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Posted by Charles Ping on April 24, 2008, 9:46 am
Please log in for more thread options > Have you looked atwww.lathes.co.uk?
> Your experience was likely to be on a Triumph lathe. They were, and
> are, very popular. Unfortunately, they're 3 phase. They sell regularly
> on eBay and are very good lathes if a little large for home use.
> Having said that, I've been promising myself one for years.
> You need to decide what sizes you're going to machine, that dictates
> the lathe size. Go for a proper lathe if you can rather than a cheap
> feature-poor machine. There's lots available second hand. Again, eBay
> will give an indication of prices.
> Things to consider
> Distance between centres and swing over bed
> Go for a gap bed if possible
> Look at the clearance above the saddle as well as the chuck swing.
> Look how high the tool post is as that dictates how large a cutting
> tool you can use
> Do you want imperial/metric/both screw feeds
> Look for a large enough bore through the headstock.
>
> No doubt others will add to this list until there's so many needs that
> no one lathe will do. Then you will need multiple lathes, oh and a
> miller, a grinder, a shaper............
>
> Good luck
>
> John
>
>
>
> Stuart Bridger wrote:
> > I an interested in getting into Model Engineering and looking at my firs=
t
> > "home lathe".
> > I have a reasonable budget, but Myford is out of the question.
> > I did an engineering apprenticeship back in the early 1980's and spent a=
> > month working with what I believe was a Colchester Triumph 2000. After m=
y
> > apprenticeship I moved into Electronics and finally ended up in IT where=
I
> > am now. Somewhere in the recesses of my brain I hope are some residual
> > turning skills.
> > I have looked at Chester and Warco on the web, with the latter looking m=
ore
> > attactive.
> > However I am somewhat confused as to which direction to go in. Belt chan=
ge
> > or variable speed and what features are most desirable? No one product s=
eems
> > to offer what I consider the perfect solution. The Warco WM280V-F looks
> > attractive as it offers a reasonable capacity and a power cross feed. Th=
e
> > latter I could consider as pretty much essential from my previous
> > experience. One concern I have on this model is the low end speed, 125 R=
PM.
> > Is this slow enough? I would rather speed a little more and get somethin=
g
> > decent than get a machine that I "grow out of". =A0I am not really up fo=
r
> > refurbing a machine as it will be my first machine tool. A lot of the wo=
rk I
> > am planning will be model scale stuff, but the capability to machine lar=
ger
> > items is atractive. Have I been "spoilt" by my turning stint during my
> > apprenticeship and am expecting too much from a first lathe?
>
> > The advice of the group would be much appreciated
>
> > Stuart- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Two points:
Slightly confused as to why a good Myford should be too expensive if
you have =A31500 to spend on the Warco. OK, not a brand new Myford but
you should be able to get a nice one for =A31500. A good AUD Boxford
would be even less and a late one would be a 5" model. I appreciate
your desire not to rebuild something but not all second hand machinery
is in need of a rebuild! There was a nice Boxford on Homeworkshop the
other day - no idea of the price though!
See here http://www.homeworkshop.org.uk
Remember the bigger machines are cheaper and 3 phase isn't the work of
the devil. Most can be run of inverters or converters (or in my case
both) if you have some electrical confidence.
As for your specifics:
Possibly spoilt but there's no going back.
125rpm too fast IMHO
Variable speed is easily sorted with an inverter on a 3 phase motor
(and much better than single phase
I agree than power cross feed is useful - as is a norton box.
Charles
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> "home lathe".
> I have a reasonable budget, but Myford is out of the question.
> I did an engineering apprenticeship back in the early 1980's and spent a
> month working with what I believe was a Colchester Triumph 2000. After my
> apprenticeship I moved into Electronics and finally ended up in IT where I
> am now. Somewhere in the recesses of my brain I hope are some residual
> turning skills.
> I have looked at Chester and Warco on the web, with the latter looking more
> attactive.
> However I am somewhat confused as to which direction to go in. Belt change
> or variable speed and what features are most desirable? No one product seems
> to offer what I consider the perfect solution. The Warco WM280V-F looks
> attractive as it offers a reasonable capacity and a power cross feed. The
> latter I could consider as pretty much essential from my previous
> experience. One concern I have on this model is the low end speed, 125 RPM.
> Is this slow enough? I would rather speed a little more and get something
> decent than get a machine that I "grow out of". I am not really up for
> refurbing a machine as it will be my first machine tool. A lot of the work I
> am planning will be model scale stuff, but the capability to machine larger
> items is atractive. Have I been "spoilt" by my turning stint during my
> apprenticeship and am expecting too much from a first lathe?
>
> The advice of the group would be much appreciated
>
> Stuart