When you get a chance Teach.

Rocketman

Too much to detail this late, but my lathes spindle bore is shy of having a 1" barrel diameter through it. Time for a new lathe. I'm seeing some good looking lathes with a spindle bore of exactly 1". Will a 1" barrel fit a 1" spindle? Might sound stupid to some reading this but its a prime example of how a .500 dowel won't fit a .500 bore. Wondering if lathes have some give on their specified tolerances? Money isn't a problem but I really don't need overkill as this is an introductory hobby for now.

Teach

I've been machining barrels in a lathe with a 3/4" spindle for years. It's not a necessity to put the barrel all the way through the headstock. Just use a steady rest, a 4-jaw chuck, and a dial indicator to center things up. No, a 1" spindle bore isn't enough- - - -you need some wiggle room for centering, and most barrel blanks start out about 1 1/4" once you get above peashooter calibers. My South Bend 13" lathes have about a 2" spindle bore, but I'll need to buy a LOT of tooling when I put one of them into service.
Jerry

Rocketman

I'm glad you told me that. I'm going to spend the extra $1000 and get a Grizzly 12x36. It has a 1 5/8ths spindle bore, comes with a follow rest, steady rest and a ton of other things. The other plus is that it has a quick change gear head and cuts standard AND metric threads. I reckon I'll be good to go with this. Go big or go home!

Teach

Grizzly makes pretty good machinery- - - -foreign manufactured (like virtually all machine tools now) but assembled here, I believe. They're definitely better than Enco. If that lathe is available with a catch pan and a coolant pump, it's probably a good option to consider.
Jerry

Rocketman

It has a catch pan but no coolant feature. That's ideal but messy! Thankfully I feel I have the patience to lubricate and cool my work pieces. Granted though that I'll be working with different materials of some sorts now.

Teach

I like the spray mist coolant systems- - - -keeps the cutter lubed and cool, and minimizes the mess. Like my machine shop instuactor back in U.T. engineering school used to say- - - -"Always keep a cool tool!"
:jester:
Jerry

Rocketman

Same rule applies for multiple things in life :jester: