lathe's
Turbo Mini Forums

hi guys

i've been doing my college engineering course since the start of September and i'm thinking about buying a lathe for me to practice on ( and maybe make a couple of things for my mini)

can anyone recommend where to get one that's relatively cheap as i dont have that much cash

any help info greatly appreciated

eBay, or other auctions. Search for school auctions, machine shops, etc.

Next thing you need to familiarise yourself with is how much scrap is selling for, and that will serve as an indicator of the absoutely lowest amount of money you will ever be able to buy one for. No-one is going to sell you a 13" colchester or Harrison for 100 quid if they can get three times that from the scrapper.

Finally - do you want something like you learnt on in college (probably a 5hp, 13" swing or larger, with QC tool post, full selection of 3, 4 jaw and collet chucks at your disposal, clutch shift and a full range of feeds and speeds; or something from 1920 that used your left hand for the feed and has a multi-link belt whizzing away 2 ft from your face... Both command very different prices LOL

what do u recomend

the course im on is only like 10 percent practical so i only get to go near one for my practical part

thats why i want one to practice on

Colchester student is a superb lathe. Very simple to use, can be found at a reasonable price, and there is not much you can't do on one of them.

If you've got the room for one that is?

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1/4mile in 13.2sec @ 111 terminal on 15psi

I have a myford ml7, its a good size for home use

Space is a big thing to think about, unless you get such as a model makers machine then they are a big lump.
Also be careful that many will be 415v 3phase and so no good to the home user unless you either change the motor or buy an inverter.

Got a bit of space in teh garage for one but not vast space yeah i will have a look in to inverters and both types of lathes u have suggested cheers guys

just looked them up on ebay i think i need to look at a smaller one coz looking up specs they seem to take up quite a big area so i think ill look into model makers one

my myford is classed as a model makers lathe, it has a 3.5 inch swing so unless you want to work on something thicker than 7 inch then it will do most jobs

looking at it on a cabinet that doubles the length and height which is why its huge

I've got a little 350mm between centres hobby lathe. It's good in the sense that its compact easy to use, cheap and doesn't take up much space. But compare It to a "full size" lathe it has massive limitations and I find the tailstock gets in the way most of the time even on the smallest job as its all soo compact.

A myford is a good call. The other thing to take a note of is whether it is imperial or metric on the dials. It doesn't take long to get used to converting imp to metric and visa versa, but for starting off an imp machine will make it a bit more of a challenge getting used to it all.

Also don't forget to consider the tooling included with the lathe too. If you can get one with a 3 jaw and 4 jaw chuck its a good thing to have.

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1/4mile in 13.2sec @ 111 terminal on 15psi

How about this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181253407800

This looks like a Mk4 L5. 11" swing (not sure why it says 9").

Note that it has 3 and 4 jaw, face plate, tailstock chuck, dead (spindle presumably) and live center, and operators manual.
Also has taper turning attachment, which you will use rarely, but once you figure how to use it, and realise how incredibly useful this is, you'll find excuses to use it (I do on my colly t2000)!
Also it claims to be single phase...

Although it takes a bit of floorspace, as soon as you try taking a big cut, an industrial grade machine like this will reward you with its rigidity compared to a smaller lathe.

If you do want a smaller one - find a good ML7 as others have suggested.

Just my opinion... More machine than you need is never bad - especially if you have space, and have been used to 13" and larger machines at college.

Edited by turbodave16v on 6th Nov, 2013.

thanks guys apreciate the advice i think looking at prices i will have do do a bit of saving as looking back i think i was a little unrelistic about how much one would cost as i thought around the 100 pound mark so maybe something to revisit

thanks everyone

just seen this..

nothing gory happens but a warning.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dad_1384415354

when ever doing anything like polishing on a lath I slacken the belt right off so it would skid and the chuck would stop.

His first mistake was gripping his hand around the work...the result was pretty funny though! He won't be doing that again.

On a program called bizarre ER I saw a guy with long hair get scalped because his hair got caught in the work...pretty rank!

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1/4mile in 13.2sec @ 111 terminal on 15psi