“What’s this,” you might ask, “a machine that makes chips available from my favorite fabrication machinery supplier, Bud’s Machine Tools? When did these guys get into this stuff?”
The fact of the matter is that Bryan “Bud” Jorgenson’s family has been selling chip making equipment like the lathe for many decades. Roger Jorgenson, Bryan’s dad, probably sold more chip than fab machines back in the early years. And the truth is, even fab shops need a chip machine or two. If a big customer purchases a couple of press brakes from us, we have been know to also sell them a nicely equipped knee mill so they can sharpen their own tooling. Milling machines, lathes, grinders, band saws — you name it, we carry it. And if our customer needs something he doesn’t see on our floor, we make sure he knows exactly how long it would take to get a factory-ordered CNC lathe or manual lathe to his destination.
Bud’s Machine Tools is ideally positioned to take advantage of the anticipated industry uptick (which we all hope is even closer than we think). With the fabrication industry patiently waiting for our government to finalize specifics, and release at least some of the massive projects that are currently being proposed in Washington D.C., there may be even more work than we can handle in providing customers with new metal lathes, both manual and CNC.
Big, small, short and tall, we've got you covered if you ever need to add a new or used metal lathe to your existing capabilities. We have metal lathes for sale in every configuration imaginable, from a small bench model right up to the monstrous vertical lathes with as much as a 100-inch chuck. If by chance you are in the oilfield business, we have big bore lathes with center holes as big as 12 inches. Run a toolmaker's shop or a small size prototype shop? We have a toolmaker's lathe in manual as well as CNC operated. Ask yourself this, do I have any idea how large the modern production lathe has become? It’s not the sort of information people would pursue on a regular basis, unless they are a lot like one of our salesmen, who reported: "I am constantly intrigued with 'the largest of anything' stories when they come out, so the biggest lathe ever was a natural. It so happens that the largest lathe ever delivered story was right up my alley. "Said lathe was 287 tons in weight, with a max turning diameter of an almost 158-inch diameter at the bed and a 118-inch diameter over the cross slide! This manual metal lathe could turn a part 315 inches long with a chuck that has a diameter of 126 inches. Last, but certainly not least, were the power numbers: a 215 horse power main drive motor with a total draw potential of 240 kVA! Or stated another way, as much power as it takes to run an electric powered locomotive. "The machine was affectionately called, just simply, 'Vulcan.' Contrast that to one of the smallest manual or CNC metal lathes currently available with contrasting capabilities to the Vulcan, like a max turning diameter of 9.8 inches with a maximum turning length of 21.8 inches. This demure little metal cutting lathe sports a 1.3 horse power main motor, drawing a modest 1.6 kVA. So the point of all the above dissertation is: manual metal lathes, as well as CNC metal lathes, can come in all sizes with a remarkable range of capabilities."
Support — it’s all about that! You invest serious money in a new machine tool and what you need is just the utmost out of that new machine you can get. This is where Bud's Machine Tools rises above all the rest: we have the capability to install, maintain, teach and even recommend better ways of running your machine. Our sales and inside support team are some of the most dedicated, trained, and experienced support people in the industry. In addition to that we maintain a service staff that is renowned in our industry as some of the most knowledgeable technicians in their field. Not to be outdone, we maintain an in-house parts department for the convenience of our customers, providing both standard O.E.M. replacement parts as well as special order items, accessories, and optional tooling from the world leaders in their respective fields. Bud's Machine Tools has, does, and will provide the industry standard in machine application, machine installation and machine training. Experience what it is like to purchase a machine tool from a company that seriously cares about your satisfaction long after the sale has taken place. We asked back at the top of the page, “Why would you buy a chip machine from a fabrication machine dealer?” We think the reasons stated above aptly answer that question — because at Bud's we care about the customer, before, during, and long after each sale.
