Is this lathe worth 900 bucks?

[Bill Wyko]

My friend just bought this lathe for 900 bucks. It's set up for metal but I'd think you could use it for wood with a few mods. The chuck is about 8 inched in dia and it's as long as an aircraft carrier:D . i have no idea what it is though.

[Jim Kountz]

Holy cow man you could turn a planet with that thing!

[David G Baker]

Suggestion, if the metal lathe is in good condition and a brand name lathe (I couldn't tell from the photo), clean it up and sell it so you can buy the wood lathe of your dream.
Not from personal experience, but I have read on several metal working sites that it is not a good idea to use a metal lathe for cutting wood on a frequent basis. I think it has something to do with the bearings but not sure.
If it was in good condition, had quite a bit of tooling, not a grey market lathe, was a 13 inch swing over the bed at least, and was within a reasonable driving distance of Mid Michigan, I wouldn't hesitate to pay $2000 or more depending on the tooling.

[Dick Strauss]

Bill,
One great thing about that lathe is your buddy could turn spiral forms on that sucker. From the looks of it, I'd say your buddy got a good deal. I'd give it a go with wood if it were me and the lathe had a high enough speed (I can't believe I'm saying that....usuaully it is the other way around) and turning capacity!

[Bill Blasic]

I have a friend who has rough turned hundreds and hundreds of bowls on his metal lathe. I was over the other day to drill some holes in aluminum for handles and we set it back up for metal working and it worked great. What was neat was to see this 12" chuck spin at 2000 rpm. Didn't drill holes that fast it was just to see it! I don't think there is any way you can hurt this machine turning wood.

[Paul Engle]

Bill,
That lathe will be very versitle, with the lead screw and power cross feed , keep it man it will out run just about any wood lathe on the market with the same swing and then some. and you can adapt the wood chuck to fit its spindle , it's thru hole should be over an inch . and talk about roughting out of balance .... scheesh man what a steel

[Bill Wyko]

Well, he's decided not to part with it but I have use of it if I need it.:cool: :)