My new shop toy

Ran across a Grizzly 10 X 22 lathe on Craigslist and decided I had to have it. It's quite a bit bigger than my MicroMark 7 X 14 and will handle more of what I needed when I was working on the 247 planter last winter and more recently and my 3600 Ford tractor. The 7X14 will only take a 3/4 shaft through the head stock, this one will take a 1" shaft and is 8 inches longer.

I beefed up the stand that came with it with the idea of putting it on wheels. Durn thing with the stand weighs about 700 pounds. For now I set it up where it would fit, and I could get to it easily, might move it sometime down the road. Have several upgrades I am planning on that will be easier to do where it is.

Fun stuff...

One big problem with your new machine.........it should be at my home.....

Bob...

Wow! VERY nice!!

Do you mind my asking how much that cost used?

Although I've never owned anything with the Grizzly name on it, have heard many good things in the past......FAR in the past, like 20+ years ago. A few others here have recently mentioned how their quality isn't all that great. Hopefully you will get much enjoyment from your new "toy". :wink:

Nice & nice tool holder too, is it a turret? (looks like it has a turret handle)

Grizzly is a bit like Harbor Freight, mostly china imports. They have been at it longer and supposedly demand a little better quality control from suppliers. These days probably not much difference still have to pick and choose what you buy.

This lathe with everything that the guy had was right at 2 grand if bought new from Grizzly. I got it for $1300 which is close to the price of the lathe alone. It's only 8 months old and the guy hardly used it before he decided it was just taking up room in his garage.

The tool post is just a quick change, $150.00 accessory that every metal lathe needs. This is really an inexpensive entry level lathe that will get you into something larger and more robust than the $500.00 7X12 mini lathes everyone is selling.

It is an extremely popular lathe among the home shop guys because of the price. It really needs about $500.00 in upgrades to make it just about perfect. I have already ordered a 3 phase 1 horse motor and variable frequency drive to convert it to variable speed, about $300.00.

If you buy a metal lathe, remember the cost of the lathe is just a start you will invest that much again into tooling and accessories. I have at least a grand invested in stuff for my little 7X14, thankfully some of it can be used with this one.

Bob -- For me, that would be a lathe for my talents to build UP to! :lol:

Thanks for all the info!

8)

I hope that lasts you as long as my WWI Monarch lathe I use.
Richard

Put you an inexpensive DRO on it and you will like it even more,

I have to agree with the Digital Read Out(DRO) comment.

Number of years back I upgraded to a well used Clausing Colechester with Taper and DRO. Since I got it I won't have a machine
tool without DRO. I think in the probably 20 years I have had this lathe I have used the taper maybe 5 times. The DRO is used
nearly every time I chuck something up.

Have fun with your new toy!!!!!

jt

What would you recommend for inexpensive DRO? I have a 14 X 40 Jet I would like to add that to.

According to my research this is about the best thing going.. And what I am going to do on my 10x22 in stage two of my upgrades.

http://www.dropros.com/DRO_PROS_Lathe_Digital_Readout.htm

I bought a DRO kit for my mini mill off eBay some time ago and it isn't worth a hoot. It came with sheet metal mounting brackets and cheap caliper type scales. The sheet metal mounts are not stiff enough and the whole thing is pretty worthless. You do get what you pay for.

Everything changes with time. Spent the last several days researching DRO options for my lathe. finally decided on this one off eBay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221078186670

This kit is highly thought on a couple machine forums, quite a bit less but same quality as DRO Pro offering He let me upgrade the cross slide scale to 1 micron for $25.00 and helped me choose the correct length scales for my lathe.

Out here on the Left Coast, nothing sells on CL unless it's a pure give away price. $300 in these parts is what it would sell for. You'd only get flakes calling until you get it down to the give away price...

So what the sellers do is list it for twice or more what it's really worth, and hope the bargain hunters think getting it for half is a real deal.

I blame CL with the no cost ads. Before CL, you wrote a $60 check to run a weekend ad in a major newspaper. If you got greedy on your price, phone didn't ring, and you just blew the $60.

If you're stupid, you run the same ad, with the same price, next week. Again, no phone calls. Now you're out $120.

Most peeps will figure out the price is too high, and lower it to what the market price is in that area; they really don't want to see $180 in wasted ads.

With CL, they can run the same crazy price for weeks, just bump it to the top a couple of times a day. So now you get crazy high prices, and all the buyers looking for a give away.....

I could buy and sell with no problems before CL, now, even if I'm pricing at market; half of new price for something in good condition, phone don't ring. They want it for half my price.

Rant off.

I would buy all I can get for $300.00 would be worth renting a truck and hauling them to the USA to resell.