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Author Topic: looking to buy a lathe  (Read 6049 times)

tattooed

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looking to buy a lathe
« on: November 23, 2013, 06:57:27 pm »

hi guys
i'm in the market to buy a lathe i've got about £800 to spend and wondering what that sort of money can buy and what you would recommend , i'll be using it to make end caps for subs and be turning brass/ali on it any help will be gratefully recieved
many thanks
Andy
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grendel

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #1 on: November 23, 2013, 07:08:53 pm »

I have a unimat 3, but they are becoming collectors items, and only have the ability to turn up to just over 2", look at what you want to turn, do you want threading ability, maybe look at one of the chinese lathes, these are pretty versatile, or look at getting a good quality second hand one, if you can find a good make in good condition with all the accessories you want for the price, it all depends on how much you are going to use it and what you want it to do.
Grendel
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tony23

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #2 on: November 23, 2013, 07:25:30 pm »

You have a good budget for a lathe so you have plenty to choose from best to buy new as some lathes have done a lot of work, I have a Warco http://www.warco.co.uk/ but Chester www.chestermachinetools.com   are the same lathes different colour and the Warco are a bit better finish and quality.
You will probably get recommended Myfords but there very costly and secondhand ones bring good money and parts and accessories are expensive.
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J.beazley

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2013, 07:29:58 pm »

Warco every time I abuse my neighbours lathe and milling head all the time in exchange for beer tokens  :-))


That said the build quality is superb compared to the Clarke ones which he looked at aswell, either way majority come from china.


Jay
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tony52

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #4 on: November 23, 2013, 08:01:00 pm »

Not a recommendation, but a question, does anyone know whether Peatol Lathes are good value for money and what are the lathes capabilities/shortcomings? Years ago they were advertised in modelling magazines.

http://www.peatol.com/
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cos918

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #5 on: November 23, 2013, 10:04:13 pm »

A friend of mine who does live steam models told me. The peato lathe is good but very small and limited in what it can do. If what you want to do falls in side it range then it might me the tool for you. It is a nice low cost machine but it is limited.

Have you thought a looking at factory clearnce sales. can get some bargens ther, but watch out for the lift out charge can be a killer.
john
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Neil

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #6 on: November 23, 2013, 10:27:01 pm »

Not a recommendation, but a question, does anyone know whether Peatol Lathes are good value for money and what are the lathes capabilities/shortcomings? Years ago they were advertised in modelling magazines.

http://www.peatol.com/

I bought one for a small school workshop I taught in years ago..........wouldn't recommend one to anyone, sadly...like going back to the dark ages.
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tigertiger

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #7 on: November 24, 2013, 04:37:20 am »

One tip I did see on another forum.
To get the best quality at the lowest price.

Buy an old lathe, coz they don't make them like they used to, and spend some of your budget getting it reconditioned.


However, that does require some research in finding the lathe and finding an engineers who will re-furbish it.
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bj

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #8 on: November 24, 2013, 01:15:39 pm »

How many different web sites are there for lathes on eBay ..........? Sure are more than one... they don't make life easy to find things!!!!


Found this one [size=78%]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251384271720?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649[/size]
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grendel

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #9 on: November 24, 2013, 02:00:33 pm »

some of the lathes sold by axeminster come in cheaper than that new - http://www.axminster.co.uk/metal-working/engineering-lathes
Grendel
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grendel

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #10 on: November 24, 2013, 02:09:41 pm »

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grendel

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #11 on: November 24, 2013, 02:12:04 pm »

you do have to be careful when comparing swing in some countries its the distance from the centreline to the bed, in outhers the largest diameter that can be turned,
Grendel
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bj

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #12 on: November 24, 2013, 02:57:18 pm »

some of the lathes sold by axeminster come in cheaper than that new
It seems to be a SIEG C4 (comparing pictures) and they are near to £1300 new so I would have thought that to be a fair price
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fpravenscroft

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #13 on: November 24, 2013, 06:31:46 pm »

put an advert on www.homeworkshop.org.uk  stating that you have about £700 to spend on a lathe and see what comes you may be able to pick up a good second hand lathe with all the accessories quite reasonable
 regards
peter
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Subculture

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #14 on: November 24, 2013, 09:12:02 pm »

You have set yourself a budget, which is good. £800 will buy you a lot of machine. I think the other things to ask yourself are how much space you have to site the machine, does it have to be portable, for instance some people want a machine they can place under the bench when not in use, whichrules out pretty much anything beyond mini/micro size.

Second thing you should decide is the size of work you wish to machine, and the levels of accuracy you require. Paying extra for a super accurate machine is a bit pointless if you only need to work within a few thou tolerance.

The best value machines IMO are the light industrial units e.g. Colchester Bantam, Harrison L series etc. A lot of these come out of schools where they saw little use, and build quality was generally far above hobby level machines- they will last a modeller a lifetime (and beyond). However they're heavy and need a semi permanent place of residence, that puts people off.

Less popular machines like Boxfords are nice too, but again are not that small.

The small Chinese lathes are very good for light work. Perfectly fine for most modellers, and nice and easy to stash away.

Warco, Axminster, Chester and Arc Eurotrade sell these new. Gumtree is quite good for S/H lathes, also model engineering clubs often have members machines for sale.
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tattooed

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #15 on: November 24, 2013, 09:44:58 pm »

thanks to everyone for taking the time replying to my post and for all the great advice that has been given there seems to be so much out there and so many to choose from at the moment i'm tending to lean towards a warco they seem to have a robust build to them and should fit nice in the the work area i have for it thanks again guys
Andy
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steam up

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #16 on: November 24, 2013, 11:40:26 pm »

Second hand Myford no question.
I built my first steam engine on a Chinese 7X14 lathe I was given a Myford WOW the difference.

Bryan Young

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #17 on: November 25, 2013, 11:59:09 am »

You don't appear to say what sort of size machine your'e looking for.
I neede to buy one that is sort of portable....lives in a cupboard, and moved to the bench when needed.
I eventually bought the smaller of the 2 Proxxon offerings and have never regretted it. BY.
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Circlip

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #18 on: November 25, 2013, 03:46:26 pm »

Arc Euro in preference to the others, Ketan is good to deal with and the Siegs they import are from a different production line to the others.
 
  A good example of Emco (NOT ENco) on homeworkshop at the moment, complete with Milling head and change from your budget. Don't be conned by the Myford Maffia.
 
  Regards  Ian
 
  The term "Swing" refers to the Radius a lathe will turn so a 3 1/2" swing or 3 1/2" ctrs.,  turns up to 7" dia. Thus "Myford 7"
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steam up

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #19 on: November 25, 2013, 04:05:37 pm »

I have nothing against the Chinese lathes they got me started at a reasonable price
So mafia l ask not but ad far as I'm concerned for your money a second hand Myford
It's the best choice if size it's not a problem.

Subculture

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #20 on: November 25, 2013, 05:12:29 pm »

Don't forget to budget for tools and extras.

A new lathe will likely come with bare basics, usually a 3-jaw self centreing chuck, and a faceplate if you are lucky.

A secondhand machine will likely come with a host of tools, 4-jaw chuck, centres (hopfully live and dead) jacobs chuck etc.

Adding all these onto the cost of a new machine can add a couple of hundred pounds or more.
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Circlip

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #21 on: November 25, 2013, 05:59:39 pm »

MM comment was not aimed at you Steam up. There was/has been so much reverence to the Nottingham wonder that over the last fifty years, if you didn't own a Miffod, you weren't a serious muddle ingineer. Sadly, Myford had the same attitude as the British car and Motorcycle industry and were surpassed on value by the Eastern imports, firstly Taiwan and latterly China. India will take the cudgel next.
 
    My own Lathe, a precision genuine Austrian product, has been used as the basis for virtually all the Chinese models and even the continental company has its own units now made, (like many others) in - - - China. Before its demise, not accounting for the successors wishing to eventually make a new one, Myfords castings came from - - - you've guessed it.
 
 
   Regards  Ian.
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steam up

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #22 on: November 25, 2013, 06:40:33 pm »

No offence taken just I think there are a number of good deals on old ML7,s mine is a lot older than me and is still going strong. :-))

irishcarguy

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #23 on: November 25, 2013, 07:31:53 pm »

Like you I was looking to buy a new lathe about two years ago. I hear Myford mentioned a lot but the Chinese have past them by at half the price & the tooling is also a lot less.The price of used parts for Myfords is outrageous. As I live in Canada I bought a Busy Bee 10x18 & have not had any problems. The store where I bought it from has always got a full stock of accessories & good prices too. My mate has had the same machine for over 5 years without a problem either. Several years ago the Chinese had a bad reputation for quality, that is not the case now & they have just about taken over the market. I also have a Chinese mill from the same company & it is & has been trouble free.Though they have different names most are made in the same huge factory in China & the main difference between them is the paint color.The same tools (lathes) are sold in the US by a company named Grizzly, the same people as Busy Bee. My advice is to buy new & the largest you can afford subject to space limitations & what you are going to use it for. Add the extras as you can afford them. Don't expect it to do work it was not designed to do & you should have no trouble. A word of warning the very small ones are more toy appeal, I would leave them alone as you will soon find they have a very low working limit and you will be wishing you had bought a bigger one. If you like you can PM me. Mick B. 
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grendel

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Re: looking to buy a lathe
« Reply #24 on: November 25, 2013, 08:32:46 pm »

my unimat3 (bought new in the 70's) is a great little machine, but nowadays spares and accessories are expensive (£90 for the hand cranked threading attachment)and more difficult to obtain, they are a great little lathe, and can be picked up in one hand, but then are limited in the work they can do by their size. that said it can just manage to make various adaptors for my telescopes, and cut the relevant threads for them. it all depends what you want to do, what space you have, I can sit my unimat on a stool in the garden and turn up a quick adaptor or other small part, then brush the lathe down and back in the cupboard with it. Storage space - about the size of a large shoe box.

Grendel
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