If you are in the market for a brake lathe, you may have considered buying a used one. There are an amazing range of makes and models that can machine disc rotors alone or disc rotors and brake drums using a separate cutter bar. The West and some others will also machine flywheels and other flat surfaces that can be mounted. Amongst the used brake lathes on the market there are a few to avoid if you want good parts supply, back up service and no design faults that you have to work around. For example, the early Ravaglioli had an aluminium alloy cutting head fixed on one side. When the aluminium wears, which it does, it is very difficult to set it up the brake lathe to do an accurate cut, and it is inclined to resonate and vibrate the disc during the machining. Parts like the diaphragm or concertina that covers the feed shaft are expensive and can be hard to find too.
Both problems can be solved with some innovation, so if you have lots of skill and little money, you may want to take it on. They are otherwise very good brake lathes. 4k for one with no faults. 1.5k for a sound machine that needs some repairs. Parts can be difficult to find. The design of the drive is antiquated. The arbor location lock is poorly designed. A very good brake lathe that can still be found in good order, although getting a bit jaded because the later model one was better fitted out, with less problems to keep it adjusted and running smoothly. Here is what to look for. The of/on switch gets replaced but not sealed properly and can fill up with oil. The belt and electric motor pulley can get very worn and interfere with the cut. It is important to run later model bull-nosed cutters in these models for best results. They break detent springs. The crossfeed shaft adjustment is finicky and unreliable if the operator is not on the ball it will move on it's onion nut.
These shafts can be upgraded to the JB special model which is simply a later model FMC, and retains most of the original lathe. The main drive nut wears out quickly if not kept well lubricated. This is quite expensive to replace. So expensive that I made a few for myself out of the same high quality materials in the original. Pay up to 3k for one in mint condition, 1k for one that needs tooling up and refurbishing. There are still a lot of parts available for the early 600 model and tooling is no problem at all as the newer model tools are identical. All the Ammco brake lathes regardless of model will do what they were designed to do and do it longer and better than any of the others listed here. With the heavy duty model disc/drum Ammco you can get a truck kit, which consists of a massiive arbor, all tools including truck disc mounting cones, cups and support for the large truck drums. I have refurbished, re-tooled and completely rebuilt dozens of early model Ammcos some more than 40 years old.
