Beginner lathe

[andeep]

Hi there,

I'm looking to buy a lathe. It must be a good quality old English one and there a few known brands floating about. I've been trained on a fairly large XYZ brand lathe at university, but I don't need anything that size. What would be a good make for a decent sized entry level lathe? I would want it to have all the necessary features like screw cutting etc

Cheers

 

[MattF]

You need to give a rough idea of what type of size you're after. What classifies as a decent size for one may not be for someone else. Also, when you say screw cutting. Are you happy using changewheels or do you want a gearbox? Metric or imperial? Give a better idea of what you want and the suggestions will be more suited.

 

[Mr shiney]

I bought a cheap chinese lather from Amdeal that has variable speed and an RPM gauge. It cuts threads fine and is actually really accurate which surprised me no end. I used it to make parts for my motor cycle restoration projects such as axles and swing arms, bushes etc. It cost a few hundred quid and has paid for itself many times over. You also learn a lot about using a lathe as you have to work around its limitations.

My next lather will be something like a Myford, but for the moment for home use this is great.

 

[penfold]

You need to give a rough idea of what type of size you're after. What classifies as a decent size for one may not be for someone else. Also, when you say screw cutting. Are you happy using changewheels or do you want a gearbox? Metric or imperial? Give a better idea of what you want and the suggestions will be more suited.

A corollary of this is; how much space do you have for it to live in and what's your budget? British and benchtop really means a Myford(there are others, but statistics mean you're unlikely to find an alternative in good condition AND well equipped). That means getting lucky or having upwards of £500 to spend as that seems to be the ballpark for a worn but useable one; that in itself is problematic as judging between worn and useable and worn out and ready for a rebuild is tricky even for an experienced shed dweller and not an easy thing to judge without doing a series of tests using a DTI, test bar, etc. Unless you can secure the services of a friendly local sheddist, buying a myford without risking disappointment means buying a crappy one and paying to have it refurbished, buying one already refurbished or bankrupting yourself buying one from Myford. Coming from your XYZ, you will be used to power feeds so anything short of a Super 7 will be frustrating to use.

If you have room for a floor standing lathe, life is a bit easier, even if it isn't a lot of room; your horizons extend to the compact 4.5"-5" lathes which sold in large numbers after the war, mainly to educational establishments but also to light industry and private users, so you can chose from Boxford, Denford Viceroy, Raglan, Southbend and many others(although the more obscure ones may be difficult to get accessories for if they don't come with it when you purchase); any of these can be bought in serviceable condition for ~£300 upwards, often with accessories. Specifically, coming from your XYZ you're probably going to be looking at a Boxford AUD(or a BUD if it came with loads of tooling), a Viceroy TDS1, or similar from the other makes. Again, inspection is vital when considering a used lathe so a sheddist's help is needed here too. An added complication is that these lathes often come fitted with a 3 phase motor, so you will need to check compatibility with an inverter(unless already equipped) or have it converted to single phase.

With either of these paths, be aware that unless your purchase comes with every accessory under the sun you WILL end up spending at least the same again on chucks, tooling, accessories etc. The joy of sheds!

 

[ukracer]

Hi there,

I'm looking to buy a lathe. It must be a good quality old English one and there a few known brands floating about. I've been trained on a fairly large XYZ brand lathe at university, but I don't need anything that size. What would be a good make for a decent sized entry level lathe? I would want it to have all the necessary features like screw cutting etc

Cheers

Where are you located? It only shows Uk in your profile??

Regards Andy T

 

[nodeward]

1- if you have space buy something like a colchester or boxford rather than a myford as they are 10 times better and will be much closer to what you are used to, you also tend to get more for your money as not alot of people have the space for them
2- get something with tooling as you will end up spending out a fortune to get all the bits you need

 

[aametalmaster]

Have a look around here. http://www.lathes.co.uk/ Lots of good info...Bob

 

[andeep]

Apologies for my ignorance regarding the subject, my knowledge of lathes is very limited but I will try to clear up some of my requirements.

At minimum I want a floor standing lathe as I have the space for one. I have only used the lathe for very basic operations such as turning, facing, and parting, but I would like a lathe that has screw-cutting capabilites should I need to perform such an operation in the future. The XYZ lathe I have used had a gearbox, but I would not mind a lathe that didn't have one if the costs would be significantly reduced.

I have been keeping an eye on some Boxford lathes on eBay as they tend to go for a lot cheaper than the Colchesters.

I hope that has cleared up some of my requirements. It would be greatly appreciated if someone cold recommend something for my needs and also give me some pointers on what to look out for when buying a lathe (necessary tooling etc).

 

[BrokenBiker]

I have a small chester conquest lathe. only around 400 ish brand new and delivered when I bought mine, its very accurate, has digitally adjustable rpm up to 2550rpm, cuts a good range of common threads, I think from 0.5mm-2.5mm pitch which ive never needed to go above or below. also cuts imperial threads, the only problem I have with it is the tailstock needs a spanner to lock it off to the bed and you cannot lock the carriage or cross slide off. but it has served me well, ive cut everything from wood and plastic right up through brass, bronze, ali, mild and stainless steels, cast iron parts, titanium. it came with a 4-way height adjustable tool post, a full set of change wheels, a light, 3-jaw chuck, fixed steady and a live centre, face plate and a set of cutting tools, although I had mine on offer and don't think the centre or steady are included in the standard package

 

[Pete.]

Apologies for my ignorance regarding the subject, my knowledge of lathes is very limited but I will try to clear up some of my requirements.

At minimum I want a floor standing lathe as I have the space for one. I have only used the lathe for very basic operations such as turning, facing, and parting, but I would like a lathe that has screw-cutting capabilites should I need to perform such an operation in the future. The XYZ lathe I have used had a gearbox, but I would not mind a lathe that didn't have one if the costs would be significantly reduced.

I have been keeping an eye on some Boxford lathes on eBay as they tend to go for a lot cheaper than the Colchesters.

I hope that has cleared up some of my requirements. It would be greatly appreciated if someone cold recommend something for my needs and also give me some pointers on what to look out for when buying a lathe (necessary tooling etc).

I was just looking at a Boxford AUD as well as a Colchester Bantam and a metric Harrison 140 at homeandworkshop in Sidcup. They looked like tidy enough machines and fit your criteria. You don't say where you are or what your budget is.

 

[Wedg1e]

An AUD would be my weapon of choice but to say they are significantly cheaper than a Colchester isn't entirely true, I've seen eye-wateringly expensive Boxfords and silly-cheap Colchesters as well as vice versa. What is true is that even the smaller Colchesters (Student, Chipmaster) take up a significant amount more space, have a bigger electrical demand and pose bigger issues when moving them than the Boxfords. Tooling for the bigger lathes also usually costs more (the days of tooling going for buttons on Ebay have long gone thanks to every man and his dog having an inflated idea of what rusty metal is worth).
I'd budget for £1000 either way and if it comes in under that for a comprehensively-equipped lathe (whether it comes complete or you have to add bits), consider it a good deal. Even a £400 China special will need that much again in ancillaries to be really useful.
Edit to add: I have a Boxford VSL and a Colchester Student; when I bought the VSL it was the second of two offered on Ebay. The first went for £1800, I paid less than half that (late model 500VSL in two-tone cack ). Somebody clearly had auction fever.
On the other hand I paid what some would call a lot of money for the Student because underneath all the muck I could see it was a good machine.

 

[mfletch]

Or look in old barns http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/barn-find-lathe.46664/ you never know what's in them

 

[tlovatt]

For what it is worth, my experiences:

I did previously have a small Chinese lathe (Chester Conquest) but when I got a bigger house I had the space for something proper. I looked at new equipment but decided you would have to spend a lot of money to get something decent plus there are plenty of old lathes for sale that are better quality and cheaper. I spent some time looking at Myfords and came to the realisation that people are correct when they refer to them as DIY lathes, also they tend to be relatively expensive.

After suggestions on here I monitored homeworkshop.org and lathes.co.uk and ended up buying a Boxford ME10 model B (changewheels for screw cutting but a powered crossfeed) It cost £550 and came with a lot of tooling (to buy the tooling and chucks to go with a new lathe would cost more). The contrast between the Boxford and the Myford was significant and I am still chuffed with my purchase.

I would add that the above sites are in my opinion better than EBay - you can go and look before you commit and then just pay if you want it, the whole go and look then bid (sellers often would not take offers before auction close) was a pain. Lathes.co.uk also has a lot of nice information about the different models.

 

[Rig Pig]

Ask around your mates as well it's surprising what auntie / granny has laying in a shed at the end of her garden, I just bought a nice Smart & Brown Sable with boxes of goodies for a very good price.

For my tuppence I would recommend an S&B Lathe, much nicer than my worn old Atlas clone (Sphere 524)

 

[penfold]

I bought my Viceroy at a general disposal auction about a decade ago, hidden among boxes of knackered power tools, lawnmowers and ex-planthire equipment; it was sat front down on a pallet with bent and broken handwheels as a result, covered in superficial rust and looked like carp. I paid £90 on the basis I'd get that back in scrap if it was a duffer. It wasn't, but I've since spent over £500 on chucks, an inverter and tooling, as the only things that came with it were a three jaw chuck with broken jaws, some blunt HSS tools and assorted misshapen lumps of scrap metal.

If you can get the time off work to attend disposal auctions, or even scour the online disposals there are often still bargains to be had, if not quite on the scale of 10 years ago, still a lot cheaper than typically available on ebay. Another possibility is join your local model engineering club/society; you might have to wait a bit, but the demographics of most MEC/S mean that sooner or later a member will die or become sufficiently infirm as to be unable to use their workshop, at which point their machinery is disposed of. A bit ghoulish perhaps, but it is often a good source of machinery that's well cared for and well equipped with tooling and accessories, and better it going to an appreciative enthusiast than a used machinery dealer paying 10p on the pound.

 

[hareng]

I would keep a look out and bide my time for Boxfords, Harrisons and Colchesters.
Ebay is a dumping ground for scrap at super inflated prices, never commit without viewing.

Its a case of who you know and there at the right time. Scrapped a Harrison 140 4 yrs ago £200, seen far worse on the bay in excess of a grand without the impossible to get changewheels.
Agree with Wedgie beauty is only skin deep what you want is the mechanics, I dropped on an early M300 £850 hand painted GKN green and sold the Dickson tool post for over £100 as i didn't like the cost of the tool holders when looking at 23.
Word of warning all listed above will screwcut, only the newer 70's on Colchesters and Harrisons you just select the pitch no faffing with change wheels.
Chinese stuff may be cheap but wait till it goes wrong which wont belong ie looking 1/3 the cost of brand new machine when motor goes down or some immaterial part. Myfords ML7 are toys ok for model engineers with all the time in the world. Had a Conquest for late night work, couldn't do a thing with it except power a flap wheel.

 

[doubleboost]

I have a AUD Boxford good reliable machine with plenty of spares on ebay
I have had Oriental stuff
Had a Colchester Bantam for a while
Depends what you want to do with it
Loads of video on my youtube if you want to see a Boxford working

 

[mfletch]

It's a nice size lathe your boxford John just right for small workshop or garage and great with the added variable speed control

 

[penfold]

I have a AUD Boxford good reliable machine with plenty of spares on ebay
I have had Oriental stuff
Had a Colchester Bantam for a while
Depends what you want to do with it
Loads of video on my youtube if you want to see a Boxford working

You should list that in the for sale section; nice clean looking machine, a lot tidier than mine!

 

[tombardier]

I've just bought a new lathe, and this one could be up for sale soon!

Lovely little thing. Comes with 4" 3-jaw pratt burnerd, dead and live centre, toolbits (mix of hss and carbide brazed - brand new set of 38 1/4" brazed carbide of various types from Chronos Engineering), tailstock drill chuck. The clutch is a massive boon, and they fetch £250 on ebay for the actual Myford one! It doesn't have any additional change wheels, but you can reconfigure what's there to change leadscrew speeds.

It's a small lathe, but I've done some good work with it on occasion.

Only got my new lathe yesterday, so haven't had a chance to get this one on ebay yet!