuff long ago.
My best mate is a machinist, and he restores machine tools. He's got a better lathe than that, a geared head lathe, sitting under a tarp in his yard .. and he can't get a kind look for it.
It's going to scrap soon, after he's stripped it, that's all the value there is in it.

These old lathes are generally too worn in the headstock, in the bed, and in all the slides, to get any accuracy with a cut.
To recondition them involves a lot of work, and at the end of the day, you've still got an old lathe.
Flat belt drive is next to useless, it slips under load, and they are dangerous to be around. They have to be guarded up totally, or Worksafe will jump down your throat.

A new Chinese lathe that will cut accurately, has all the bells and whistles, and comes with a heap of accessories, can be had for a few grand.
Not too many years ago, the old lathes were worth something, now they are worth SFA.
The only thing of value on them is chucks, faceplates, toolposts, tooling, steadies, and any other useful accessories. To get any value out of old machine tools, you just have to rip all the accessories off and sell them individually.
My mate constantly picks up lathes for nothing, they are given to him, as the machine shop owners realise they are worth more to pull out and move, than they will get for them.

Sorry to sound so negative, but you better take notice of 'onetrack', just leave it on the truck and head to the local scrappy, you 'might' make fuel money on it.

Go get something a tad more modern, that's at least got real ball bearings fitted in the head.



regards greenie [smiley=vrolijk_1.gif]

ps - why would a 1940's lathe still be any good in 2011, old surplus war machine technology is what you got hold of there. Plain old 'babbet' type bearings fitted in the headstock, which have probably done a million hours work, sloppy as all get out and you still want it to do precision work. Yeh, right, pigs will be flying next, eh.

We brought it before the war. We only used it to turn up big stuff. I know it has very little value but thats why i put it up as a swap. I have used chinese cnc stuff before an it isnt that good. But it is each others opinion.

brian

I wasn't indicating that the Chinese stuff was any good, I just said the Chinese have wrecked the market for old lathes, old welders, and many older workshop items of equipment, because their cheap pricing sets the tone for all prices .. including used prices.

My mate and I bought a big MEBA (German) bandsaw cheap, and reconditioned it for sale. It's a fantastic bandsaw, and should be worth $3500, because its German replacement cost is around $6000.
However, you can buy a new Chinese bandsaw, equivalent in size and features to the MEBA, for $2300. This sets the price for the used MEBA bandsaws, and no-one will pay $3500 for a top quality used German bandsaw (even though it has been totally reconditioned) .. because they will buy a new Chinese one instead. I'd pay the extra for the MEBA saw, but not too many people see past the $$'s they are outlaying.

A new Chinese lathe is cheap, and has plenty of faults in design and quality .. but it's accurate, as compared to a WW2 lathe that has done a lot of work and seen a lot of abuse.

Most of the old WW2 stuff is old technology .. it has been superseded by improved electrics, more efficient electric motors, better quality wiring insulation, electronics, better design in internal gears, easier-to-use controls, and 100 other areas.
The problem with lathes is that they basically have to be accurate .. very accurate. You can use an old lathe on the few turning jobs where accuracy is of no real concern .. but 98% of machining jobs requires accuracy to one or two thousandths of an inch.
You won't get that with an old lathe with wear in the headstock bearings, wear in the slides, and wear in the feed mechanism.

A new Chinese lathe is cheap, and has plenty of faults in design and quality
I would not agree with that, I have a Chinese lathe and it is great BUT BUT there is Chinese lathes and Chinese lathes
The one I have is the same they use in their own factories and it cost a touch more than some of the others on the market and I paid $3200 for it 12 years ago
The main features I was cashing, a double

By the looks of it i should just not post things in this thread. I just wanted to off load my great granfathers lathe to someone that wanted it for return on something i am chasing. I couldn't give a toss if jap stuff is any better to this. I would use it for myself but i havnt got power to my shed yet and it was a offer to fill someones urge to have one. I would rather help people than hinder and i apologise for the thread.

Brian

Hi Brian
You don