Found a machine, but what tooling?

[Amity]

I found a "Shoptask 1720" in the local paper for a very good price. He has had the motors re-wound and it is less than half of what the wholesale tool unit is, and they look the same.

My question is the tooling in the mill, the owner says it is not R-8. But the WT unit is R-8, so if it turns out to be a MT will I be able to find tooling for it? I dont expect to much for this little machine, but I dont want to buy somthing I cant use. (not that I know how yet)

[G.A. Ewen]

A friend of mine had a Shoptask. His was a total piece of junk so if you intend to buy this one I suggest that you look it over VERY carefully.

The milling spindle is MT 3. You can get collets and endmill adapters for it most places.

[This message has been edited by G.A. Ewen (edited 12-18-2004).]

[sch]

Ewen's comment as to junk status is relative
to more adequate tools. As is the machine
makes a fair to poor lathe and fair milling
machine. Threading can be done but not
easily, there is no halfnut or thread dial.
The slowest lathe speed is way too fast.
There is a mod kit available which allows the
lead screw to be reversed easily, this makes
the machine much more useful as a lathe.
The lack of a compound can also be remedied.
By the time both of these are done you will
be out another $300. An Indian sourced QC
tool post is included in this. Most 1720 were sold with a variety of tools, centers, drill chuck and change gear set, 3J and 4J
chucks with back plate for the 4J. The mill
head is floating as provided and the lock is
a 6-7mm screw with a pointed end that engages
a hole in the round plate at the bottom of the mill head, This hole is easily rounded
over if milling is done without every thing
locked down. An adequate Chinese vise for
the mill is the 4" Kurt clone, anything larger is too too large. Vise will run $80-90 shipped. Other necessaries to use the
machine will run you another $2-400, depending on what you have. As supplied there is not more than 12-13" clearance
between the spindle head and table, with 3" quill movement. Vise takes up 4", tool
or holder anywhere from 2" (3/8" end mill)
to 5" (drill chuck with 3/8" bit) or boring head, so work will be hard to reach if small
or restricted in size if not small. Overall
I would suggest looking elsewhere as even at
$500 for the machine it will need a lot more
done and the mods added. They current much modified version of this machine improves the mill dramatically but doesn't do much for the lathe. Very good work can be done
with these machines, amazing work but this is a 1980 Corolla compared to the more recent models. The group 3_in_1_lathe_mill
at www.groups.yahoo.com has a good set of
links and references to the Shoptask. The links is huge but the following url drills
down to one by J Stranahan, whose work I refer to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/3_in_1...K_s_Quadra_Li\
_001047187729/

Depends on what you want to do with the machine, overall I would tend to second Ewen
because of the work needed to buff the machine up. For one thing if it has been sitting around for 10 yrs the lube in the lathe and mill spindles will have turned to
paraffin. OTOH if he had the motors rewound
maybe it has been in use enough to not be
a problem. The OEM motors are rated for 10-20 off on cycles per hour(!!!-this directly from the owner of the company). Their capacitors and start centrifugal switches tended to go bad early. Steve

[Amity]

Thank you for the detailed response SCH. From reading that I am starting to rethink that unit. I want to be able to make small parts for my bike, RC parts, hobby stuff etc.. But if the lathe will be to fast for threads then I can see why it would not be the best way to go. I may be better off with a mini lathe from Harbor freight, as I will use it little, but use it on little stuff. And it seems to have good support on the web for parts. I have given up on looking for larger units as space and weight are a premium for me.
I really wanted a decent small lathe, like an old Atlas/Craftsmen. But by the time I find one (and hope it is decent), ship it and find small parts to finish it, I would be better off with a cheap import HF unit.

The mill would have been nice, but I was curious about the need to extend that quill down so far out of the head for small parts. Seems like it would flex.

Thanks again.

[This message has been edited by Amity (edited 12-19-2004).]

[dvk]

I have the Harbor freight 7 X 10 mini lathe
and I do hobby type stuff too, and I am well pleased with it's performance. It doesn't take up much room and lite enough to slide back and forth out of the corner on top of my bench when I want to use it. I would suggest to get there MT2 tailstock drill chuck, needs to be shortened with a hacksaw, it has very nice variable speed.

[Buckshot]

..........Before fate smiled on me and I got my 11x36 Logan, I had bought a HF mill-lathe combo, and the real cheap one at that. No powerfeed for anything. No threading, and a 8"x10" mill table that the compound sat on. It is way below what you are considering.

I made some very usefull things on it, but they were very simple things to be sure. What it was like was having your lawn mower be just a oily pile of parts in a cardboard box, and everytime you mowed the lawn you had to put it together.

In reality the most useable part was the mill portion, and that barely. If a 3 in one machine is what you can find room for, then I'd like to suggest that you get the best one available. New, if possible. I have a friend with some model of Smitty and he can do some creditable work on it.

Regardless the low esteem they're held in, they beat a file, chisel, brace and bit all to heck.

Best,
Rick

[Amity]

Thanks again all. I will be buying a TIG first (miller econotig), then a small lathe (HF) and possible a small mill down the road. Tell me, is it possible to get a milling attatchment for the HF lathe? That would probobly take care of some of my needs. I have learned that the round colum mill is not the way to go, so I would have to get a more expensive unit, and that will take a while.

Thanks again!