lathe buying advice

[seanc]

I quite like the idea of having a lathe in my home workshop but essentially I know absolutely nothing about the. Myford seem popular and something like an ml7 looks like a good size.
What should I keep an eye out for ? Anything I should completely avoid ? Ive seen them between 300-1000 so quite a range.
are all parts still available ? And how do you go about cutting metric threads as I assume most stuff is imperial !

Sorry for all the questions

 

[BrokenBiker]

a myford will do pretty much everything the hobbyist will want.

metric threads are simple, just a case of configuring the changewheels in the right order.

ideally.you will want one with atleast a 3 jaw chuck and a handful of tolls, live centre, tailstock drill chuck and so on

 

[shenion]

Most lathes have a Yahoo group for them. Check those out.

For example I saw a Rockwell/Delta lathe on CL that was missing the tailstock for a good price. I checked the group and found 2 things: the fwd/rev gears are known to slip and trash themselves and parts are near impossible to find.

If it is not a "buy now or lose" deal, ask questions on the specific Yahoo group.

Ask the current owner why they are selling, what is wrong and how easy to get parts.

Look out for freshly painted lathes. Often a seller trick to hide an abused lathe.

Metric threads can be done on most imperial lathes. There is a 56/44 gear combination or a 100/127 combination that allows metric threads to be cut. It is a bit more difficult as once you start, you cant disengage the half nuts.

I got a good deal on my Craftsman 12x36. The seller told me all the problems, play in the cross slide, tailstock taper not perfect, wobbly pulley and broken/welded cover. Nothing major and the lathe was pristine for a 70-year old lathe. No visible wear on the ways.

Now, the Craftsman 109 lathe i picked up off ebay was junk. Probably the worst lathe ever made. I did not do the homework on the lathe and paid the price.

 

[Rig Pig]

Have a look at other 'what lathe' posts on here. Myfords are very good but quite small and expensive, if you have room there are lots of other makes to look at, lathes.co.uk has loads of info on all sorts of machines.

 

[MattF]

Look out for freshly painted lathes. Often a seller trick to hide an abused lathe.

I'm not the only one who tends to class that as a red flag then. There are some legitimate restores out there, but a fresh coat of paint always makes me wonder both how well it was cleaned and prepped beforehand, along with what are they trying to hide. I'd much prefer to buy something which looks a bit of a dog just because you know it's not been farted around with in any way. It might be more work to get up and running, but at least you know straight off the bat what work you'll need to do, instead of keep finding the hidden 'gems' you were upto just unaware of. You just never know what new paint may be hiding. Glistening metal surfaces which look brand new on an older machine are another thing which I tend to be wary of. There are a lot of people out there who seem to think abrasives are a good way of cleaning ways and machined/ground surfaces. God only knows how much the tolerances might have been affected.

 

[MattF]

I quite like the idea of having a lathe in my home workshop but essentially I know absolutely nothing about the. Myford seem popular and something like an ml7 looks like a good size.
What should I keep an eye out for ? Anything I should completely avoid ? Ive seen them between 300-1000 so quite a range.
are all parts still available ? And how do you go about cutting metric threads as I assume most stuff is imperial !

Sorry for all the questions

Scott pretty much covered the things to watch out for. Myford's are okay. They tend to command a price they don't necessarily deserve. There are other machines out there of either similar or better capabilities which you can likely get for less or equal money. The Myford name is what a lot of people pay for. That doesn't necessarily mean you'll be getting something good though.

The main thing I would always suggest is to consider it more as looking for tooling with a lathe included, if you're starting from scratch. A lathe is useful, but without some tooling they're very limited, and it's usually the tooling and ancillary parts which will end up costing you far more than the lathe itself might have done, so look for a good selection of tooling with a lathe. Class the lathe itself as an added bonus. Stuff like steadies, both travelling and fixed, aren't necessities, (I bet most who have either one or both can probably count on one hand how often they've used them recently, if at all), but they're handy things to have if needed, so don't obsess over stuff like that being included. Tooling, chucks, centres etc. are the things you'll appreciate and use most.

 

[brightspark]

as long as u buy something decent without a load of slop and wear on it and it has the 3 and a 4 jaw chuck with it preferably otherwise there big bucks .anything else can be picked up at a later date for not a lot of money. and dont just go and rush out and buy any old lathe just because other punters are wanting it e bay or anyone else . thers allways a fool that will pay over the odds for crap because he is 2 eager to wait

 

[shenion]

Yes, I forgot to mention lathes.co.uk.

Mattf is right, getting a used lathe is the first cost. Tooling will usually cost you just as much. The more tooling it comes with, the less you will have to buy.

My lathe came with 2 chucks, steady rest, milling attachment, milling cutter arbor, 2 drill chucks, several centers, AXA toolpost, and a toolbox full of stuff. It also had a full set of change gears. I sold the original lantern post and the milling arbor; that offset some of the stuff I added (ER40 chuck and collets.)

Here's mine: http://shdesigns.org/Craftsman-12x36/index.shtml

 

[Pete.]

One of the best bargains I've seen locally has to be inchpincher's heavy ten last year right here on Migwelding. A lot of lathe for the money. Keep your eyes peeled and be patient, you'll find something suitable.

 

[Shox Dr]

Personally I wouldn't go for a lathe just because it had tooling, I've learnt most of it is what's left after they have sold the better stuff.

I started on a tiny ML300, then a Warco 300. And now a refurbished Harrison M300. I can't say I own any of the tooling used with the other machines, a bigger machine takes bigger tooling

A few Centre drills, a MT drill chuck, drill set, set of Carbide brazed tools, DTI and stand, HSS blanks, would cost less than £150 new. To get you going, the rest you'll pick up as required.

Have fun (need lathe smile in fact need better smiles all round)

 

[Spark plug]

Have a look at boxford lathes they don't have a massively larger foot print than a myford but have a much bigger capacity.

Also a lot of people look solely at the swing over bed and the distance Between centres, but to me the swing over saddle and the spindle bore are as important if not more important.