collet lathe?

[general--lee]

hi what are the pros and cons of collet lathes , i know nothing about them and a little abotu normal lathes lol

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=270335498759&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=017

this is on ebay never sold last time i was going to bid but couldnt find any info

how do chucks etc fit onto main body?

thanks ken

 

[English Steve]

Cons are, you can only hold the size of material that you have collets for. They tend to be used in high volume production machining where you are using the same size stock bar all the time. Ours were air operated and automatically fed the next bar in from a magazine on the back of the machine. Very much quicker than using a three jaw chuck in that environment.

 

[shenion]

Collet lathes are very accurate at holding work centered. That is if you have the right size collets.

Most chucks thread onto the spindle, but a collet lathe may not have one. That just means you will need to buy or make an adapter.

I would ask what the lathe comes with. See if t comes with any collets, the missing tool post and holder, any tail tooling (drill chuck, live/dead center) It is a turret lathe, makes boring faster. Finding the missing parts might get costly, but most are standardized.

 

[aero]

that looks like a 'I have decided to sell as I've lost all the tooling and can't use it any more as a result' type of lathe.

try

www.lathes.co.uk

for information on the machine and how expensive/easy to find bits are. Finding missing parts singly IS VERY expensive.

 

[snowcat]

capstan lathe would be the accurate description, I have a ward with a quick release Colet chuck, I think ward even did a bar feeder for it so, pull the Colet and slide the bar through made for jobs like production parting etc, most should take a chuck also, but of the right type, getting tooling for such machines takes years of patiance....

theres also no holders by the looks for the capstan, you will at least need something to hold tangs and a live/dead centre....

The real downside of these old machines is the size, most offer limited swing (no gap) and bed travel for the size they take up, also there rare to have a compound slide, which makes em impossible to do compound taper turns, which although is not an everyday occurrence its handy.... top speed at best is going to be a 1000rpm, a bit slow for finishing or facing small componants......

capstans are really for running fixed tooling such as roller boxes etc, there not really a lathe, and its rare there have the defining half nut, for screw cutting.......

Having said that I run two very large caps, as well as the ward, I have two Herbies the bigest will take 6" up the mandrel, and is powered with 25hp, gives all the boring capacity I could ever need, but in a home workshop, a little gap bed lathe is gonna be far more verestile........I woudnt manage with just a capstan.....

 

[graffian]

Weiler make really nice lathes. But if it's going to be your only lathe your better off looking for one with screw cutting and a chuck. If I had room I would have something like that or a Britan. In the 70's I went in and set a capstan for someone, he had lot's of very interesting tooling. It seemed like there was a special box/tool to do every job on a capstan, so If I was to buy a capstan I would want/expect a big stack of tooling with it.
Collets are wonderfull things, but you need the collets to fit what your going to turn/make, I probably have a 4jaw chuck on my lathe the most.

 

[general--lee]

thanks guys i was thinking not to bother as it didnt sell last listing so thought it cant be that good!!

ill keep an eye out on ebay
ps there is a nice myford ml3 ending soon in preston i think to far for me

 

[andypocock]

Nice lathe stand/cabinet for somebody there. I've seen a couple of lathes on here screwed to bits of wood.

Might be worth somebody making an offer.

 

[HasBean]

Good point, would be a good buy for the stand alone. (Although I'll admit to my lathe being on a wooden bench )
As long as the wood is of a decent size, seasoned and well secured it shouldn't be a problem (though I am talking about smaller/lighter lathes, Myfords etc)