1985 Enco lathe

[QSIMDO]

12 x 24, made in Taiwan, -appears- to be well made.
Anyone have experience with them?

[gnm109]

12 x 24, made in Taiwan, -appears- to be well made.
Anyone have experience with them?

I've got a 1994 13 X 40 geared head model 110-1340, now disontinued. I bought it new back then and it's done a good job for my hobby work. Mine has a very heavy-duty 8 speed gear box and will do many different threads with a bottom gear that runs at 70 rpm. So far, so good. At the time I bought it, I had a budget of $2,500. The only European or U.S. made lathes I could get in that range were rather well-used from production shops, I presume.

Mine is still OK for me and parts, such as one might need, are still available. The only change I had to make was to weld up some spacers out of 2" X 3" square tubing. These go under the lathe at each end to raise the bed 3". This permits easier chip removal as the bed was sitting quite close to the stand. I also added a QC BXA toolpost and a Keyless chuck from Enco. Where I am in California, I can get anything in the Enco catalog in one day.

My 2 cents.

[Paul_Chretien]

I own a 12-36 Enco Lathe. I purchased it from a used machinery dealer approximately 7 years ago. It has serves me well and I am quite pleased with its performance. It is not in the same catagory as the lathes made for industry but for a home shop it fits my space, the power available, and my wallet. Parts and manuals are available as well as wide variety of accessories.

You should check a machine of this age for wear and-or abuse. A new machine of this variety (Asian import) is quite affordable and the newer machines have a several improvements such as a Camlock Spinlle, MT3 Tailstock, and Gear vs Belt drive.

[QSIMDO]

Naah...I was just rummaging through my favorite online used machine dealer and saw that.
I can't afford the Cincinnati tray-top they have and this Taiwan Enco looked much better than the mainland Grizzly I now own I just thought I'd run it by and see.

They've got a small Hardinge horizontal mill too. Very nice condition.