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What to look for in buying a used lathe?

I would check for any vibrations on the spindle, Any strange sounds from the bearings, and on high speed if the housing around the bearings get overly hot. I would also bring with you a pointed drive center and a tail stock cone center and put them in the spindle and tail stock and see if the points align with one another when you move the tail stock up towards the headstock drive center. And as Rusty said, I would ask to try the lathe.
 
I would check the with two spur drives check the headstock and tailstock alignment. ( note live centers with bearing may not be that accurate). Look at the Morse tapers for scoring headstock and tailstock. Look at the opening at the back of the headstock where a vacuum adapter would be installed. Most of things can be easily corrected. If sliding headstock check it slides and locks down. As Rusty says run it up and down. Should not be any vibration unloaded. Check the emergency stop works and lathe restarts.
 
Eva at the end of the day budget is often a large part of the decision. As to trying out lathe try and find a club/chapter etc nearby and drop in there you will get good advice and as much hands on time as you want. If you have a clear idea of what you want to turn that will be a great help. But allow for the future as your experience and ability will grow and so will the ambition :) . Where I live the second hand market through the club is very good, so for me thats always worth giving some consdieration to.
 
Mike Novak said:
How far off is too far? Mine is off by about 1/32”
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That is a good question Mike. I really don’t know. I am use to seeing at the most 0.010” on all the lathes I have previously owned. 1/32” seems like a lot to me. That didn’t seem to make a lot of difference. I can say that some live centers with tolerance stack up do not give accurate indication.
 
Mike Novak said:
How far off is too far? Mine is off by about 1/32”
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My question would be, can the points BE aligned without using tools (or anything else than shifting it around and re-locking)? If not, then I would wonder if the ways were not twisted in some way , or the lockdown mechanism messed up.. Another thing to check would be if they DO line up, spin the spindles individually while watching to see if the points wobble out of alignment with each other indicating some sort of runout (which when a piece is chucked up, gonna result in vibration...)
 
Nothing to add to all the excellent advice, but you probably know that used 3520's don't come up for sale that often, and tend to hold their resale value when they do, like Toyotas. So if it passes all the tests and you end up taking the deal, we'd love pics. I love mine!
 
Brian Gustin said:
My question would be, can the points BE aligned without using tools (or anything else than shifting it around and re-locking)? If not, then I would wonder if the ways were not twisted in some way , or the lockdown mechanism messed up.. Another thing to check would be if they DO line up, spin the spindles individually while watching to see if the points wobble out of alignment with each other indicating some sort of runout (which when a piece is chucked up, gonna result in vibration...)
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Most of the time leveling the lathe can bring the points into alignment if the ways have not been permanently twisted.
 
Sometimes too good to be true is in fact too good to be true. The Powermatic turned out to be old, harshly used (possibly stored outside), bed severely rusted, paint peeling, missing drive and live centers, not aligned (thanks for the tip about bringing our own centers to check that) and conveniently not near an outlet to see if it even ran.
 
Eva, all of the things you list above can be fixed. Mostly with elbow grease and time. If you need new drive and live centers, that will cost you a little, but less than $200. The one thing that can't be fixed and is a deal breaker is what Kevin mentioned. The Powermatic is largely cast iron and if it's cracked, it can't readily be fixed. If the bed has a crack, it's toast.

Otherwise, you have to weigh the price and your willingness to spiff it up. Some people actually enjoy restoring older or ugly tools to glory.

Good luck with whatever you decide.
 
I have been getting into hand planes. Some times, emphasis on SOME, it can be worth it if you have the knowledge to fix it up, and if the price is right. A lot of times, I just want to buy and then put it to work. If you have a friend who is mechanically inclined and owes you a favor or three, well, it kind of depends.... If it runs, then it might be worth it. As for the centers not lining up, if the lathe is not dead level, that can twist the bed and make it twist.

robo hippy
 
Eva Brown said:
We found a used Powermatic 3520 for a particularly low price and are wondering what to look for when we go to inspect it? Any thoughts?
thanks.
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Eva: You have some very good guide line in your responses. If it runs good, takes a cut with no vibration through the RPM’s you should have a.good machine. Happy Turning.
 
Run your little finger into the morse taper of the headstock and tailstock, or use a flashlight and inspect the morse taper visually for any
rough surfaces, scratches, scoring etc. Run the tailstock all the way in and out to check the operation.
 
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