What size through hole for a Lathe.

[Portable Welder]

I'm tired of not having a lathe and want one big enough to do equipment pins, bushings and shafts for conveyor rollers.

My concern is the size of the through hole, A 4" hole would be great, but that might be a huge lathe, I'd like to have 60" centers.

I could probably get by with a 3" through hole for 90% of the shafts that I mess with.

Some words of advise from heavy equipment guys on this site as to what size lathe would be good.

[aametalmaster]

I have 5 lathes and would love one with a 3" hole. My old 15" has only a 1 1/8" hole but a long bed. A SB heavy 10 has the same 1 3/8" hole as the bigger south bends in a smaller footprint. Some of the asian lathes have bigger holes but sometimes a bigger hole isn't better because the rest of the lathe is junk. There are lots of lathes out there esp where we live. I brought 2 home from Mich to Ohio because they were free or cheap. I am sure there are lots of used machinery dealers up there where you can go look and run one. I do the ebay thing and get what i pay for. Just my thoughts...Bob

[snowbird]

ouch that will be a beast... they go by the name oil field and hollow spindle lathe.

Never seen one for real, i suppose they may not accept small diameter shaft very well.

[raferguson]

Be creative

It may be more realistic to forget the through-hole. In most cases you can work around it. For example, imagine that you need to turn the end of a six foot shaft. You could chuck up one end, use a steady rest, take off the tailpiece, and let the shaft stick out the end. Then you only need to cut off the bit of end that was in the chuck. You might need to keep the RPM down when you play these kinds of tricks.

If you are creative, you can work around most lathe limitations, I believe.

I am not a lathe expert, but I have a small lathe, so I have to be creative sometimes.

[USMCPOP]

Some of the 16" x 60" lathes (and larger) have a 3" or so spindle bore.

[H80N]

South Bend spindle holes...

I'm tired of not having a lathe and want one big enough to do equipment pins, bushings and shafts for conveyor rollers.

My concern is the size of the through hole, A 4" hole would be great, but that might be a huge lathe, I'd like to have 60" centers.

I could probably get by with a 3" through hole for 90% of the shafts that I mess with.

Some words of advise from heavy equipment guys on this site as to what size lathe would be good.

My 1942 South Bend 13X60 only has a 1 3/8 spindle hole

here is a link to an old SB catalog that lists spindle hole sizes for different models...

http://www.wswells.com/data/catalog/79JR/cat_79jr_04.jpg

[Portable Welder]

Raferguson, Thanks for your ideas, I need to learn more about how to work around the problems you mentioned.

H80N, Whats the # to that place I have $ 1,300.00 saved up, Heck I mise well order about 20 of them for those prices.

[Portable Welder]

New 40 HP Phase converter for my 1/4" x 10' plate shear.

I just ordered a new Phase converter from American Rotary, Its a 40 HP and the model is ADX series which is a little more money but it has a slow start so the input amperage is less than some of the others that I looked at, some will draw over 200 amps at peak draw and I only have 200 amps coming into my building.

The shear has a 20 Hp motor and requires 50 amps at 230v 3 phase, the full load amps are 60 so I was told to double the Hp rating for the phase converter.

My plan is to buy a 3 phase sub panel that I can run additional circuits out of future equipment like a press brake and a lathe.

Any thoughts or precautions I should know about.

[H80N]

H80N, Whats the # to that place I have $ 1,300.00 saved up, Heck I mise well order about 20 of them for those prices.

Think that catalog was from 1934...

and I have misplaced my "Time Machine" blueprints..

However ... there are LOTS of SB lathes available on the used market...Ebay.. C/L & Pennysavers... not to mention auctions,,, plenty of bargains if you know what you are looking at..

Serial number and manual reference will help you identify machines & tooling that you are looking at... here is a useful link..

http://www.wswells.com/

[H80N]

I just ordered a new Phase converter from American Rotary, Its a 40 HP and the model is ADX series which is a little more money but it has a slow start so the input amperage is less than some of the others that I looked at, some will draw over 200 amps at peak draw and I only have 200 amps coming into my building.

The shear has a 20 Hp motor and requires 50 amps at 230v 3 phase, the full load amps are 60 so I was told to double the Hp rating for the phase converter.

My plan is to buy a 3 phase sub panel that I can run additional circuits out of future equipment like a press brake and a lathe.

Any thoughts or precautions I should know about.

American Rotary builds nice stuff... I helped a friend of mine install a similar sized unit in his shop several years back... and it has been humming along..running the whole shop... no problems ever since

[Portable Welder]

H80N,Thanks for the confidence booster on the quality of what I bought, I questioned the tech about running a 3 phase welder and he said it wouldn't be a problem.

[sledsports]

H80N,Thanks for the confidence booster on the quality of what I bought, I questioned the tech about running a 3 phase welder and he said it wouldn't be a problem.

I've got a similar set up in my shop. I wouldnt recommend running any sort of inverter machine off of it. The rotary "add a phase" creates the wild leg which is fine for motors and transformer but I would think the electronics in an inverter wouldn't be very happy.

[Synchroman]

There are very few lathes with a 3" through hole. As mentioned above, you can work around that issue with a steady rest and do one end of a larger shaft at a time.

Even with a large through hole it's necessary to support the portion of the work piece that might extend beyond the head of the lathe. That can be done with a device called a spider. Those are generally built to suit. My lathe has a 1.5" through hole but I've worked on large shafts with a steady rest.

I have 7.5 hp Rotary Phase Converter that I built around a surplus Baldor motor. I run a 3 hp milling machine with it. I don't have enough power in my shop to start a 40 hp motor.

[Portable Welder]

Synchroman and Sled sports, Thanks for your input, I probably wont ever run a welder off of it but its nice to know that I can if need be.

I guess when buying a lathe I need to make sure to get a steady rest.

[Synchroman]

Synchroman and Sled sports, Thanks for your input, I probably wont ever run a welder off of it but its nice to know that I can if need be.

I guess when buying a lathe I need to make sure to get a steady rest.

Typically, a new lathe will come with two chucks, a four jaw independent and a three jaw scroll type. They will also have a steady and a follow rest. I bought an Enco 13 X 40 in 1994 and it had those items along with a set of wrenches, two screwdrivers, a red tool box, a manual and even a can of touch up paint.

In buying a used lathe, some of the most important items might be missing. If they are, you will find yourself buying them later on, since the chucks and rests are really basic needs.