I was reading that the old Clemens lathe will soon be back on the market. Any news on price? Also that the Renzetti was the copy, not the Clemens. So the original will be back?

The original Clemens Lathe was designed and built by Andy Renzetti. Clemens later had Andy's lathe built by a different machinist. The idea that Andy, a guy who spent his life designing and building machinery, would have to copy something that somebody who had never designed nor built any tooling or machinery (before nor since), is just another time worn myth. There is a reason that Andy continues to build his original lathe today free of any legal troubles - it was and remains his original design.

I might as well let a cat out of the bag - the Renzetti lathe is undergoing a major and very clever make-over. By the time December rolls around, a new Renzetti Master Rod Lathe will be making its debut and this one does not require you to remove either the thread carriage or rod supports to get one to pass the other. And, perhaps best of all, the older lathes can be easily retrofit to the new design for a price that is not at all hard to swallow. Keep your eyes peeled for the next issue of RodMaker. The Renzetti advertisement has all the details plus information on the retrofit kit. It's a beautiful unit and another original Renzetti design.

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By the way, a Renzetti Master Rod Lathe will again be the grand door prize at the RodMaker Magazine Reception for subscribers on the Friday evening prior to the opening of the 2013 Expo.

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Man O' Man, Tom that all sounds good!! I am going to have to try and make your reception. !! I like the idea of the retrofit. I have two Clemens/Renzetti lathes and just ordered a lathe bed extention from them.

I sort of figured the retrofit kit could be a hot seller when released but had greatly overestimated its cost. In talking with Andy, it turns out the price is far less than I would have imagined and the cost of the new lathe itself is not much changed from what the original lathe sells for now.

I've been working with one for about a month now and while I didn't suspect the ability to move the carriage by the rod supports would be that much of a big deal, in use it turns out to be more than a little sweet. It was about the only thing on the machine that could have been improved and now it has been.

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Bob McKAmey had a Spyder lathe on display at the Charlotte show back in 2006, it had a unique bed which I allowed the carriage to pass teh supports without removing anything. TEH headstock on that thing was gigantic, and the price was too high for it to take off. At least that's wha tI remember.

I'm probably going to need a bunch of new things for my lathe, everything is frozen on it due to the saltwater. IT really @#$%& sinc eI took such great care of it, waxing/polishing and even powder coating section of it. Frustrating!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/2012 10:34PM by Billy Vivona.

Great. Bought mine not too long ago and now find out that it's about to become obsolete. Guess I can upgrade.

I wouldn't say that the older lathes are suddenly going to be obsolete - they'll still work just as good tomorrow as they did yesterday. The new model simply adds an additional level of convenience.

Yes, your current lathe can be retrofitted if you wish to go that route.

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Billy

maybe take it apart and soak in CLR or some thing similar

Bill - willierods.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2012 08:53AM by bill boettcher.

I'm in for the upgrade - 'cause the thread carriage / upright bypass is a pain. I hope Andy brings a few with him to the expo.

Billy -
You're spot on! The lathe that Bob McKamey showed in Charlotte was HOT. It did everything that you would want in a lathe and was solidly built. I wanted one & pestered Bob about it before he closed down. As I recall the man that was responsible for the design and manufacture fell ill and not many were ever sold. That is a real shame because it incorporated lots of changes. The cost at the time was high - but not so high when compared to a fully tricked out Renzetti.

I saw that Lathe in his Shop in Tenn. It caught my eye as soon as I walked in his Store. It was the base idea in building my own using Alum Extrusions from 1080. Never could master building the under carriage for thread

[www.rodbuilding.org]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2012 11:54AM by Barry Thomas Sr.

One interesting fact is that if you have one of the older Clemens lathes and look on the bottom of the rod supports you will probably find a shiny gold sticker there that says "Renzetti". Just something I noticed on the one I got way back in '85.

What are they gonna do with all the old track? Any chance on a sale???

I can't speak on their behalf for any such plans. I suspect we'll have to wait and see what happens once the new lathe is introduced. I do expect the new unit to be available at the Expo, if not sooner.

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Thanks. I need to decide if I should buy another piece of standard track or just upgrade the entire length to whatever the new thing is. I assume all my accessories and headstock will fit the new system? Anything else to buy?

Everything will transfer over with the exception of the thread carriage bed. I believe the retrofit kit will include a totally new bed (track as you call it), the joining and mounting pieces, and a new thread carriage. The thread spool fixture will fit on the new carriage and you're off to the races. It's a very clever upgrade.

As I said, and even though I'm the one that suggested this improvement to Andy (last year's Expo), I didn't think it would really be that big of a deal. However, after using it I have to say it makes his original unit seem aggravating.

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