mookaloid
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| posted on 6/9/06 at 04:34 PM |
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Lathe?
I fancy a lathe 
Is this any good? or can I do better for this sort of money?
linky
Cheers
Mark
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JB
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| posted on 6/9/06 at 04:46 PM |
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Lathes
Yes you can do a lot better. Look for a second hand Boxford or Harrison. It will be more substantial and last longer.
I worked in a school and we had to get rid of some lathes (as above) and we could hardly give them away!
Search for Machine Tools, Machine tool dealers.
John
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rayward
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| posted on 6/9/06 at 04:47 PM |
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wouldn't bother with that one to be honest, mate had one and it practically dropped to bits.
he managed to get his money back, and bought an old myford(7 i think) instead.
Ray
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Mal
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| posted on 6/9/06 at 04:50 PM |
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Clarke Lathe
I would be wary of one of these. 150 watts is not much power.
I would look for a second hand Myford, or small Colchester lathe if I were you. There are some specialised web sites for hobby machining , in the same
way this one is for car enthusiasts. And of course E-bay.
I can't think of the name of the one I looked at before at present.
I bought a combination square/ protractor set for £30 from Machine Mart which is of reasonable quality and cheap compared with an industry quality one
for about £150. However, some other things have bought from Machine Mart I have returned as being of unsatisfactory quality.
I have a small Harrison Lathe of the sort that apprentices were taught on it the 60's and it works fine.
Mal.
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iank
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| posted on 6/9/06 at 04:58 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by rayward
wouldn't bother with that one to be honest, mate had one and it practically dropped to bits.
he managed to get his money back, and bought an old myford(7 i think) instead.
Ray
Falling apart seems common on those, company I worked for bought one and the leadscrew was borked within a fortnight, and it wasn't even being
badly abused.
They then bought some 3phase monster that no-one wanted since it was 3phase, French and 'horrors' metric.
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motorcrossrider
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| posted on 6/9/06 at 05:00 PM |
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Hi dont bother with it. Try Keeping an eye out for a Colchester Junior if you can as they are very good quality and last forever whilst still being
quite compact. Prices can vary massivly so make sure you look around properly. Iv bought and sold quite a few lathes and its possible to pick up a
really good refurbished one from an auction for not a lot more than the price of the clarke lathe.
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I love speed :-P
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| posted on 6/9/06 at 05:02 PM |
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i got a colchester student 6 inch last year for £100 from a machine shop that was closing down, so they are about. Another place to look is your local
newspaper in the for sale adds under machinary
Phil M
Don't Steal
The Government doesn’t like the competition
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Gav
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| posted on 6/9/06 at 07:00 PM |
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I was looking at the clarke one to but you carnt really use it in less your making model parts take a look an the store and youll see how small it
actually is!
I ended up buying one of these
http://www.chesteruk.net/store/db8_lathe.htm
Ive found it very capable to turn all the bits ive needed for the car which has included turning my own hose reducers from ally, turning down my rear
hub flanges to fit the willwood disks and lots of other stuff.
The only thing i would say is now i want a bigger lathe!
I think the moral of the story is buy the biggest you can stretch to both in cost and room to fit one, also i would budget on spending a couple of
hundred on buying decent tooling and mybe the odd book or two depending on how proficent you may or may not already be with a lathe.
Here is a pic of one of my lovely
hose reducers 
[Edited on 6/9/06 by Gav]
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 6/9/06 at 07:20 PM |
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I was going to suggest a look at the Chester lathes!
A friend of mine has their combined lathe and mill, and he's very pleased with it. It has limitations, but it works very well within its
range.
It won't be as good as a Myford, but it's a whole load better than the cheap-and-nasty Chinese/Taiwanese jobs. (I know this one is also
Chinese/Taiwanese, but Chester's do a fair bit more quality control!).
You could also look at this place
Arc Euro Trade
They also buy in Far East lathes, but make a big selling point of the way they sort them out before shipping them out to the customer.
David
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mookaloid
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| posted on 6/9/06 at 09:49 PM |
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Thanks guys, I will have a look about
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trextr7monkey
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| posted on 6/9/06 at 11:49 PM |
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Hi , We have 2 "big lathes" denford and a 3 phase one which also has a milling head, not used much as we bought a vertical miller, and
also 2 of the Clarke machines- these were bought to allow smallish teenagers to have their first experience of machining using mostly brass and the
odd bit of nylon. (Some of these kids can't actually see the chuck on a proper lathe) For that job we rate them as OK.
However we blow an awful lot of the small fuses and even changed them for some slower blowing ones but it is an irritation. The tools are fairly small
and like everyone else on here if it was my own money and for my own use I would buy something bigger, older, stronger which would allow a far greater
range of materials and car sized jobs to be undertaken.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14016102@N00/ (cut and paste this dodgey link)
Our most recent pics are here:
http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p211/trextr7monkey/
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mcerd1
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| posted on 7/9/06 at 07:25 AM |
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We (me and my dad) have 2 - a big anccent thing (early 50's ?) and a slightly newer smaller one (late 60's ?)
both work well but could do with a proper service and setup (worn bearings and so on)
But neather cost much (the small one was £500 a couple of years back and came with literaly hundreds of carbide tools and milling cutters)
we also got a turret mill (well you need something to use all those tools) pushed the boat out and got a 1964 bridgeport with a little work needing
done (it came from the coca-cola factory in Glasgow)
Older is definatly better (at least in this price range)
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andyharding
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| posted on 7/9/06 at 10:12 AM |
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I got a Chester DB8 and I'm very pleased. Check my photos for a pic.
Are you a Mac user or a retard?
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 7/9/06 at 10:31 AM |
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It's horses of courses...
Machines of the Myford/Chester size are really just for amateur model engineering, making small parts, & so on. They are fine for making small
parts for Locosts.
If you want real grunt then something like a 2nd-hand Colchester Student is far more suitable - but mine weighs more than my Locost, takes a big chunk
of garage space and requires a 3-phase converter!
David
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johnjulie
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| posted on 8/9/06 at 06:36 PM |
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All depends what you want to do, the Myford 7s are great for small to medium jobs, loads of spares on Ebay. A lot of money though if you only want a
couple of jobs doing. Nice to play on though!
Cheers John
JFDI
"Just F*****G Do It"
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johnjulie
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| posted on 8/9/06 at 07:19 PM |
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Have a look at.
www.homeworkshop.org.uk
Cheers John
JFDI
"Just F*****G Do It"
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NS Dev
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| posted on 12/9/06 at 10:26 AM |
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can recommend colchester stuff too.
I have a Master 6.5" with 40" gap bed that cost me £100 delivered and with a dodgy but working single phase motor conversion.
The colchesters are bulletproof, many have metric AND imperial screwcutting which is handy.
Student is the one to have if you don't have too much space
Retro RWD is the way forward...........automotive fabrication, car restoration, sheetmetal work, engine conversion
retro car restoration and tuning
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NS Dev
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| posted on 12/9/06 at 10:30 AM |
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ps managed to turn a 14" wheel in mine (just, in the gap bed!) so its suited to some bigger jobs too!
3 hp motor is on its limit tho with the higher spindle speeds, can't take big cuts on high speeds so carbide tools never really get to work to
their optimum.
Retro RWD is the way forward...........automotive fabrication, car restoration, sheetmetal work, engine conversion
retro car restoration and tuning
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 12/9/06 at 11:17 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by NS Dev
Student is the one to have if you don't have too much space
In industrial circles the Student is regarded as a school or training lathe and thus a 'small lathe'. In reality it's a half-tonne
of iron & steel approx 2 metres long, 1 metre deep and 1.5 metres high (rough guess, as I'm not at home just now). My Student weighs almost
as much as my Locost.
In other words, it's a small industrial machine, but a big lump to fit into a garage...
Damn fine for tough 'home-sized' machining though - I often take 6mm cuts in mild steel using power feed, with swarf coming off in
continuous lengths like razor wire! The 3-phase motor hardly notices the load.
The biggest problem I have is with the noise from the headstock gearbox when using the top 2 speeds - straight cut gears working hard.
David
[Edited on 12/9/06 by David Jenkins]
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bob
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| posted on 12/9/06 at 12:55 PM |
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A retired engineer in the next road from me has a colchester bantam for sale,its not exactly bench top machinery but if you have the room at £500 with
a milling machine thrown in as well its a good deal.
Both machines have been converted to single phase motors and the lathe has a set of gears and some tooling.
 
Rescued attachment machinery0536.JPG
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bob
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| posted on 12/9/06 at 12:55 PM |
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And the mill
 
Rescued attachment machinery0537.JPG
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Gav
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| posted on 12/9/06 at 01:25 PM |
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If only i had the room 
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DarrenW
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| posted on 12/9/06 at 01:29 PM |
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Ive just made a mess in my trousers
Absolute bargain that Mark. I think you should get them especially seeing as you arent too far away from me...........
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 12/9/06 at 01:40 PM |
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If that mill is in good nick then it's worth £500 all on its own...
DJ
(Oh, if I had the room/I had the money/I lived closer!)
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NS Dev
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| posted on 12/9/06 at 03:31 PM |
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errr, does he have the facilities to load up into a van?
if so I am seriously interested, certainly £500 is no probs for that lot!
Retro RWD is the way forward...........automotive fabrication, car restoration, sheetmetal work, engine conversion
retro car restoration and tuning
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