South bend lathe

All discussion about lathes including but not limited to: South Bend, Hardinge, Logan, Monarch, Clausing and other HSM lathes, including imports

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hoppercar
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South bend lathe

Post by hoppercar »

I have an older 9 inch south bend lathe, that has served me well over the years. Was thinking of buying an additional south bend ..larger diameter ? Now that grizzley owns and produces south bend,. Was wondering how the quality today compares, to yesterday's, older lathes ???
John Evans
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Re: South bend lathe

Post by John Evans »

You pay a preimum for the SB name from Grizzly for a Chinese lathe ! My tool dealer friend sold several of grizzly's Shop Fox brand 12X36 Gunsmith lathes that I set up. They seemed to be decent .
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Bill Shields
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Re: South bend lathe

Post by Bill Shields »

the new SBs are not at the top of my list of lathes to purchase.

now...find me an old 10EE .......that runs or has had the electronics fixed / updated...
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
Glenn Brooks
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Re: South bend lathe

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Well, actually they are not Chinese lathes. They are made in Taiwan. Big difference in quality and QC.

I can’t speak for Grizzly current condition, but I did inspect their full line of machine tools a few years ago in their Bellingham show room.

At that time the SB lathes we’re nicely finished castings, with no rough edges and a high quality finish. The standard Grizzly machines, that looked like identical castings and parts had a more rough overall surface, particularily with casting lines and seams left over from the casting process. The machined parts all looked the same. I did not measure any of the machined surfaces or ask about internals. However I’ve have never read a comment about a new Grizzly lathe producing irregular parts.

So I surmised the new SB line was/probably is a more well finished lathe.

I don’t buy into the argument that old beat up American machines are better than new, precision machines manufacturers elsewhere. accuracy
and precision is what I look for in a lathe.
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Mr Ron
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Re: South bend lathe

Post by Mr Ron »

Glenn Brooks wrote: Thu May 12, 2022 12:29 pm
I don’t buy into the argument that old beat up American machines are better than new, precision machines manufacturers elsewhere. accuracy
and precision is what I look for in a lathe.
I think its a matter of maintaining accuracy over time and new machines won't have that longevity that older machines have.
Mr.Ron from South Mississippi
SteveM
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Re: South bend lathe

Post by SteveM »

There's a guy in Maine that buys South Bend Heavy 10's and restores them. A complete teardown / repair / refurbish rebuild, not a Krylon rebuild.

He only buys ones with good beds, because it's too much to re-do the bed.

I think he sells them for around $3,500-$4000.

You are getting almost a remanufactured lathe.

The new 10" South Bend is $10,000, more than double the cost.

Is it worth more than double?

My opinion is no, but there are people buying the new one, so some people believe that it is.

Heck, I have a friend who only buys new cars because he doesn't want a driver's seat someone else has farted in. He's paying a lot more for transportation than he needs to, but that's his decision.

Steve
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