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New lathe choices in Canada

John Conroy said:
HHRoberts in Mississauga sells Sunmaster Taiwanese lathes. They make a 1330 and 1340 models. Very high quality machines. They also sell Hardinge clone Cyclematic precision tool room lathes.

Their website shows a used Western brand 1340 lathe in stock also.

http://www.hhrobertsmachinery.com/index.html
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Thanks John. Did not know about them either. Apparently, I have not been very diligent on my web searching. I have emailed them asking for more info on the Western and a new one.
 
Dabbler said:
SM lathes come up quite a bit in on kijiji. one 8will* show up with your name on it!
Click to expand...

Yes, fun to look for sure and patience usually pays off. Some days I have it and some days I don't. I can wait but it is nice to now have these other references. I had tunnel vision on KBC and Busybee.

Do you own all that equipment in your signature? Or is that stuff that you have owned...? That is a lot of stuff for a hobbyist.....:D

"15X60 Leblond lathe
14X40 Modern Lathe
12X37 Busy Bee Lathe
9X49 First mill
8X36 Modern Mill
7X42 Hartford Mill
7X24 Horizontal mill
Brown and Sharpe 6X12 Surface Grinder...."
 
Sooooo, just got off the phone with a distributor for Standard Modern

Any guesses as to how much they are worth new? He would not even quote me exactly. .... I left lots of room in this message for you to ponder....scroll down for the answer. Apparently, they are made to specs for the US Navy. And that is one of their main clients. School boards and government agencies of course too...
























My answer was......"North of 20K for the 13" model" o_O
 
Yup, that would be the price.

I was in KBC‘s showroom in YYZ about 4 years ago, the SM 16x60 was listed just around 30K, IIRC.
 
ShawnR said:
Do you own all that equipment in your signature?
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@ShawnR Uh, well, that's not all of it, unfortunately. I am in a mode of getting some of them ready for sale, I want them in the best shape possible first. I kinda like rebuilding old equipment.

ShawnR said:
North of 20K for the 13" model
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For new, that is the expected price... They are well made, even for the price. There's always best value in a well cared for used machine - the risk is that it isn't cared for...
 
I am in the same boat - also looking for a new lathe. A few of the Canadian distributors who had lathes suitable for a home hobbiest that I stumbled on through google searches are; Modern Tool (BC, Alberta, Newmarket, Ont.), Bell Machinery (West coast), Stan Canada (Edmonton), in addition to Busy Bee and KBC, I am generally leaning towards a Taiwanese machine, although the Chinese models tend to be cheaper and sometimes a bit better equipped. If I find other suppliers i will post them here.
 
boilerhouse said:
I am in the same boat - also looking for a new lathe. A few of the Canadian distributors who had lathes suitable for a home hobbiest that I stumbled on through google searches are; Modern Tool (BC, Alberta, Newmarket, Ont.), Bell Machinery (West coast), Stan Canada (Edmonton), in addition to Busy Bee and KBC, I am generally leaning towards a Taiwanese machine, although the Chinese models tend to be cheaper and sometimes a bit better equipped. If I find other suppliers i will post them here.
Click to expand...

https://www.traverscanada.com/metalworking-machinery/c/298691/

Cheers....
 
Thanks Crankit. Did not see them before either. I have looked at Jet products before. I think a step up from the basic import but not quite the top echelon.

Boilerhouse, what are you using now? Where are you?

I am still leaning towards the listed below. But not rushing into buying soon. If you compare the CX 707 to the Baleigh listed on the travers site, they look very similar, enough to make me think same manufacturer.

KBC 1236 https://www.kbctools.ca/itemdetail/6-125-063
Craftex CX707 https://www.busybeetools.com/products/lathe-12in-x-36in-2hp-gear-head-craftex-cx-cx707.html
Baleigh https://www.traverscanada.com/dual-voltage-metal-lathe/p/87-115-101/

It makes the 707 look good. My Craftex has been good to me. I also have some King Canada equipment and it seems decent too.
 
The Travers example helps to put things in context. They list quite a nice 13" lathe - which makes the eye popping price of the SM ("north of 20K for the 13" model") look like it is on a half price sale.

If you can get a good condition industrial lathe, with attachments and basic tooling for $5000 - that really is cheap. One figuring they can get that for much less is like hoping to win a lottery - it happens, but don't count on it. You can buy a similar work envelop machine for a lot less than a top end machine and many of the parts manufactured on the cheaper machine will be the same, but don't kid yourself that the $5000 13" Craftex is pretty much the same as the $42,000 13" Clausing.

The reality is, I'm never going to buy a new top end machine. Either I'm buying something pretty good (used industrial) and cleaning and fixing, or I'm buying 'el cheapo and appreciating it for what it is (thankful that it gets me into a fun hobby). I've done a bit of both - either options works.
 
Thanks Crankit - Travers certainly has a large selection of machine tools. Looks like something there for everyone. With it shipping from the US, I would want to check if duties, brokerage fees, shipping costs etc would apply.

ShawnR - I am in Muskoka (Central Ontario), and currently have a 1940's era Atlas, and while it is in fairly good shape for its age, it just lacks weight and rigidity. I have been keeping an eye on Kijiji for some time, looking at older iron, but most of the stuff that comes up looks like it would be a project. If I were to consider one of the older N American machines, (which is very unlikely at this point), I would really want to be familiar with the history of the machine and know the owner. I have King and Craftex machine tools that have held up well over the years, however, in both cases they are of Taiwan origin. The Chinese seem to have upped their game in recent years, but if I were to buy one, much like a used machine, I would prefer to see it in person, turn all the cranks and check it under power. This should drastically reduce unpleasant surprises when it is shipped and uncrated.
 
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A bunch of us have the C0636 lathes, which is an older and less capable unit, and are very happy with it!
 
The C0636 had a 1.5" spindle bore and the C0636A was upgraded to a 2" spindle bore but that meant going to D1-5 chucks instead of the much more common D1-4
 
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