We need to purchase some lathes for teaching mechanical engineering
college students how to machine. Here's what we want:
1. about $2k per lathe.
2. 3-4 identical machines.
3. reasonably easy to use for beginners, no unusual safety risks.
4. doesn't require a great deal of work to get running well and looking
good.
5. reasonably quiet since many machines will be running at once.
6. won't 'self-disassemble' if/when a student crashes the compound
into the chuck.
7. able to get parts without a lot of work or expense
8. not such a treasure that it would be a tragedy if/when the students
destroy it (so, no used Monarch 10EE despite how well built they are).


We don't expect to get everything we want. From reading the archives,
either of the 12x Chinese lathes (belt-drive or gear-head version) are
looking like the best options (flame-suit on). We initially wanted
American iron, but new ones are of course above our budget and good
used ones are hard-to-find (and we need 3).

The biggest risk with Chinese seems to be long-term parts availability.
But, I think both these lathes have been around for a while (?), so if
discontinued, I think parts would show up on ebay. I think the
gear-head is more popular than the belt drive... not sure. Worst-case
is we either a) make one lathe a donor, b) use our Haas machines to
make replacements (a good advanced student project at that), or c)
replace them.

From what I have read, the 12x37 belt-drive is the better choice for
quality and quietness, also the belt-drive should be better for abuse.
The threaded spindle is not my pref, but I understand they have
set-screws (or we could lock-out reverse). The main advantages of the
12x36 gear-head seem to be its camlock spindle and (probably) better
parts availability.

On suppliers, I understand the machines themselves are the ~same, but
that Grizzly and Bill's Tool Crib have the best service.

The 12x37 belt-drive lathe:
Grizzly G9249
Enco '12x36' (actually 12x37) DP-510-2587

The 12x36 (or 12x24) gear-head lathe:
Grizzly G4003 or G4002
Enco DP510-2589
BTC Birmingham 1236GH
HF 33274-7VGA

FYI, the rest of our shop consists of two used but good Lagun mills
(donation from industry), one each Haas toolroom mill and lathe, and
Jet horiz. bandsaw, drill press, sander, etc. (all purchased before I
started this year).

Any thoughts on which lathe is best for us/students, other
considerations, or which supplier to use?

Thanks,
David Malicky
University of San Diego