Rikon 70-100 questions

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Painfullyslow

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I am continuing my search for a new lathe and came across this Rikon. Owner has added a variable speed motor and it comes with a drill chuck, a live center, and 2 dead centers. He is asking $400.

I have only seen Rikon units in blue so just making sure there are no gotchas or issues with this that I should be aware of? Otherwise it seems like a pretty good deal.

Any reason why I should not pull the trigger on this one?

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Green is the original color for Rikon lathes; they changed to blue a few years ago. I had one of these as my first lathe and also converted it to a VS. Very good beginner lathe. $400 is probably near the high end for a lathe this old. Definitely make sure it runs well before plunking down the bucks -- especially make sure the head stock bearings run smoothly, i.e. no noise/squealing.
 
A lot of tools are bought with great intentions of them being used but unlike exercise bicycles that become clothes racks the tool becomes a dust collector. It may have almost zero hours or be like mine on life support because of use.
 
Thanks gang, I will proceed with caution and definitely make sure there are no bearing noises or anything before I make any decision. I am betting that I can get him down to $300 and then another $200 for a G3 chuck with the pen jaws would be all that I need. That would put me ~$500 which is roughly half of what I was looking at spending for a new Rikon VS.

jttheclockman said:
Why is he selling. Need to be able to check speed rating in all steps. Is it a 12 X 16" lathe or a 10 X 18"
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This is a 12x16. As for why he is selling, unknown at the moment. Will find out more.
 
So I just got off the phone with the owner. He is a bit along in years and is retired. He and his wife are downsizing houses and no room for it in the new place.

It has been "intermittantly used" over the past 3 years but before that he used it several times a week. He was very specific in stating that it works perfectly and it is well taken care of, no rust, etc. The pictures all look good. Just from speaking with the gentleman I can tell that he is someone who takes care of his things.

He is the original owner, bought it new. He replaced bearings in it 4 years ago when he added the VS motor as a precaution, there was supposedly nothing wrong with them.

In any case, I feel like it may be worth a look. I have been scouring for a VS lathe for months now and this is really the first one that has cropped up.


So, other than the obvious mechanical issues; bad vibrations, bearing noises, etc...is there anything else that I should be looking for?
 
$300 is a much more reasonable price, because of its age. The VS is a nice addition. Keep in mind it is still only a 1/2 or 3/4 hp motor so don't bog it down or you may fry the control box like I have (twice)! Rikon makes great products and their customer service cannot be beat!
 
I give up. Turns out that it has been sitting for a while and when the lathe is switched on it blows the onboard fuse. Not sure if its frozen bearings or the motor and at this point, don't care. I obviously walked away from this one.

This has been months looking for a decent quality used VS lathe without success. I just ordered a brand new Rikon 70-150VSR so that I don't have to deal with any of this BS any longer. Incidentally, the price on these jumped up $200 as of today from $699 to $899, luckily I found a vendor still selling it at the old price.
 
Painfullyslow said:
I give up. Turns out that it has been sitting for a while and when the lathe is switched on it blows the onboard fuse. Not sure if its frozen bearings or the motor and at this point, don't care. I obviously walked away from this one.

This has been months looking for a decent quality used VS lathe without success. I just ordered a brand new Rikon 70-150VSR so that I don't have to deal with any of this BS any longer. Incidentally, the price on these jumped up $200 as of today from $699 to $899, luckily I found a vendor still selling it at the old price.
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I get it, sometimes it is just better to buy a new one and rather than keep hunting.
 
I have little patience at the best of times. Something like this where I have repeated attempts at something without success really frustrates me.

Normally I would be hunting for a good deal but this is a case where I am just going to throw money at the problem until it goes away.

The lathe price itself isn't bad at all, it's all the addons that kill me: nova chuck, pen jaws, drilling chuck, MT2 mandrel and mandrel saver. All in all this puts me north of $1k which itself is not terrible but I am not making money doing this so it is a hard pill to swallow.
 
When you buy Quality, you only cry once. If you buy a cheaper tool of lesser Quality, you cry every time you use it. (or words to that effect).

I was in the same boat last year, and bought a less expensive (but not cheap) lathe (NOVA) and I hated it almost from day 1. I finally returned it on day 90 (of a 90-day return window), and bought a Laguna (during that time, the Laguna price rose from $799 to $999). I swallowed the cost and have never regretted my decision.
 
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