Subject says it all really.

If you were trawling ebay looking for a lathe to add to your garage, the locost probably being the most ambitious project it's likely to be involved in, what would you look for?

Imagine I know nothing about lathes (although I *do* know that they involve making metal go round so you can make round things, but that's about it).
So if anyone knows a real good link for lathes for newbies that'd be good too.

Thanks,
Greg H

One word MYFORD Im told !

U2U macspeedy SNR and he can fill you in on the details.

[Edited on 29-9-04 by mangogrooveworkshop]

New Myfords are very expensive for what they are - I suggest you get a copy of Model Engineer magazine and have a look at the ads.

Also consider buying second-hand - you can find quite a few bargains that way.

If you can find something local then that's ideal, as these things can be heavy!

rgds,

David
(proud owner of 2 elderly lathes...)

three words,

myford, bloody expensive
cracking kit though

whats your budget ?

these peoply are reputable and sell good range of machines
chester machine tools

i got my lathe for £40 from a garage clearance (it huge) it needs some refurb but it was a good find

as david said get a magazine, model engineers workshop is also very good, cracking read even if you not a prospective modeller

[Edited on 29/9/04 by liam.mccaffrey]

First decide on size, normally bigger is cheaper!

Single or 3 phase?

Tooling and parts, ie chucks, face plates, steadies.

Harrison, Cholchester and Boxford are good makes.

I recently sold a few ideal sized lathes from a school and struggled to get rid of them at a decent price.

John

I would suspect that if you were getting one for home use it would most probably have to be single phase...

You can get a 3-phase converter, but that cost me more than my Colchester Student lathe!

If you live in a country area where the electricity comes on poles past the front of your house then you can probably get 3-phase cheaply. If it comes underground... forget it!

BTW: Ignore all the american schemes for getting 3-phase as they're unlikely to work in the UK - they get their electrickery in a different way to us (they get 2-phase supplied to the house, to give 110v for general use, 220v for power applications - it's quite easy to mock up 3-phases from 2). We just get 1 phase of 230v.

David

Thanks guys,

Budget: as little as possible.
It'll have to be used.
Single phase too

Chesters was interesting - a little lathe there for £345 - cheapest I've seen over here works out to around £700.

I'll chase up some model engineer magazines.

thanks heaps,
Greg H

Greg,

I hadn't registered that you were in NZ!

Oz seems to have a big model engineering scene, so it may be worth looking at their magazines. Mind you, it would probably cost a mint to ship stuff across the water...

rgds,

David

Many of the reasonable value for money lathes advertised in model engineer are made in Taiwan or china .Warco import them and a reasonable machine for home use is in the region of £700 complete with basic tooling. Im sure they must have similiar in NZ .
I have an ancient Little john lathe that is 5 inch centre height and 24" between centres it does everything i need and is much sturdier than a myford.
Paul.

quote:

---

Originally posted by David Jenkins
Greg,

I hadn't registered that you were in NZ!

Oz seems to have a big model engineering scene, so it may be worth looking at their magazines. Mind you, it would probably cost a mint to ship stuff across the water...

rgds,

David

---

Whats a resonable price for a colchester student gap bed lathe then ?

I've got some funding sorted for a lathe now and want somthing thats big enough to swing a 15" wheel (so a gap bed is ideal) ... keeping an eye out on ebay + have a wanted add out at work (work at a big engineering company with 2500+ employees) so an idea of price would be ideal as prices seem to vary wildly on ebay from thousands to hundreds for what seem to be similar machines ?

[Edited on 30/9/04 by 12a RX-7]

My Colchester Student cost me £200, plus shipping costs across town, plus the cost of a 3-phase converter. It was from a school that had decided that it couldn't be adapted to meet their H&S requirements.

I'm not sure about swinging a 15" wheel on it - it will swing 15" over the gap, but that's only 4" or 5" wide (unless you're going for very narrow wheels! It's only 6" over the bed.

Nice lathe to use, though.

rgds,

David

> I have an ancient Little john lathe that is 5 inch centre
> height and 24" between centres it does everything i need
> and is much sturdier than a myford.

Thanks Paul,

That gives me some idea of what sort of size I should look for.

:-)