Buying a lathe?

The ML10 is a nice little lathe. They were built by Myfords as a cheaper machine than the 7 series, and lack some refinements as a result. Their chief limitation is the short distance between centres (13 inches?) but they are still a capable machine.

I mentioned using a crank handle for crewcutting. Here is mine.

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Norman_E said:
The ML10 is a nice little lathe. They were built by Myfords as a cheaper machine than the 7 series, and lack some refinements as a result. Their chief limitation is the short distance between centres (13 inches?) but they are still a capable machine.

I mentioned using a crank handle for crewcutting. Here is mine.
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How does that work Norman ?

How do you control the feed.
 
Reverend Ludd said:
How does that work Norman ?

How do you control the feed.
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Set the lathe up as usual, using either change gears or Norton Gearbox (the South Bend has the latter, the Myford the former) and engage the half nuts. Cut the thread by turning the crank handle isstead of switching on the motor. Do not disengage the half nuts at the end of the thread, instead just back out the tool with either topslide (if flank cutting) or cross slide (if plunge cutting). Turn the lathe backwards to the start point, and advance the tool to the original position plus a few thousandths of extra cut, and wind forward again. Repeat until the thread is full depth.

It is a particularly good method if you are cutting an odd pitch thread, for example a metric pitch on an imperial machine, of have no thread dial indicator to show you the correct half nut engagement position. Also very good if cutting a thread to a shoulder or internal threading a blind bore, with no danger of an over run.
 
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nigelmercier said:
Any thoughts from mechanical types?
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Warco have a similar lathe, a bit pricier but they are famous for good service unlike, say, Chester who also do these lathes. Also worth considering ArcEurotrade who do a range of lathes containing the same sort of thing.

My reason for mentioning the above is not to confuse but because they are respected firms amongst the model engineering fraternity, if you have access to newsgroups then uk.rec.models.engineering is a fount of info and is frequented by the proprietor of ArcEurotrade as well as the respected John Stevenson who runs a small engineering shop supplying model engineering oriented bits.

The general advice people seem to get is that second hand British lathes are better value for money than new Chinese ones. A goood old British lathe will probably hold tighter tolerances than a new Chinese one unless it is fondled a bit. If you decide to go down the GB route then the HomeWorkshop site hosts free adverts and you might pick up a bargain, or eBay of course. I personally went this route and picked up an almost unused 30 year old Boxford for a good price, a very tight and accurate machine. You will be a bit restricted by your budget but might pick up a good Myford ML7 in your range if you keep your eyes peeled.

Whatever route you decide the first thing to decide is what type of screw threads will you ever need to cut, imperial or metric ? This determines whether you will need an imperial or metric lead screw as cutting threads of the other flavour is a pita best avoided.

Good luck,

Boo2
 
Norman_E said:
Set the lathe up as usual, using either change gears or Norton Gearbox (the South Bend has the latter, the Myford the former) and engage the half nuts. Cut the thread by turning the crank handle isstead of switching on the motor. Do not disengage the half nuts at the end of the thread, instead just back out the tool with either topslide (if flank cutting) or cross slide (if plunge cutting). Turn the lathe backwards to the start point, and advance the tool to the original position plus a few thousandths of extra cut, and wind forward again. Repeat until the thread is full depth.

It is a particularly good method if you are cutting an odd pitch thread, for example a metric pitch on an imperial machine, of have no thread dial indicator to show you the correct half nut engagement position. Also very good if cutting a thread to a shoulder or internal threading a blind bore, with no danger of an over run.
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Good idea - thanks :)
 
Coming late to this thread I would recommend a Myford. You can still get all the parts and most owners have kept them in good condition as they are enthusiasts. You may have to pay £350 to £500 for a good one but it is money in the bank.
 
Norman_E said:
Sorry to say it, but I think that all of the "mini lathes" have very serious drawbacks. I believe that they were designed originally just to be used to teach the rudiments of turning in Chinese schools, but found an export market for hobby use. Fine if you are making small parts but they just don't have enough metal in them for serious work. Other drawbacks.
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That's what I feel about mine but I thought it was probably my lack of experience/training. Certainly the photos and links posted here of the more serious lathes shows up the poor quality of mine.

The one advantage of my micro lathe is that I can lift it up (just about) and put it away after use.
 
SHUG said:
Coming late to this thread I would recommend a Myford. You can still get all the parts and most owners have kept them in good condition as they are enthusiasts. You may have to pay £350 to £500 for a good one but it is money in the bank.
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I hope you're wrong (and I think you may be) because I will probably be selling my Myford S7 later this year and I expect to get considerably more than that.
 
I will probably be selling my Myford S7 later this year and I expect to get considerably more than that.
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A late model Myford Super-7, with power cross-feed and a reasonable range of tooling can fetch up to £4000 in good condition - it's the earlier, grey-finished standard 7 model that can (occasionally) be found for a few hundred, but price will very much be determined by condition.
 
I do not think that you can (unless extremely lucky) find a Myford 7 series in decent condition for just a few hundred Pounds. Home & Workshop Macinery in Sidcup are respected second hand dealers and their Myford Stocklist shows the prices to expect. The cheapest 7 series at £1100 looks a very early model with the drip feed headstock lubrication, and decent late machines are in the thousands. Private prices are a bit lower, but still expect to pay over £1,000 for anything decent.

Boxford lathes are good quality, the original 4.5 inch Boxford being a copy of the South Bend 9 inch lathe except for a completely different headstock design. The letters are a code, with the UD standing for underneath drive, and the first letter explaining the exact variant, A = screwcutting lathe with a Norton Gearbox and power cross feed, B = similar but with changewheels, C = same as B but no power cross feed, and T = training lathe with no leadscrew, and therefore the model to avoid.
Boxford prices tend to be a bit less secondhand than Myfords, but a model AUD or BUD is in my opinion a better lathe than a Super 7. I would choose an AUD every time, as unless you have used lathes with changewheels you just don't know how much of a benefit the Norton Gearbox is. Some examples here.
 
I recently inherited a Record Mini Lathe.
Whole new world of accessories to buy on eBay.
It's got me interested in metal work again, the trouble is it leads you to wanting a better pillar drill, a mill, a bigger workshop etc etc.
My next project is a new handle to replace the cracked plastic one on the lathe...
 
A Chinese mini lathe from Machine Mart or Chester or Arceurotrade or several others is a useful tool but as stated does have limitations. I struggle to get more accurate than plus or minus 5microns of intended diameter.

I agree that Myford is significantly (between five and ten times) the cost of the Chinese seig or variants.

Buying a lathe is only the beginning, more chucks, more cutting tools, measuring tools, digital read outs, boring tools, taps and dies and suitable holders, digital read outs and more. Also a milling machine. And satisfying its appetite for tools.

Using this kit is very satisfying when it goes right, but in my experience you do get what you pay for and while it is possible to set up low cost gear for exacting work the path to that is paved with frustration and further expense.

It is useful for special spacers, washes, trimming stud or machine screws to length. Aluminium and bronze are good to work with. Stainless rather less so.

I recently set out to make replacement windscreen fitting for my boat. Four were needed, it took £6 worth of stock aluminium bar and three hours for each. I am a skilled and practised operator. Could have bought the finished articles for £28 each, but what else would I have been doing on several winters evenings?
 
lotusman said:
A Chinese mini lathe from Machine Mart or Chester or Arceurotrade or several others is a useful tool but as stated does have limitations. I struggle to get more accurate than plus or minus 5microns of intended diameter.
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If you can get to within 5 microns you're doing extremely well - that's 2/10 of a thou in old money! For most work tolerances of around .001" - .002" are fine though, and should be possible on most lathes with a bit of care ( and a knowledge of backlash).

The big advantage of buying a secondhand machine is that they often come with a range of useful bits and pieces that are classed as 'extras' when you buy new. A 4 jaw chuck, Jacobs chuck, some morse taper adaptors, centre etc, as well as various lathe tools and tool posts, all seem to be part of the deal on most eBay sales.

Useful sites www.lathes.co.uk, www.rdgtools.co.uk and there is also a Yahoo discussion group for particular models including Boxford.
 
lotusman said:
I struggle to get more accurate than plus or minus 5microns of intended diameter.
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Things must have changed a bit since my day then because then microns was only a measure of surface finnish or something achieved by grinding or lapping.Don't you mean thousandths of an inch or the equivalent in metric?

A few years ago when everybody was braking their necks to change over to CNC I believe you could'nt give away a lot of machine shop equipment & a friend of mine who worked for a well regarded precision engineering company told me how they binned a lot of their stuff including a lovely little toolmaking collet lathe.I'd check out the second hand market.
I personally don't rate those old Myfords because they always seemed flimsy much like Bridgeport milling machines.:eek:
 
parsifal said:
I hope you're wrong (and I think you may be) because I will probably be selling my Myford S7 later this year and I expect to get considerably more than that.
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From looking at eBay from time to time there is a substantial difference in price fetched between the Super 7 and the ML7. ML7s go from £400 odd and up, with S7s starting around £750. You can pay a lot more though...

Boo2
 
In fairness to the OP there is no necessity to buy a 2nd hand British lathe. I have never used one myself but people on the u.r.m.e. newsgroup have made the point that many thousands of the Chinese mini-lathes have been sold in the UK, far more than Myfords ever sold, and you don't see them come up on eBay ver often. Reason is that for all their faults they do work and are cheap enough that a lot of occasional users can affford to keep on on hand without thinking too much about it.

So if the OP can find a good deal on a mini-lathe complete with steadies and chucks etc then my advice is go for it.

Boo2
 
Boo2 said:
In fairness to the OP there is no necessity to buy a 2nd hand British lathe. I have never used one myself but people on the u.r.m.e. newsgroup have made the point that many thousands of the Chinese mini-lathes have been sold in the UK, far more than Myfords ever sold, and you don't see them come up on eBay ver often. Reason is that for all their faults they do work and are cheap enough that a lot of occasional users can affford to keep on on hand without thinking too much about it.

So if the OP can find a good deal on a mini-lathe complete with steadies and chucks etc then my advice is go for it.

Boo2
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I would agree.

Despite the good will of the posters, there tends to be a degree of mission creep in these sorts of threads. The original choice is between two cheap alternatives that can be afforded and be small enough to stick in a cupboard. If we are not careful we end up considering a 4k, free standing 4 cwt unit suitable for light industrial use.

I am a big believer in cheap tools, if the choice is between doing the job yourself and having to pay someone else to do it.

Having said that, I think there are many, good practical points about the limitations of the choices, from Norman E and others.
 
srp said:
If you can get to within 5 microns you're doing extremely well - that's 2/10 of a thou in old money! For most work tolerances of around .001" - .002" are fine though, and should be possible on most lathes with a bit of care ( and a knowledge of backlash).
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You're right, metric/imperial slip on my part. +/- .005" was intended. Apologies.

Other problem is parallelism - it suffers due to quality of chuck and bearing.
 
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