Lathe

I think I'm out of my depth here...

I think i'll look at the smaller Clarke ones recommended above, have a play around with it and take it from there.
 
In my refinery days we had use for a lathe making parts for things that we couldn't buy parts for. I have both wood an metal lathes at home, but I very, very seldom need them for anything boat related. More often, fabbing a part is a matter of taps and dies, or something I can do on a large drill press (taper something).

I think some examples of things that cannot practically be done any other way might help the OP.
 
Gixer said:
Thanks guys,

I have seen this locally which looks interesting.
Metal Lathe Myford ML4 | eBay

That Centurion looks amazing but yes out of my budget :)
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Do not even consider a Myford ML4. Before Manufacturing the 3 1/2 inch Drummond lathe under licence during WW2, Myford did not know how to design or build a decent Lathe, and both the ML2 and ML4 are poor machines.
If you want a small benchtop machine some of the mini lathes now on sale are OK, preferably upgraded with metal headstock gears.

Good work can be done on old machines. My best lathe is a wartime made South Bend lathe. The machine from which the Boxford 4 1/4 inch lathe was copied.
 
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Strange how some like one make whilst others class them as rubbish, I agree that the Myford ML4 was not the best lathe but it worked, and I never had any complaints with mine, ...but, I am not an engineer just a 'bod' that learned to use a lathe in metalwork classes at school and have used what I learnt over the years when I have needed to make up the odd bit of kit.
As commented in an earlier post I still regret selling my old ML4.
 
The ML4 was the best of Myford's Pre ML7 machines, but it was a much lighter machine and not rigid enough for serious work. For a small machine of that era the Drummond lathe that Myford made under licence was far better, and was bought by the admiralty for shipboard use.
Of current small lathes Warco have a decent selection of imported ones (Chinese). If the OP is tempted by a mini lathe the Warco one has steel gears but is now out of stock. There are lots of sellers on e-bay and the mini lathes vary quite a bit. There are even some 4 X 16" machines with a headstock with a splndle bore of 38mm and a weight of over 60Kg compared to less than 40Kg for the usual mini lathes.
 
Gixer said:
I've got myself the makings of a neat little workshop in my garage with vice, pillar drill, bench grinder, etc.

I've always wanted a lathe for turning bits of wood or metal, trouble is I have no idea what I'm looking at. They are pretty expensive bits of kit and I don't want to get it wrong. Any advice for a novice looking to do small projects?

I'm in no rush so don't mind waiting for a decent second hand one to come up.

Thanks
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Try and look out for a myford lathe maybe an ml10 the Chinese ones 7x14 on ebay are OK for metal and plastic but struggle with threading especially on stainless etc. I have a myford super 7 its amazing can turn anything on it
 
What you have to remember is that you can do a small job on a big lathe but you cant do a big job on a small one! My first lathe was a Myford Super 7, good little machine but they are over rated being light & not capable of heavy cuts. The one thing that continually ached me off with it was its tiny spindle bore of 9/16" iirc which severely limits the length of things you can put in it. They are a modelmakers lathe & over priced for what they are. The old ML 3's & 4's have cheap plain bearings in the headstock & are not worth bothering with unless they are very cheap.
For decent work a Boxford is a far better bet being only marginally bigger but far more capable.
Dont discount lesser known makes, I have a German Boley 4LE & its design & build quality is light years above a Myford. Smart & Brown did a copy of this machine & they are cracking machines.
As for chinese machines, they have got better but can be appallingly built.
My main machine of choice is a Harrison 140, ex college & in superb condition, It isnt for sale!
 
Keith 66 said:
What you have to remember is that you can do a small job on a big lathe but you cant do a big job on a small one! My first lathe was a Myford Super 7, good little machine but they are over rated being light & not capable of heavy cuts. The one thing that continually ached me off with it was its tiny spindle bore of 9/16" iirc which severely limits the length of things you can put in it. They are a modelmakers lathe & over priced for what they are. The old ML 3's & 4's have cheap plain bearings in the headstock & are not worth bothering with unless they are very cheap.
For decent work a Boxford is a far better bet being only marginally bigger but far more capable.
Dont discount lesser known makes, I have a German Boley 4LE & its design & build quality is light years above a Myford. Smart & Brown did a copy of this machine & they are cracking machines.
As for chinese machines, they have got better but can be appallingly built.
My main machine of choice is a Harrison 140, ex college & in superb condition, It isnt for sale!
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I would love one of them big hardinge slv lathes
 
I have just sold my Colchester Bantam (extreme downsizing). Good size for almost anything. Hardened bed. One thing to make sure is that the bed at the chuck end hasn't been worn. The friend who bought it brought an engineer along and he tried to lift the carriage at various points - no movement. Mine came from a school or college but there's not many of those about. I sold it for £1400 but it included collet chuck and collets, taper turning, 3 and 4 jaw chucks and plenty of tooling. A lot of money he said (he has short arms and long pockets) but it'll be worth at least that if he sells it in a few years. Smaller, hobby lathes will not hold their value.
 
Rhylsailer99 said:
My precious lathe
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Looks very like mine, probably newer. Mine is bench mounted and is pre power cross feed and now only gets used for small parts that need its higher spindle speeds. Anything larger is done in the South Bend lathe which is an old toolroom machine with a gearbox, taper turning and a lever operated collet set. I would love a bigger lathe but cannot now justify buying one.
 
Norman_E said:
If you want a small benchtop machine some of the mini lathes now on sale are OK, preferably upgraded with metal headstock gears.
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I have an (inherited) original Unimat still in its box somewhere, plus lots of accessories. I let the Cowells lathe and milling machine go. Absolutely beautiful, but rather small.
 
My 60th birthday present for myself was a Chester Model 3 Mill / Drill / Lathe, with a wish list for Christmas and birthday gifts for accessories, so I now have a quick change tool post, tail stock die holder, mill tool collet set, engineer's blue, and a few other accessories. I already had a decent set of cutting tools from the older lathe it replaced.

This was 1 month old when I bought it for £1,000, but new direct it would have been ~£1,500 including the base cabinet it sits on.

In the US they are sold as Grissly, where I found the parts manual. It is metric base although can cut both metric and imperial threads. Made in China though.

Cuts very well, but need to master the die holder - probably spinning it a bit too fast when I first tried it yesterday on some stainless steel. I have set myself a project to design and build a stationary steam engine from scrap materials.

So far I have made two floor board lifters for my boat's flooring project and a pair of cooler anodes. The flow switches for the cooling system were a bit to big, so I had to use the Colchester Mascot at work for those.

If you haven't used a lathe before be very very careful as they can bite very hard, and never never never leave the chuck key sat in the chuck !

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I have to say guys I wasn't expecting the depth of information I have received.
Its refreshing to find people who are interested in this stuff and happy to help, most of my generation are not remotely interested...

You've given me plenty to think about and think i'll go for a Clarke or something similar to get started.

Side note - My Grandfather had an amazing workshop but died when I was young so I never got chance to learn from him. Still I've got two of his vintage racing motorcycles so not all bad :)
 
If you type 'Using a metal turning lathe' into google it will show you plenty of links to Youtube tutorials.

Whenever I buy stock now I always buy twice the length needed for a partiicualr job, and that way my stock is slowly accumulating so when a particualr job comes along I already have the material available. Generally buying twice the quantity means paying only 1.5 x the price for the smaller piece.
 
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