need metal lathe advise

admin

Asking this question for my brother, who has an oilfield service company.He is having a difficult time finding local shops to make drifts for him. A drift is used to measure the inside tolerance of casing that is going into the gas well.The drifts he uses are made two different ways. The first type is from a piece of very thick walled pipe that is machined down to the outside diameter that he needs. This can be anywhere from about 4 inches to 10 inches in diameter. These are usually 12 to 16 inches long. The second type uses a small pipe in the middle with a flat plate on each end (looks kind of like a dumbbell) the flat plate is turned down to the desired diameter to match the casing being drifted.Do you have any recommendations on the purchase of a metal lathe that he could use to make the tools he needs. I have looked at the lathes available at Grizzly and am not really sure of what he needs. He said if he could get something for $2500-3000 it would pay for itself pretty quick. Thanks for any help you can provide.
Reply:Hi ODHAI just went through the Lathe purchase hurdle. $2500-$3000 is pretty light for the size quality your gonna want. Your look'n at a 12" swing, unless you can really stay under 10" in Dia. I found mine on Criagslist $700.00 , 2ea. 10" logans in boxes, made one really nice lathe. Watch out for shipping. I was look'n at South Bend heavy tens for $2500-$3000 plus shipping on Ebay. They were all to costly to move...
Reply:thanks for the reply - neither of us knows anything about lathes - 10" is probably going to be a requirement - I am sure he would be willing to spend more if he could find something that would do the job - he said he is spending a couple grand a year getting the tools made for him right now and it is getting harder to find shops willing to take on the work - they are all too busy with bigger projects i guess.when turning something like the firs drift I mentioned - a thick walled piece of pipe - do you have to have a chuck on the tail stock as well as the drive
Reply:You will want a way to steady both ends. you could weld a cross piece in and center drill it after you set it in the drive chuck. Stable means accurate. Good luck and Don't forget tooling thats where the money goes...
Reply:A 10 inch lathe will allow a 10" piece to fit over the ways, but not over the saddle, so a foot long section can't be turned for it's length. You need to know all the specs.  and what else  he's likely to want to do later, once he finds how useful a lathe is.If you are turning something like a piece of pipe, the front end can probably be held with inside jaws of the chuck while the tail end can have a tapered piece or a fitted plate, either of which can be held by a live tailstock.What kind of tolerances are needed for these 'gauges"and are 'go' and 'no go' both needed?A good place to get the basic information about lathes is from the little booklets which companies like South Bend used to publish; copies are still available from some of them and from:http://www.lindsaybks.com/Here are a couple of their lathe books:http://www.lindsaybks.com/bks/lathebk/index.html.
Reply:Originally Posted by Oldiron2A 10 inch lathe will allow a 10" piece to fit over the ways, but not over the saddle, so a foot long section can't be turned for it's length. You need to know all the specs.  and what else  he's likely to want to do later, once he finds how useful a lathe is.If you are turning something like a piece of pipe, the front end can probably be held with inside jaws of the chuck while the tail end can have a tapered piece or a fitted plate, either of which can be held by a live tailstock.What kind of tolerances are needed for these 'gauges"and are 'go' and 'no go' both needed?A good place to get the basic information about lathes is from the little booklets which companies like South Bend used to publish; copies are still available from some of them and from:http://www.lindsaybks.com/Here are a couple of their lathe books:http://www.lindsaybks.com/bks/lathebk/index.html.
Reply:If the machine shop won't turn a large dia. pipe, consider making a plug guage yourself, or with the help of a shop set up with a milling machine that has a rotary table.  Two pieces of plate drilled to a center, mill or grind outer dia., weld or press round stock into center hole. Pulling eye on end  This could be done by hand if you're patient, and make sure to weld the finished pieces of plate up square to the round stock.Just a thought.  Good luck Attached Images"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Try www.locatoronline.comYou need to find some old american built iron to do what you describe.I wouldnt be afraid of something close to 40 years old if it's heavy enough.The best things in life all come on a stick!
Reply:get the biggest lathe you have room for within reason you will not be happy with a 10" swing for what your trying to turn. It will not be stiff enough or have enough power. I use a lot of that kind of tooling that your talking about for water wells and I dont like spending 6 hours turning something that a machine shop can do in one. The lathe I have is an 12x 48 its great for small stuff, forget it on anything over 3" if your trying to make time.
Reply:I just looked on Craigslist for S.F.Calif. and saw a couple which would probably work OK; here is one ad:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lathe, Gap, Shenwai 15 x 40 - $1500 (san jose south)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Reply to: [email protected]  Date: 2008-10-11, 12:31PM PDTShenwai,Chieftain, Model 15x40---Gap Lathe---15” Swing---40” Centers---Gear Head, 16 Steps, 40 to 1800 Rpm’s,---Inch/Metric Threading with Thread Gage---Flood Coolant---8” 3 Jaw Chuck---Foot Brake---Aloris Quick Change Tool Holder---In Storage Sold as-is where-is---Price $1,500.00 ---Ram Machinery Co.--- Phone [408] 293-0388---Cell [408] 537-3209---E-Mail [email protected],--- New & Used Machine Tools--- Liquidations---Appraisals--- Financing---Stk#el220 it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interestsPostingID: 875377590------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I assume you're nowhere near here, but Craigslist there might have something similar; it's worth looking at least. Attached Images
Reply:Thanks for all the help & ideas - you guys are great!
Reply:If he is only spending a couple grand a year, he should just keep sending it out.A lathe big enough to do this accurately is big and expensive.A $2500 Grizzly lathe is not gonna cut it. I would be looking at an Axelson, myself- these are the standard of the oilfield industry, and a decent used one can easily run $10k to $20k. You need at least 3 to 5 hp to turn a 10" pipe a couple feet long, and do it accurately. These lathes usually weigh 6000 to 10,000lbs, of course are 3 phase, and then need tooling as well. Turning big pipe is a specialty, and the right live pipe center to turn 10" pipe can cost $2000, just for the live center.It would be best if your lathe actually had a spindle hole as big as your pipe- a ten inch spindle bore puts you in "oil country lathes" which are great machines, like the Axelson above, and priced to suit.If you do want to look for used, industrial sized lathes, besides the locator, which was linked above, look at www.machinetools.comThis has several hundred used machinery dealers on it, from all over the country.
Reply:Here it is....http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...E:B:SS:US:1123Everything you need & more!Edit: No affiliation... Just caught my eye while window shopping...Last edited by Rabidfish; 10-15-2008 at 07:13 PM.The best things in life all come on a stick!
Reply:The dumbbell type could be readily fabricated using laser or water jet cut plates.  It should be relatively inexpensive to get fairly accurate circles cut in most any diameter.