Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Lathe question

Though my Monarch 10EE was built in 1971, it is basically the same as the 10EE's built in the '30's. Controlled by vacuum tubes.

In case some here doubt how dangerously large swarf can get, this was on the mill, drilling 1-1/4" diameter hole in stainless, prior to boring 40mm.

As it turns out, I'm buying an Emco Maximat Super 11 lathe I found online. For those unfamiliar with those lathes, they have a 1.4" spindle bore, a short headstock, and were made in Austria. A very reputable gunsmith friend of mine uses one everyday and swears by it for small threading jobs and chambering. I'm stoked to be the new owner of such an incredible machine.

Congrats. Much better.

I'm not excited about the tool hanging out there over air but that's an easy fix.

https://postimg.cc/gallery/bwrK4jg





This lathe stands 48" tall, 55" long, 30" wide and weighs 600lbs. I originally planned on having it loaded into the bed of my Ram 1500 and I would drive it home to the Indy area from Boston on my way back from Maine. Other than having to remove and store my tonneau cover, I'm not sure how much weight my corner anchors can take and I'm not wild about it being top heavy and tall. Am I better off spending $300 to rent a Uhaul open trailer and towing it home?

If it is bolted to the pallet in the picture when you transport it that will help substantially to stabilize the machine, along with your tie downs. Even with a Ram I wouldn't worry too much about it. If it was a Ford I would say to have it shipped...

I'm not sure it will come on the pallet. I can ask the seller. If so, hopefully the pallet is narrow enough to ride between my wheel wells.

You can take the lathe off the stand and transport them side by side without the worry of it being top heavy.

At only 600 lbs you should have no trouble transporting it in the pickup bed.

That looks awfully similar to a bench lathe sitting on top of a wood cabinet, painted to match the lathe. You might want to check and see if that stand is wood. The door hinges appear to be for wood cabinets and looks like 1x material upright pieces in the picture. May not want to transport 600# on a wood cabinet, if it is wood.

I can't imagine doing much gunsmith work with a 600# lathe regardless the origin. Maybe ok for making pins. I have a lathe like that at work and pretty much can't turn anything steel on it. The toolpost just isn't rigid enough. Typically deflects and breaks the tool. About all i can do is turn bronze bushings and drill small holes. Cutting threads is going to be fun.

Les Brooks used to chamber pre-turned rifle barrels in a Chinese 7x14 table top lathe, and I know (knew) a famous barrel maker that used a Southbend Heavy 10 to thread, chamber, crown and turn barrel tapers.

Gunsmiths aren't the only ones known to have used inferior equipment.

Kurtis down under has a lathe that can turn barrel blanks. Maybe a bit of overkill though.

Heavy Duty! My friend that installs my barrels and helps me with all sorts of little gunsmithing projects that involve machining was once involved with machining the missile tubes for Trident submarines. Measuring them for QC was quite complicated he says.

I bet a person could do some gunsmithing on this guy's lathe...

That's Kurtis down under!

Did the OP get his lathe home yet?

Curtis does some interesting work. I have watched several of his videos and enjoy them. I have an old Prentice lathe I bought from a guy in Coolidge. Has a 20” swing and 24 foot long bed. Took two boom trucks to load it. Took my backhoe and a forklift to put it in the shop. Probably built in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s.

What do you use it for?