# Own a Wabeco D4000 or D6000 Lathe ?



## DarkOrange (Jul 26, 2011)

Hello,

I am considering buying a Wabeco D4000E Lathe, I would love to make some flashlights and other things, I have machining experiance but I wondered, those who own a Wabeco, if you could share your experiance with a D4000 or D6000, any photos for me to drool over would also be great 

One thing I had wanted to ask is how smooth is the action of all of the moving parts, tailstock, saddle, compound and cross slide and so on.

Are there bearings on the screws of saddle, compound slide, cross slide etc and are they of the ball, thrust, bush etc.

I know the Wabeco lathes have a reputation for being of the highest quality but I'm really keen to get some feedback about the general 'feel' of a Wabeco Lathe in use.

Any help would be great thanks


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## Norm (Jul 26, 2011)

:welcome: I have to ask, what colour is an orange in the dark?


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## precisionworks (Jul 26, 2011)

Everything Emco is high precision. If you Google the model number, there are lots of threads on Practical Machinist, CNC Zone, etc.

As far as I know, they are the highest priced lathe in that size range. About 2500 Euro ($3600 USD) for the 4000E, and 3500-5700 Euro ($5000-8300 USD) for the 6000HS.

http://www.emcomachinetools.co.uk/ProductDetails/Wabeco/ConventionalLatheRange/D4000ELathe/tabid/202/Default.aspx

http://www.emcomachinetools.co.uk/ProductDetails/Wabeco/ConventionalLatheRange/D6000EHighSpeedLathe/tabid/204/Default.aspx

If your shop space is very small and your bank account is quite large, you can't go wrong. If you have more space, even something as small as a two car garage, that same amount of money will buy a heavier lathe with greater swing & more distance between centers. 

On both the 4000 & 6000, the spindle bore of 20mm (.800") will limit what work can be done, meaning almost every op has to be set up with the work sticking out of the chuck & supported by the steady rest or tail stock. 

My used lathe cost $4000 USD, has a 1.875" headstock bore (48mm), and allows a light held in a fixture to be fully enclosed by the chuck jaws. It's as small a lathe as I want to use for flashlight work, but may be too large for your work space.







Some of the machines are so easy to operate that even Man's Best Friend has no trouble


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## wquiles (Jul 26, 2011)

precisionworks said:


> ... it's as small a lathe as I want to use for flashlight work ...



Depends on the size of the flashlight. A 7x or 8x is perfect for CR123-sized lights, or parts for those smaller lights - maybe even a little bit larger.

For Mag's, although a 14x like yours is "ideal", in my opinion, you need to have at least a 12x lathe, which (like mine) can completely enclose a 3D inside the chuck/spindle:











Will


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## precisionworks (Jul 26, 2011)

Almost all my flashlight boring is done with the light surrounded by a Delrin fixture.






If a fixture (or any other type of jaw packing) is used, the diameter of a 1" light becomes at least 2" in the chuck. A Mag plus packing would need 3" or a bit more. 

A big hole through the chuck makes life a lot easier. My 8" chuck will just take a 2" diameter part, while the 10" 4-jaw can swallow 2.5" & leave room for dessert


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## DarkOrange (Jul 26, 2011)

Norm said:


> :welcome: I have to ask, what colour is an orange in the dark?


 

Hahahahha 

Cheers


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## DarkOrange (Jul 26, 2011)

wquiles said:


> Depends on the size of the flashlight. A 7x or 8x is perfect for CR123-sized lights, or parts for those smaller lights - maybe even a little bit larger.
> 
> For Mag's, although a 14x like yours is "ideal", in my opinion, you need to have at least a 12x lathe, which (like mine) can completely enclose a 3D inside the chuck/spindle:
> 
> ...


 
Ahhh, something I didn't give any consideration too was chucking a piece through the spindle bore.....The Wabeco D4000 and D6000 have 20mm or 30mm as an option, spidle bore diameters. Nice chuck by the way


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## DarkOrange (Jul 26, 2011)

precisionworks said:


> Everything Emco is high precision. If you Google the model number, there are lots of threads on Practical Machinist, CNC Zone, etc.
> 
> As far as I know, they are the highest priced lathe in that size range. About 2500 Euro ($3600 USD) for the 4000E, and 3500-5700 Euro ($5000-8300 USD) for the 6000HS.
> 
> ...


 
Several years ago I did own a larger lathe, (3 in 1 Lathe, Mill, Drill ) it wasn't anythiing too fancy and whoever designed it didn't put much thought into it. Using it was always a case of things being too high or too low, with the milling spindle all the way down it was still something like 150 mm from the table. It also was quiet heavy, about 300kg, and as a renter I found shifting it each time I moved to be an ordeal so I sold it. I had also thought I would never use a Lathe again or want too (Silly Me) so I also sold all of my tooling and accessories which included a very nice quick change toolpost and holders and a set of Glanze indexable tools, vertex rotary table, diving head ect ect. The picture of that Emco on a Fork lift reminded me. So anyway at this stage Im after smaller lathes that can be lifted by hand at least when disassembled


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## sortafast (Jul 29, 2011)

I have an 8x12/14" lathe like the ones you listed. Big difference here is mine came from harbor freight and I am sure that the fit and finish will be quite a bit less than that of the machines you are looking at. But for what it is and what I paid for it I am very happy with the little thing. It can hold decent precision, often .002" or better, but never worse than 0.005". Its fairly smooth and I was able to get it onto my high bench by myself. Really though, you'd be hard pressed to get a better machine for the size. One thing I would say, is that if you can find a similar machine for less £ I would go that route, then spend the excess that you save on tooling, maybe a schumatech DRO and so on. I don't know if you are going to gain much by spending that much money on this class of lathe. Especially since its still essentially a chinese lathe.


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## Energie (Jul 29, 2011)

The Wabeco 4000 E is a very nice machine, ready to use "out of the box".
Disadvantages: the gears are not easy to change and the DC drive fails sometimes.

I own two machines of the same size:

a chinese "Quantum D210x400" with an AC inverter (speed control)
and a russian "Technika TD400 E" with a DC drive.
Both machines are too small for "Mag-tuning" but just right to make small lights.


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## DarkOrange (Jul 29, 2011)

Energie said:


> The Wabeco 4000 E is a very nice machine, ready to use "out of the box".
> Disadvantages: the gears are not easy to change and the DC drive fails sometimes.
> 
> I own two machines of the same size:
> ...


 

They both look like very nice machines, nice tool posts you have there too! What size are they A0 or Aa? Thank you for posting the photos and links


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## DarkOrange (Jul 29, 2011)

sortafast said:


> I have an 8x12/14" lathe like the ones you listed. Big difference here is mine came from harbor freight and I am sure that the fit and finish will be quite a bit less than that of the machines you are looking at. But for what it is and what I paid for it I am very happy with the little thing. It can hold decent precision, often .002" or better, but never worse than 0.005". Its fairly smooth and I was able to get it onto my high bench by myself. Really though, you'd be hard pressed to get a better machine for the size. One thing I would say, is that if you can find a similar machine for less £ I would go that route, then spend the excess that you save on tooling, maybe a schumatech DRO and so on. I don't know if you are going to gain much by spending that much money on this class of lathe. Especially since its still essentially a chinese lathe.


 
At the moment I also have a chinese Lathe and Mill, both made by Titan.

http://titanmachinery.com.au/index....category_id=7&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=66
http://titanmachinery.com.au/index....category_id=6&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=66

I was a little disapointed in the finish of the Lathe, I bought it online, it needs work and I have so far removed a lot of the unnecessary trimmings that made it even more tacky. When I first got the Lathe it was still covered in casting sand, much of which had been painted over so a lot of the paint I also stripped. The cross slide and compund are a bit rough and difficult to adust to get a smooth motion so I'll have to do a little bit of modification and machining to get things working better. The Mill I am pleased with, it's also undergoing modification, belt drive wil be one mod I will make but for the price I think it's not too bad. I would however like to get something of a quality build. Too many retailers of cheaper lathes use the words quality and precission without too much thought of what those words mean I have found.


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