Questions on a TIDA-5A metal lathe

[Marty Barron]

A TIDA-5A lathe is for sale. It is a 10"x36" lathe from the TIDA that closed in the late 80's and was made in Taiwan.
Has anyone had any experience with this lathe good or bad? Are there parts available from other manufacturers for this style of lathe? What would you think is a fair price to pay for this lathe?

Thanks for any assistance.

Marty

[Bruce Page]

Marty, there's not a lot of metal workers at SMC. You might try asking your question over at "The Home Machinist!" forum.

[John Aspinall]

I second the suggestion to ask on one of the several machinist forums. However... as it happens, I have a Tida 5 (rebadged by Wholesale Tool). It's a 12"x36". I think the Tida 4 was a 10" swing.

It's been a good lathe in general. Points in favor:

• power cross feed, usually found only on bigger lathes
• easily wired for 110V or 220V
• power lever on the apron
• hardened ways

Not so good:

• tailstock is MT2; at this size they should be stepping up to MT3
• came with a old-style 4-way toolpost; it took some effort to convert to a modern QCTP

Can't post pictures now, but I will soon.