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Just curious if any one has a Craftsman 109 lathe in their shop.  I'm looking for something to add to my shop and have a chance to pick one up with a 4 jaw chuck and 3 jaw chuck plus accessories for what I believe is a good price.  (Dana Fish)

I had one for about 30 years. It is a good lathe but you have to be careful on the size cut you take. I bent two spindles at the thread by taking a deep cut. Did some research to be sure it was a 109 that I had, I just found that original parts are still available. The spindle is now 135.00 It originally came with a 4 jaw chuck. I bought a 3 jaw chuck for it. I had a guy visiting one day that saw it and made me an offer I could not refuse. He said it was a collector lathe. Other than the thread size and the wall thickness at the thread on the spindle due to the internal taper I had no problems with it. Just check that the handles on the turning knobs are not broken off. They are cast pot metal. Several that I have seen had the crank part of the knob broken off. If the price is right and it runs true, I would buy it. Check the chuck for run out.

There is a little Allan head screw on the sun gear housing inside the head stock housing that slides in a slot. This is to change it over to back gear by sliding it in or out. (Tony Spezio)

I have one and my opinion is it is not a good lathe for rod making. I also have larger lathe that is also too small. Get something that takes a #5 taper in the head stock if you have room for it. You can use 5c collets in the headstock on a lathe that size. (Jerry Drake)

Jerry's right. When it comes to lathes MORE POWER is a good motto. Get the biggest lathe you can fit in the space available. (Tony Young)

I have one that was given to me by a friend. I use it to turn seats and grips.  I have turned reel seat hardware and ferrules. It has good range when it comes to speed which makes it nice to turn grips and seats. Turning metal parts is a little harder its adjustment system has a lot to be desired. I'll use it to turn aluminum slide bands and hook keeps.

If the one you are looking at its in good working order (they were made in the 40 & 50s). If you can get it for a good price and don't have a lot of lathe experience it might be something to try and get some experience on before investing in something a little larger.

I have made some upgrades and fixtures it does what I need it to do and it's small enough so it doesn't take up a lot of room. 

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. There is also a user group on yahoo (Rick Barbato)

Depends on what you want to make with it, and how well you can work with the machine's limitations. Its always good to get as much lathe as you can afford, but a little hobby lathe is better than no lathe. I bought a 6X18 in the mid 70's. It was a stretch to get it, but I loved the little beast. I did a lot of small part gunsmithing with it, including fitting hand gun barrels and making tooling from A2 steel. There's a lot of animosity among some towards any lathe under about a ton of cast iron, but the sad truth is that no lathe is any better than the guy running it. It will easily do any job that a rod maker would put on it.

The lathe's greatest failing is the liberal use of Zamak, or more commonly called pot metal. Overload the machine and one of them soft metal pieces will go destructo. The weakest link is the half nuts that seemed to wear out every time I turned around, especially when I was turning a lot of steel.

Mine was stolen by an X-wife. I would get another if the price was right. I currently have a 7X12, but am looking for a S/B heavy 10 or an Asian 10X22. I need more swing and Hp for some projects other than rod making. (Larry Lohkamp)

I made a lot of things with my 109 including a long tapered hollow cone that Is used for timing aircraft engines. It was threaded at the base of the cone.

As for rod making I made seats, ferrules and reel seat hardware on my 109.

After I sold the 109, I purchased a 7X12 and then a 7X14 that I now use for rod making. I have a 9X20 that I seldom use. I plan on selling it with all the accessories sometime soon. (Tony Spezio)