I am a former machinist who worked at an aerospace company in the manual machine department so I am experienced with both large and small professional quality lathes and mills.
I have been needing a better and larger lathe for quite some time, I, up til now have only had a atlas craftsman 12x30 lathe. It has served well and will continue to do so for small jobs.
Found a Craigslist post for a ENCO 111-1450 lathe, it is a 14"x40" and is heavy at 4000 lbs.
I realize it is a Chinese made lathe and not highly regarded by some but I am a home user and it should serve me well. The price was low as it had been setting in a field behind an outhouse for the last few years due to the owner having to close his trucking business and not being able to afford to build a shop to house all his tools and machinery.
He decided to start letting the large machine tools go to new homes, that is where I come in.
Below are photos of the recovery of the lathe from the field where it sat covered for the last few yrs.
It was over 100 degrees and the seller and his son and I worked like dogs to get this lathe out and loaded. We had to take many breaks after suffering heat stroke symptoms such as dizziness and almost fainting etc, we are all pretty out of shape and yes it was Sahara desert mid day hot.
Thank goodness I brought a large cooler full of cold drinks as more then once I had to go sat down and recover from dizziness and the feeling I was about to faint.
I extend a hearty thanks to the seller and his son as had they simply pointed to the lathe and walked away I don't know if I could have done it all by my self, but I did not pay until it was setting on my trailer so that did provide an incentive to both help and not drop it. I was in charge and was asked every inch of the way what to do and how to do it. I did really appreciate that as I moved everything along very carefully inch by inch and made sure the lift was done my way.
After the lathe was sat on my trailer, I winched it into place, then we moved the trailer allowing the forklift to line up at the side of my trailer and re-lift the lathe. This was so I could bolt on some 2x10 boards to the lathe. Then it was sat back down and the 2x10 boards were lag bolted to my trailer bed. next I cleaned up the mess, stowed the splash and drip pans in my truck and then chained and tied down the lathe.
I did good on the tied down job as nothing moved for the 50 mile trip home. I stopped 4 times to check for load shift and to re-adjust the chains and tie down straps but there was no need as the tension stayed exactly the same the entire trip thus no adjustment was necessary. I do think bolting the lathe down to the trailer bed accomplished that and kept it solidly in place.
As of now I have not yet placed the lathe in my garage, I did oil her up all over on all steel surfaces such as the ways and place 2 tarps over it. My small garage needed to be re-configured as it is over stuffed with tools and a race car. My 7 ft wood workbench is going to be removed so I can place the lathe in that spot. I will buy one of the 50 inch mobile tool carts with wood top for a work space.
That will be plenty as my work bench was usually full of
The tool cart will hole machine tooling for my Bridgeport mill, this lathe and my little atlas craftsman lathe. First thing outa the wife's mouth, so your going to sell the little lathe right? Jeeze, women, they just don't get it when it comes to tools large or small.
No hun the little lathe is going to be kept for little lathe jobs.....I do use it a ton so yes, I am justified in keeping it. I will move every possible job to the Enco but I'm sure there will be those small jobs that the Enco will be hard pressed to do as conveniently as the little lathe, and, if not, wify will maybe get her way and the little craftsman will find a new home.
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Lathe after moving it a few ft out from its former home behind the
outhouse, this short move was as much as anything a test of our straps
and the balance point. I had to argue with the owner for 10 minutes
about where and how to hook it up.
The bar on the forks was the one the seller had inside the chuck so we could lift it by the bar going through the chuck with one strap on the chuck and one strap behind the lathe head. I said "hell no" we are not going to lift this lathe by the chuck, back and forth we went until he finally said "we will do it your way boss" from start to end. In the end he conceded by saying, it sure looks like you have done this before as you knew every step and exactly how you wanted to do it. UM, YES I DID as I did a ton of research before on how others had done it, together with how I did it when I brought my Bridgeport mill home.
My estimate of the balance point was spot on as you can see the lathe hanging from the forks "even" from side to side. It is tilted forward as the one strap had to pass be the chuck, we should have removed the chuck but this way worked, though it was dangerous as if one of the straps had broke the weight of the lathe would have pulled the bar off the forks and launched it swirling through the air with a huge amount of force. As you can imagine, this could of been a very bad situation for any thing or person who might have been hit be this 30 lb high speed projectile.
The straps were short 6 ft straps. I should have bought longer ones and then bought the needed eye bolts and hooks and some short sections of chain so I could have attached the strap ends to chain sections and looped the chain over the forks. One strap looped around the bed up by the chuck using eye bolts and chain loops to go over the forks along with the same setup for the other strap so the straps would not have had to been looped and hung using the large pipe over the forks would have been much better and safer.
There were stops on the fork ends that went through holes in the forks and kept the bar from moving off the forklift forks. If you look close you can just see them.
The bar on the forks was the one the seller had inside the chuck so we could lift it by the bar going through the chuck with one strap on the chuck and one strap behind the lathe head. I said "hell no" we are not going to lift this lathe by the chuck, back and forth we went until he finally said "we will do it your way boss" from start to end. In the end he conceded by saying, it sure looks like you have done this before as you knew every step and exactly how you wanted to do it. UM, YES I DID as I did a ton of research before on how others had done it, together with how I did it when I brought my Bridgeport mill home.
My estimate of the balance point was spot on as you can see the lathe hanging from the forks "even" from side to side. It is tilted forward as the one strap had to pass be the chuck, we should have removed the chuck but this way worked, though it was dangerous as if one of the straps had broke the weight of the lathe would have pulled the bar off the forks and launched it swirling through the air with a huge amount of force. As you can imagine, this could of been a very bad situation for any thing or person who might have been hit be this 30 lb high speed projectile.
The straps were short 6 ft straps. I should have bought longer ones and then bought the needed eye bolts and hooks and some short sections of chain so I could have attached the strap ends to chain sections and looped the chain over the forks. One strap looped around the bed up by the chuck using eye bolts and chain loops to go over the forks along with the same setup for the other strap so the straps would not have had to been looped and hung using the large pipe over the forks would have been much better and safer.
There were stops on the fork ends that went through holes in the forks and kept the bar from moving off the forklift forks. If you look close you can just see them.
after formulating a plan the move to the back of my trailer began
With the rear of my trailer blocked up so it would not launch the front
into the air from the 4000 lb weight, we sat the lathe down and prepared
to start winching it forward into place
The lathe in place and fastened down to 2x10 boards then lag bolting
boards to trailer bed. Winching it forward and into this position
required over 2 hours of work and frequent breaks for cold drinks as it
was hotter then hell at this point and I could maybe do about 5 minutes
of actual work then needed a cold drink and a break... what an ordeal.
Pictures make it look easy, boom, right into place from one photo to the next, by no means was that wench job easy due to the 100+ degree heat and my out of shape-ness and inability to handle the heat. Be prepared if you are 59 yrs old and get yourself into a situation where your going to have to work like a dog in over 100 degree heat. Bring LOTS of cold drinks in a huge cooler and hit them hard.
Pictures make it look easy, boom, right into place from one photo to the next, by no means was that wench job easy due to the 100+ degree heat and my out of shape-ness and inability to handle the heat. Be prepared if you are 59 yrs old and get yourself into a situation where your going to have to work like a dog in over 100 degree heat. Bring LOTS of cold drinks in a huge cooler and hit them hard.
See the semi trailer in the background, it holds more lathe tools, lathe
manual and a rotary phase converter I have tentatively made a deal on
but owner is over the road trucker and is rarely home and since I
brought the lathe home he seems disinterested in moving the 20 tons of
tools and equipment to get to the lathe tools manuals and rotary phase
converter for me. I have pretty much accepted that I got what I got and
there will not be any more of the stuff he talked about coming my way.
I'm gathering the needed items to build my own rotary phase converter,
not waiting around for the seller to get a "roundtuit" and get at this
stuff for me.
Another view showing the sling lifting points I used.
The outhouse phew, it stank. The lathe sat right there just behind the tarp
The tooling, 3 large chucks and a follow and steady rest, the tool post on the lathe, a HUGE mt drill chuck plus a few more items not shown
...
The 1st photo posted on Craigslist for sale ad by the seller showing the close proximity to the outhouse. That rust is really not too bad plus, it is only on the ways near the back section. There is rust on the chuck but that will clean right up no problem. other then the few limited rust spots, it is just dirty.
The 2nd photo posted on Craigslist for sale ad by the seller.
Do you have a ENCO 111-1450 lathe? Need manuals? Click the link below.
ENCO 111-1450 lathe manuals - click here to download
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Do you have a ENCO 111-1450 lathe? Need manuals? Click the link below.
ENCO 111-1450 lathe manuals - click here to download
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