Buying a Lathe - What should I look for?

[JonnyAlpha]

Hi,

I find myself on lots of occasions wishing I had a Small lathe a pillar drill and maybe a milking machine.
I have little or no experience in using these but I have had a requirement in the past to turn down metal bars to make tools, I needed one to turn down some pistons. Now I am having a go at refurbishing and modifying a cylinder head and need to make a punch to knock out the valve guides.
I have no idea what I should be looking to buy so a little advice would be most welcomed. Probably can’t afford new.

thanks

 

[Shox Dr]

Available space, getting it in there, how much do you want to spend, Need to be thought about first

 

[Rannsachair]

Worth a read: https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/what-is-a-good-beginer-lathe.89276/

I use my lathe regularly and often wonder what i would have done without it. A @Shox Dr says some decisions to make before looking.

Pillar drill's can be bought relatively cheaply - best waiting for a well looked after old one.

I do not have any experience of milking machines though a milling attachment on a lathe can get you started until you can afford a mill.

 

[frank horton]

u do mean milling machine.....?
look at homeworkshop.org.uk
always got stuff on there for sale.....beware of the dealers selling overpriced stuff....
look reg and then u'll recognise em......
keep looking at eBay and the other sites like gum tree.....
just get up early EVERYDAY and look whilst ur having brecky.....it does work.....
I wanted an engine for an old Indian m/cycle.....
cant sleep, so started trawling the adds, found one on eBay.Italy at 3am near Milan.....
a nightmare to get it home but it can be done.....
Oh, see ur in the S west......
Cambourne covered market,think tues and weekends.....
theres a guy there selling used engineering tools etc.....
I have bought a load of stuff there as well as sold a few bits.....
very fair prices I found....I only get there every couple of years....m-inlaw lives there.....

 

[skotl]

Hi,

I find myself on lots of occasions wishing I had a Small lathe a pillar drill and maybe a milking machine...

This looks like a good one, but I'm no expert

 

[optima21]

my lathe and milling machines are smaller than most and some would say only suitable for model making

https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/hobbymat-lathe-and-milling-machine-modifications.58888/

when you say turn down some pistons, do you mean to shorten them of to reduce the diameter? shortening then in a lathe may be fine, but the skirts on a piston may not be round due to the way they expand when heated, so the clearances may be wrong if you make round pistons.

Available space, getting it in there, how much do you want to spend, Need to be thought about first

also thinking about what accessories you think you'll need and want to make as the accessories can cost more than the original machines do.

 

[JonnyAlpha]

This looks like a good one, but I'm no expert

Predictive text!!! I already changed it once, damm thing, yes milling machine.

 

[Arc Tourist]

Have a look on the " gandmtools.co.uk " site for used machinery.

 

[Hopefuldave]

Remember that the machine itself is only part of the money you'll spend - tooling can cost more than the machine does unless you're a jammy buzzard like me myself!
I really recommend a quick-change gearbox for threading (WITH the 127 or 63-tooth "translating" gear to go between inch and metric threads if it needs one), power feeds make life more pleasant (and give better finish), good speed range (as low as 100 RPM or lower for large work and threading, as high as 1500 or higher for small work in aluminium / carbide tooling*).
Don't asssume you need a fully-geared headstock, belt drive is fine as long as it has a "backgear" between pulleys and spindle for low speed/high torque.

ALWAYS buy a much bigger lathe than you think you need - you can do small work on a big lathe, but...

Something like a Boxford (A, B, AUD, BUD - not a C / CUD as they're training lathes wih no screwcutting or power feeds) or a Colchester Bantam / Chipmaster takes up about as much floorspace as Hannibal Lecter's chest freezer, not that difficult to accommodate?

Dave H. (the other one)

*f'rinstance, mild steel bar 1" diameter, carbide tooling takes a 1mm depth cut no problem, 1000RPM and 0.003/rev feed - for ally you could/should go much higher on the RPM!

P.S. - lathes.co.uk lists most you could consider, has a good write-up on most of those AND has small ads...

 

[Mr Fro]

I echo what has been said already. I bought a Myford ML10 to start with - it was fun but way too small for what I wanted it for.

I stumbled upon a nice Boley which is metric and big enough to do some meaningful milling with the various adapters.

I still ended up buying a mill though as I outgrew it in a couple of years.

The mill can be used for drilling too so I can get rid of the pillar drill. This allows me to kid myself that buying a bigger mill that I actually need is justified.

 

[addjunkie]

It all depends what the biggest thing you may want to machine is. You can machine say a complete motorcycle wheel or a 2 p piece. A big machine can do both, a small machine cant.

 

[optima21]

when people say you need big machines, don't fall for that one......you just need a friend with big machines that you can borrow .

although my lathe can only turn something 5" diameter, I've got access to the lathe that machined the hub for this waterwheel and can turn up to 30" diameter, although I've not called in that offer yet.

 

[daleyd]

It’s a balancing act (in more ways than one, when you come to shifting it too!) - it’s fine saying get the biggest but it’s no good if your working from a single garage. Your available space really dictates what machine you can realistically get. If you've got bags of space available then obviously there’s no problem with getting a big lathe but if your limited on space then you’ll have to compromise a little. The boxford/denford sizes lathes are (in my opinion) a nice size for a single garage - bigger than a myford size but still with a reasonably small footprint.

If you’ve got more space available then the bigger machines can ironically be better value as there’s more demand (by model makers etc) for the smaller machines.

Whatever you get check it out thoroughly and don’t be too put off by 3 phase machines - you can convert most stuff to single phase operation fairly easily (fitting a vfd, swapping to single phase motor or static/rotary converters)

 

[JonnyAlpha]

To be honest for my needs (although I need to confirm what it can do) something like this:

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/cl500m-metal-lathemill-drill/

or even their smaller one that’s just a lathe.

 

[tom2207]

simple rules

old and English is better than new and Chinese

if you have single phase power ,, all the bargains will be three phase .

that about sums it up.

Ah , and of course no matter what you buy ., in a year you will want something bigger , so buy bigger than you think you need to start with , your friends will find a use for it , and you ...

 

[Hopefuldave]

To be honest for my needs (although I need to confirm what it can do) something like this:

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/cl500m-metal-lathemill-drill/

or even their smaller one that’s just a lathe.

For that money (looking at new prices, anyway) you could have a petty decent but oldish English / European made machine plus a VFD (or rotary converter) to power its 3-phase motor, have at least some of the modern conveniences from the 50s to 70s and a more accurate machine - there's no substitute for iron. But what do I know, I only worked for one of the Chinese-tat importers (mostly on warranty claims and attempts to get them to be accurate straight out of the smelly crate), spent a lot less (but some time getting running) on a 2-ton English toolroom lathe

The combi lathe/mills are the classic compromise - does neither job well... Mainly down to a lack of rigidity and lack of attention/accuracy in manufacture, but *can* be OK if you don't push the machine or expect too much accuracy from it?

Dave H. (the other one)

 

[brightspark]

simple rules

old and English is better than new and Chinese

if you have single phase power ,, all the bargains will be three phase .

that about sums it up.

Ah , and of course no matter what you buy ., in a year you will want something bigger , so buy bigger than you think you need to start with , your friends will find a use for it , and you ...

and that's why you buy a converter or inverter years ago 3 phase gear could be had for peanuts as your average punter didn't have it. motors were
throw away or cheap. as most converted them to single phase that's no longer and prices have rocketed now

 

[Rannsachair]

Ideally take someone with you that knows a bit about machine tools if you inspect a second hand lathe.

If you have the space go as big as you can accommodate (within reason), I have a Myford ML7 that I use regularly, having a small lathe is way better than no lathe, though I do often look at slightly larger (or much larger machines), if I had the space I would buy a large tool room type lathe, they appear absolute bargains at times.

If space is limited, just keep looking what comes up locally and ask advice on here,though if you have the space something like....https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DSG-Dean...402842?hash=item5957b2765a:g:qvIAAOSwUblfX7Hr should be big enough and seems a lot of lathe for the money if not worn out.

 

[brightspark]

as above you need to see the machine . not just bought on someones word its in good nick .I hear the words its just been refurbished that means its just been painted and all the gib strips have been tightened up because of the wear buy an honest one in original condition with hardly any wear and usable instantly its no fun to use or repair an old clapped out knacker unless you get it given

 

[tom2207]

as above you need to see the machine . not just bought on someones word its in good nick .I hear the words its just been refurbished that means its just been painted and all the gib strips have been tightened up because of the wear buy an honest one in original condition with hardly any wear and usable instantly its no fun to use or repair an old clapped out knacker unless you get it given

or something that was working well ,,, but got stored out side under a bit of tarp for a while , usually a year or two .