WTD - a lathe
Turbo Mini Forums

Currently looking at lathes, kinda after a bit of advice and if anyone's got anything available I'd be interested to hear.

I want something with quite a large swing diameter 13" would do it i think. Gap bed would be good. Problem with most of the big swing lathes is they got a massively long distance between centres, which i don't necessarily need.

Just wandering if anyone's got any recommendations of what I could be looking for. Other features im looking for include being able to cut metric and imperial, friction dials (metric wound be ideal), reversible, and able to convert/run on 240v.

Im in the west midlands, if anyone has anything available or knows anywhere/websites to look on that'd be great.

Dan

Sounds like you want (or need) a Harrison M300 if metric and English, and a 13” swing is needed.

There are thousands of them in the UK - keep searching, and you’ll find a deal. I always recommend seeing them under power, but if that’s not an option, try to pop the top cover and take a look inside. Obviously you can put a headstock in ‘neutral’ by finding the sweet spot between the gear selectors That allows you to spin the spindle freely; that’ll tell you about the condition of the bearings.

Don’t worry about if it’s 3ph or whatever; tons of ways to figure that out. The motor location on the m300 makes it easier to swap (IMO) than the 13” clausing student / master lathes too.

My final piece advice would be, don’t let the distance of a potential purchase influence your descision; if there is one in your price range that you can see “under power” but is 400 miles away, then call into work, grab cash and head over there.

Edited by TurboDave16V on 14th Jul, 2018.

Awesome, thanks for the advice Dave! Done some research on the m300 and looks like it'll fit the bill. Got a few on ebay on auction so will see what kind of money they go for. To get a not rediculously large lathe with the decent swing before, I'd only found things like the Clark combo mill which has 12" and a Chester combo thing which has 420mm.. But both have a mill which I don't need and aside from that neither inspire me with confidence with regards quality. At the same time however I don't want to be buying something so old it's worn out and they don't make/can't get parts for it anymore

I’d also put the following on your search list:
Colchester student 1800
Triumph 2000
Master 2500

They are “larger” than the M300, but can be had with short beds.

You may also want to look at the combination machines, and when doing that, also ask yourself if you “really” need metric and inch threading. If you have a set of dies, you can thread anything on the end of a shaft after all. That opens you up to smaller machines; just look at the Medusa posts to see what Robert turned on his small lathe ( a myford ? ) or look at the stuff from PaulS who has a small combo machine that he then converted to CNC.

I’m personally a fan of a machine for the job, and like the rigidity and metal removal rate of my Bridgeport and triumph, but if I was limited on space, I’d sooner have a light-duty machine than no machine...

Edited by TurboDave16V on 15th Jul, 2018.

Ive a Boxford Aud which has been more than adequate for most of my build. I can cut metric and imperial with the addition of a transposing gear.
It has power longitudinal and cross feeds.
Parts are readily availability for them still.
The only thing is it’s a 10” swing, but on the odd occasions I’ve had to turn large items I’ve either been creative with the mill or been fortunate enough to use a friends colchester.
I wouldn’t discount a smaller machine when you’d only need a larger one once in a blue moon.
Shane

Cheers guys.. Appreciate the help, given me plenty to go off whilst im looking.

Whatever you buy, try and get as much tooling with it as you can, its easy to spend more than the lathe cost on various things to allow you to tackle certain jobs.

I've an old Willson slant bed, its a useful size for my home garage, I've tackled lots of jobs with it.