Machining Equipment Suggestions
Turbo Mini Forums

Good Morning chaps,

Lately I was considering buying myself a mid-sized lathe and a milling machine. During the past two years that I have been fiddling around with the Mini I'm always getting these small jobs which I always end up outsourcing to local companies. The lead time here is never ending. Apart from that I usually also have small machining jobs for my University project, apart from occasional mid-sized machining that dad usually has.

I've tried to find local used equipment, however it seems that the firms that used to import used machinery from the UK have been going quite slow during the past few years, so I thought I'd ask you chaps where I could find possibly a few good deals over there. Obviously then I have to ship the lot to Malta, so given that the weight of the items is what it is, I don't want to buy cheap quality as the shipping will still cost me the same.

Thanks in advance,
Carl

I think that you should buy "full size" equipment not something smaller. That way you will not need to change later , as I am sure you will.

Colchester Student lathe and a Bridgeport mill will mean you can do almost anything.

Buying sight unseen though is a bit risky as they are often well worn.

i know that refurbed stuff is available, probably a bt pricy though.

Be realistic on what you need to do, some of these machines take up a lot of space if you will only use it once a flood.

I've a mid sized lathe and mill, they do everything I've needed to, be warned that after the initial purchase you can then spend a LOT of money on tooling in order to tackle the jobs you may need to do.

Often its a trade off as you could pay less for the job doing by someone else than it will cost you to buy the tooling, but once you have it, you have it for future tasks.

I have recently got myself a good quality mid size Chinese lathe. I looked at several Myford, box ford lathes and found the majority to be worn out or over priced. Be careful of reconditioned lathes. As this generally just means painted! As Tom says the layout on tooling is where it gets expensive.

I did manage to get a good quality English milling machine for a good price.

A good site for adverts www.homeworkshop.org.uk

Ron

I bought one of these about 10 years ago.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lathe-Mill-Drill...3bwBgMVPoCm1cpA

Used it for all kinds of Mini related projects.

We subsequently converted it to CNC. Made this:


Still in regular use. Its not that accurate now but you get what you pay for.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

I have a 5” Boxford AUD lathe and a VM30 mill, both ideal for most of the machining I do. I have exceeded the capacity of the mill when machining blocks tho, I’d love to upgrade to a Bridgeport turret but I can’t justify the cost or the loss of floor space just for the odd occasion I’d need a bigger machine. I have a friend who is a machinist and does the larger stuff for me (for beer money) much cheaper than buying a big machine and he has more of an idea how to use it too.
Shane.

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Edited by shane on 5th Feb, 2018.

I've a dead handy mill, it has horizontal and vertical heads.



My lathe is also handy, a slant bed so you can get quite a big job in it.



Both pics from Google

Don,t laugh but I have a Sealy milling/drilling machine and I can JUST get an A series block on there to deck it.

Most of my tooling for that device is solid carbide obtained from someone in a toolroom where they discard them when they have been hardly used, for extreme accuracy. Do need to feed very carefully on the bigger jobs as it is not very powerful

On 5th Feb, 2018 Tom Fenton said:
I've a dead handy mill, it has horizontal and vertical heads.



My lathe is also handy, a slant bed so you can get quite a big job in it.



Both pics from Google

I have started posting on Instagram also my name on there is turbomk1golf

Nothing is impossible it just costs more and takes longer.

LOLE

"You're on thin fucking ice my pedigree chum" :)

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I have been to some locals this week and I've seen one Stanley lathe (80cm B.C.) and a Harrison (60cm B.C). Unfortunately both seem to have had a pretty tough life. Next week I'm going to see another one.

My main concern if I end up bringing them from the UK is the shipping. I got a quotation for a 1m B.C. lathe, it seems that shipping to Malta is in excess of 1000eur. Obviously I would also need to consider some 200eur for me to come view it myself before buying.

Could the likes of LMS Transport arrange shipping over ? I know they normally bring cars......heavy machinery probably a lot more awkward ! Would Italy be a source for such equipment ? I know lots of car garage equipment seems to originate from there although not quite the same thing

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will

Hi Stieve, I'll check about LMS transport. Never heard about them before. I did try to check for lathes in italy, but it seems like they don not use a lot the colchester brand. All the lathes I dound were all Italian lathes I guess and I don't know about their reliability. Do you know of any good italian lathes ? I think Cincinnati is one if them. Not absolutely sure its italian though

Sorry, dont know of any Italian stuff...I just know lots of other car equipment seem to be made there. Plus if it was available there, shipping should be a lot less ? Or I'm sure the
Chinese are bound to make stuff, they make everything !! lol

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads...rs-tools.79439/

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will

Thanks for the link stevie