Novice needs help narrowing down lathe for metal work

[rick99]

Hi,

I am as novice as novice can be, I am working on a new project and am hoping to get some guidance to start me in the right direction.

I'm helping a friend expand his business and part of that expansion will require him to produce a part he needs.

He needs to lathe a stainless round puck shaped flat approximately 2" wide x 3/4 inches thick. The part requires a 3/8" deep threaded bore on one side.

Right now he gets these parts from China but it is notoriously unreliable and very difficult to project how many he needs. Shipping takes over a month so it is even more difficult to coordinate.

We have done the estimates for purchasing the Stainless 2" rods in 6' lengths and the price per unit is well within reason.

The labor would not be a problem because he is going to send his son to take a lathe course, and he would operate the lathe to lathe enough inventory for a months supply.

Obviously the feasibility now lies with the capital cost of the lathe.

Could someone give me some examples of what we are looking at in order to carry out this sort of work?

We are very flexible people who pick up new skills fast and will do what is necessary to get us by. Our hope is that as we grow, we would then hire a lathe operator and expand operations into other production.

Any help would be IMMENSELY appreciated!

Thanks

Rick