I have.

No.

But I want to do a cnc conversion on number 2, and it'll be easier to have my original available to make parts on. They are also nearly identical (Warco WMT300 & Clarke 430) so I can share tooling between them.

Regards,

Richard.

Chris ,

One can NEVER have too many machines !

I have 4 lathes and usually stick with my go – to machine which was my first lathe , maybe it iis because i have been using it so long or something but it gets 99 % of the abuse i tend to dish out to my equipment .

Sometimes i will switch to a different lathe just for the hell of it but i know that when i have a need to perform a different operation like setting a piece up on a face plate etc and i don't want to break down the set up on one machine i can simply walk over to one of the others and set it up there .

Maybe you could look at your list of operations and try to clump things together that use the same set up and do them all in one go then change over for something else and do everything that requires that set up ?

Ian

I have three lathes, a Sieg SC3 for small stuff, a Chester 9 x 20 for bigger stuff and for even bigger stuff an SPG 2129 ( WM290 in blue )…

Chris, when I bought a new slightly larger lathe I kept the old one. As others have said, I find that I have one work piece in one lathe and need to turn something else. I find having two lathes very handy.

Thor

Having to break down this setup for milling helical gears

so that I could turn up another blank ( or 2 ) after cocking up the first attempts persuaded me that a second lathe is essential, even if it's only this little Flexispeed

Rod

Edited By Roderick Jenkins on 15/02/2017 18:14:40

I frequently think about buying a small lathe to supplement the Myford. For years I have hankered after a Cowells 90ME but have not been able to justify the purchase. Mind you if a bad debt that I am owed is paid I could celebrate.

I do not want a lathe larger than the Myford. I don't do large turning jobs and have not got the room.

JA

You can never have too many machine tools. I've got 3 lathes, and 3 mills. But they all serve different purposes. I have a main centre lathe, which is used most of the time. Second is a repetition lathe, obviously for producing repetitive parts, and third a Pultra 1750 for small turning and milling. The Pultra is in the kitchen so it doesn't take up workshop space. Generally a job does not move between lathes, with few exceptions. Preplanning and careful use of jigs goes a long way to avoiding the need to change back and forth between setups within a job.

Similarly the mills are all different; vertical, universal horizontal and CNC. Unlike the lathes jobs often move between the mills for different operations.

Andrew

I now have two lathes, super 7 which I had new in 1974 and a Colchester master 2500, would not be without both of them,very useful having two sizes of machine and handy if anything needs repairing on either machine. until recently I also had a triumph 2000 but downsizing of property is looming and was finding it difficult to manhandle the chucks etc, so I looked around my collection of stationary engines which need restoring,found the jobs that required the triumph ,did them and sold the lathe,but last week I had job that would have been easier with the larger spindle bore of the triumph. the Myford also a taper attachment which is useful for making tapered pipe fittings etc,I do not have an taperattachment for the master so cannot get rid of the Myford,

I have two, a plain Super 7 pre Power Cross Feed, and a Warco Super7 copy, with the bells and whistles. (Gearbox, PCF and Newton-Tesla drive).

The trouble is, they're 30 miles apart.

The intention was/is to use the Warco as my sole lathe in the new workshop when I've finally moved everything else over from Sheffield to Buxton, and sell the genuine Myford directly from the old house.

Trouble is, that the Warco has some "interesting" design feature which will need a lathe to rectify, so it looks like I will have to move the Myford over here for a while, even though I promised SHMBO that I'd no need for them both.

p.s. actually I've got 3, the last one being my original lathe, a little Simat, currently not commissioned and sitting in a wooden box in my old cellar.

Sorry make that 4, I've also inherited my Dad's Record wood turning lathe, though it's not been re-commissioned yet. I'm still awaiting the construction of a second double garage, to house the bikes and the Marlin.

Edited By peak4 on 15/02/2017 21:35:34

Yes, a Boxford 280 and a Myford Super 7.

And two milling machines………well, vertical, and horizontal!

At the moment I have the 8" four jaw in the Chinese geared head 6" lathe (with digital readout), a really accurate Pratt 3 jaw in the Hercus ARL, and a ER32 collet chuck in the ML7. The latter is rarely used but is good for say, 1/8th bar or holding threads. Really handy, in fact more than handy, to have a second lathe.