Potentially buying this lathe - what do you reckon?

[Carl Wilson]

Don't buy it. It is a shame to see a nice old machine like that in such a state, however, I don't think it is the sort of thing you want if you are just starting out. It will frustrate the crap out of you.

 

[minimutly]

nice one mystery solved!


now onto if i should buy it or not lol
i’m still a bit torn

One one hand i’ve been wanting a lathe for a good while now and since i’m a machinist by trade i’ll have no issues running one (although one this old will have its quirks!) it’s very local to me which is a big plus, perfect size and comes with tooling

on the other hand it’s a bit of a ballache to set up with the wall mounted motor but at the end of the day it plugs into a mains socket and just screws into the wall via the bracket. The other issue is no bench so i’d have to make one which will take more time away from my project car!

I think i’ll go for it though, £200 and local is ideal for a starter lathe

this is where it will have to go
View attachment 294805

it’s only a single brick garage wall so hopefully that should be fine for the motor?

speaking of which the motor seems fairly old, would it be worth getting a newer/efficient one?

cheers for all the replies and advice

No

 

[minimutly]

120 too 150 for myford ml4 if has alot of spares with it up too 200

myford ml4 still has plenty of parts around

Where then, the ones I looked at went for 2 to 4 hundred?

 

[gaz1]

this one was in the ops area for 200.00

 

[Screwdriver]

Reminds me of the anvil prices and availability. Lots of people saying yeah you can get them for £xxx.

Problem is, it's never "you". Bargains turn up and 99/100 someone else nabs it or (and this happens to me a LOT) you agree to buy it and because it's a "bargain" you get gazumped or frozen out with sellers remorse and cue a thousand excuses other than simply tell the honest truth.

@gaz1 That box of tricks above looks like a stone cold bargain, there's 2-400 quids worth of bits in half the photos without even looking at the lathe. Splitting up a nice set like that should be a crime but does at least service the community, plus of course the money comes back to you in dribs and drabs but when buying a lathe, it's really all about the optional extras...

I could tell you stories about the old RD350LC that would make your toes curl. OEM equipment for the serious collector is basically "shut up and take my money".

 

[winchman]

I would just go and buy it. What can you buy for £200?

 

[Screwdriver]

I would just go and buy it. What can you buy for £200?

A very capable 3d printer.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

@Danez Come on, man - 4 pages in and still prevaricating. Make a decision one way or t'other!

 

[angellonewolf]

I could tell you stories about the old RD350LC that would make your toes curl. OEM equipment for the serious collector is basically "shut up and take my money".

well thats a halfway come spill the beans a short verion

 

[MattF]

Any lathe, unless shagged, is as capable as you are. For a first time lathe, what more do you need.

 

[Danez]

@Danez Come on, man - 4 pages in and still prevaricating. Make a decision one way or t'other!

going to give it a miss!

if i didn’t have other projects i needed to spend time on i’d have gone for it and spent the time getting it straight and set up proper as others have said a lathes better than no lathe.
I properly over valued it, i thought £200 was a reyt good deal like but as it turns out it’s not looking that way

now there’s another lathe i’ve been offered for cheap (1930s Britannia) but it’s 2m bed is much too big for me garage but he’s willing to sell me lots of cutters/tooling that comes with it to me separately so that’ll do me until i find a good lathe for that space

Thanks again for all your replies, you lot will be the first to know when i do get a lathe

 

[gaz1]

you mean this one

Britannia Lathes

Britannia was an English engineering company in Colchester founed in the early years of the 19th century. Their products were extensive and included not just machine tools but sewing machines, oil engines, and electric and convential cars.

www.lathes.co.uk

 

[Fastdruid]

now there’s another lathe i’ve been offered for cheap (1930s Britannia) but it’s 2m bed is much too big for me garage but he’s willing to sell me lots of cutters/tooling that comes with it to me separately so that’ll do me until i find a good lathe for that space

It's tooling and work holding where things really add up quickly. A £1000 lathe could be more of a bargain than an otherwise identical £50 one if the expensive one comes with a massive array of chucks, faceplates, tooling, centres, steadies changewheels etc and the £50 one comes with nothing! Mine came with faceplate, 4-jaw, 3-jaw, drive plate (plus dogs), vertical slide and a hefty amount of tooling, reamers, drills, milling cutters, the fixed steady and a nearly full set of changewheels and yet I've still spent many times over that in more tooling! If I was to buy what I got with it separately it would probably be £1-2k or more even second hand.

Also beware that tooling for one lathe doesn't always fit another, a massive amount of 3/4" tooling for peanuts may seem great...until you get a Myford and realise it's all far too big and doesn't fit!

 

[Danez]

you mean this one

Britannia Lathes

Britannia was an English engineering company in Colchester founed in the early years of the 19th century. Their products were extensive and included not just machine tools but sewing machines, oil engines, and electric and convential cars.

www.lathes.co.uk

aye i do, it’s a grand old lathe but it’s a big bastard!

It's tooling and work holding where things really add up quickly. A £1000 lathe could be more of a bargain than an otherwise identical £50 one if the expensive one comes with a massive array of chucks, faceplates, tooling, centres, steadies changewheels etc and the £50 one comes with nothing! Mine came with faceplate, 4-jaw, 3-jaw, drive plate (plus dogs), vertical slide and a hefty amount of tooling, reamers, drills, milling cutters, the fixed steady and a nearly full set of changewheels and yet I've still spent many times over that in more tooling! If I was to buy what I got with it separately it would probably be £1-2k or more even second hand.

Also beware that tooling for one lathe doesn't always fit another, a massive amount of 3/4" tooling for peanuts may seem great...until you get a Myford and realise it's all far too big and doesn't fit!

good to know, cheers for the heads up

I’ll keep an eye out anyway, i’m not in any rush it’s just one of those things that’s be nice to have eventually

 

[Wedg1e]

well thats a halfway come spill the beans a short verion

Never mind the 350, the RD500 is the real goldmine
Mate of mine has one, bought for the proverbial song, full restoration but wouldn't run properly once finished. I fixed the electronics that control the exhaust powervalve and it was better, but it turned out a previous owner had fitted the wrong resistance coils which upset the CDI... goes like a rocket now. But his BMW 1200GS probably makes better progress, as bike engineering has moved on.

 

[Screwdriver]

well thats a halfway come spill the beans a short verion

Few years ago they changed the TUV (?) German Mot equivalent and overnight, running a two stroke became a whole lot less popular before anyone (else) spotted the obvious long term value. People in the "industry" were popping over to Germany, buying half a dozen machines and bringing them back here.

This is where it becomes relevant to the thread. The bike itself had a decent value but without UK reg, "matching numbers" they weren't a collectors item. What had a LOT more value were the bits we would all take off, bin or butcher as soon as we got the bikes back in the day. Centrestands, rear mudguards exhausts etc. So now those parts fetch eyewatering amounts if they are original, unmolested and mint.

There is a tiny bent wire clip for the front brake hose (not needed with standard "Goodridge upgrade") finished in drab olive passivate. Typical for that bike and that vintage. I saw one of those sell for £80. Similar story for the dual horn mounting plastic thingy. Stupid money for a collector. I met one chap who bought an entire RD350LC from new old stock. Must have cost hin 4-6k at least and while at the time that looks nuts, my guess is a minty LC is going to fetch 10-15k these days (I must Google that after this rant).

Anyhow back to the story, these guys would grab half a dozen bikes from Germany then whip off any/all of the stupidly high value collectors pieces and flog the bike on doubling their money and bagging even more precious commodities into the bargain. I managed to pull off a couple of stunts like that and still have half a dozen (?) engines somewhere in the shed.

So Like a good secondhand lathe, the buyer really want's to acquire it with as much and as many oem parts accessories tooling as is humanly possible. See the example @gaz1 posted above. Boxes of tooling and oem accessories worth more than the bare lathe itself.

Never mind the 350, the RD500 is the real goldmine
Mate of mine has one, bought for the proverbial song, full restoration but wouldn't run properly once finished. I fixed the electronics that control the exhaust powervalve and it was better, but it turned out a previous owner had fitted the wrong resistance coils which upset the CDI... goes like a rocket now. But his BMW 1200GS probably makes better progress, as bike engineering has moved on.

It is not the speed or the rideability of the machine that is important. It is a four cylinder two stroke GP replica! I have an RG500 project bike (mint engine) tucked away in the shed for a rainy day. They still make the best noise of any ground based weapon system ever. Fact!

 

[angellonewolf]

It is not the speed or the rideability of the machine that is important. It is a four cylinder two stroke GP replica! I have an RG500 project bike (mint engine) tucked away in the shed for a rainy day. They still make the best noise of any ground based weapon system ever. Fact!

my mate had a rgv250 was raced over a couple years then registaed on the road buy the company that raced it was a very quick bike

 

[Screwdriver]

my mate had a rgv250 was raced over a couple years then registaed on the road buy the company that raced it was a very quick bike

Yeah, got a couple of those tucked away in the shed.

 

[angellonewolf]

Yeah, got a couple of those tucked away in the shed.

must be a quite a size shed

 

[Screwdriver]

must be a quite a size shed

It is a miniature industrial complex with a big shed, two garages, "The Secret Shed™", Ye Olde Forge and the rest goes into the cellar or randomly scattered about the house**


**she left me years ago. No idea why...