Lathe decision nearly made, a few questions

I have been looking for a while at a small lathe and came to the decision of the Chester DB8VS or the Warco WM250 but then I cam across Excel Machine Tools. I cant seem to find much information on these let alone a review, but was looking at the D250 lathe. I will only be using it for basic turning, nothing to complicated. What are your opinions of the chinese lathes as a whole? Also has anyone got any experience of Excel Machine Tool lathes? I fully expect to do a bit of work on the lathe to get it running correctly. Using lathes for my job I feel confident to make these changes, but space dose not permit a larger machine.

Jon

Hi Jon

I have just bought a Warco WM250V-F at the Harrogate show last weekend, I was also down to a choice of DB10VS or the WM250, what made up my mind was the Chester machines were lacking in refinements i.e. no leadscrew telescopic cover(this seemed to have been removed judging by the brackets left on the machines, but could be retro-fitted, at a price of course!), no power X feed, & delivery charges.

Warco's WM250 V-F included all of the above at no extra cost so it was a simple decision,but the choice is yours.

George

I've had the slightly bigger WM-280VF for about 4 years very capable machine for the money.

I also found the Warco the better choice over Chester.

J

This is just one example of bits that can be fitted, without thinking of the future consequences.

The spring leascrew cover that you cherish so much can cause all sorts of problems when doing faceplate work.

Just see how close the collapsed spring will allow you to get with the faceplate fitted.

On my machine, The closest I could get to the faceplate, with the topslide fully forwards was about 1.5"

As you can most probably guess, the spring cover now languishes in the dust at the back of my shop.

Fully compressed

I couldn't get very close to the faceplate, in fact I couldn't even skim it off so that I could use it.

So check out gizmos for the full story first, as there are usually more things on a machine that should be got rid of or changed before it can be classed as workable.

I had all my mods done at the Chester factory on another new machine before I would accept it as a replacement..

John

John there is no problem with the compression of the covers because if you also have the guard down it will mean the carrage needs to be even further away so the cover won't get compresses fully, I think this was another point you made when those photos were taken

J

Thank you very much for your replys. I had assumed my post had not been posted correctly but checking back now it had. I i think i have made up my decision to go for a warco 250V-F on the strenght of the good reviews I recieved, extras they would include and also the total lack of customer service from Chester.

Warco are awaiting their delivery of 250V-F's so I have time to make my mind up 100%, I just have a niggling in my mind that I could get a better machine for the cost if I went for a Myford etc, however the mine field of problems that can arrise from a second hand machine are putting me off. I belive the chinese machines have improved a lot in recent years?

The final finish of the machine may not quite be upto that of a myford but what comes off them or at least mine straight out of the crate is as good as any myford will produce. And as you say no risk of buying something that may have faults if you don't know what you are looking for.

If you want to see what comes of mine look here here here and here

J

Thanks Jason, projects look great.

Great work Jason.

Russell.

P.S., How do you find time to do all that and make so many posts here and on other forums as well?

Edited By Russell Eberhardt on 10/06/2012 11:17:04