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View Full Version : Metal Lathes Asian 1340



Mike Heidrick
06-25-2014, 12:28 AM
Anyone own a 1340 Asian imported lathe? I am talking to a guy about one. Wondering what your thoughts are on them.

David G Baker
06-25-2014, 7:40 PM
Mike,
I know nothing about the lathe you mentioned. The decision you make as to which lathe you buy depends totally on your needs, future needs and plans for what you plan on using the lathe for and how much accuracy you need. I am a fan of Southbend Lathes, they were American made and at one time they were one of the standard brands in America. There are used lathes available that are reasonably priced and have a lot of life left in them. Some Asian metal working equipment are sub-standard and some are so bad they are almost worthless. I don't know where Grizzly metal working equipment is made but you can probably rely on their quality over a non brand name lathe. Jet also sells metal working equipment and they seem to have a good reputation for reasonable quality equipment. If you share the brand name of the lathe you are thinking about someone on SMC may be able to give you more info than I can.

Mike Heidrick
06-25-2014, 7:56 PM
I may be trading for a Baileigh pl1340e 1340 lathe tomorrow. Its made in the same factory as jet and grizzly and enco and...... The lathe has a dro but is their entry 1340 size lathe. It is still larger than my atlas made craftsman commercial 1236.

Since most of these asian1340 lathes are similar I was looking for feedback on them.

Mike Heidrick
06-26-2014, 10:51 PM
Baileigh PL-1340E lathe is in the shop. I will get it figured out as usual.

george wilson
06-27-2014, 12:24 PM
The Asian lathe will be WORLDS better than your Atlas. This is provided there is not some unusual defect in it. My first lathe was a 12" Sears Atlas. I took all day to make parts that I could make in less than an hour on my 2nd. lathe,a 10" x 24" Jet bench lathe. I wish I still had it,though now I have a Hardinge HLVH,one of the very finest lathes ever made in America. But,it's threading range is more limited than my Jet was. My larger lathe is a 16" x 40" Grizzly made in Taiwan. I bought it new in 1986. it is quite accurate. I would not recommend it for production work,but it is fine for me. I recently did a 24" diameter job in its gap.

Buying Asian,especially Chinese is always a bit of a gamble. Open the headstock if it's a gear head,and fish out stray chips with a magnet on a dowel rod. There may be chips in the carriage's apron,too.

Mike Heidrick
06-27-2014, 2:00 PM
Prob should have done that before filling it last high.


Thankyou both

Scott Shepherd
06-28-2014, 8:24 AM
I think I have the lathe you are talking about. Interestingly enough, my story with it starts about 15 years ago when I worked in manufacturing. Our sales rep for machine tools came in weekly and I asked him about a lathe. He came back with this lathe model and said it was really decent for the money. We talked about it for a few visits from him and I was convinced it was a decent machine and he'd support it. I bought it. It came and it was as described. It ran good, did nice work, and I was happy with it and the purchase it. Then I went to the IMTS (International Machine Tool Show) in Chicago for work. It's one of the largest machine tool shows in the world. It takes days to walk through just one time. I quickly saw "my lathe" at all the discount tool and machine sellers. It was the exact same machine with a different face place over the headstock that had their brand. The more I walked around, the more I saw the exact same machine. I asked a couple people at the show about it and was told "yes, they are all made in the same factory".

I've looked at some newer ones in catalogs and it's still the exact same model I bought 15 years ago. With that many out there and no major design changes, I think it's proven itself as a pretty decent hobby lathe.