Edited By John Stevenson on 18/07/2011 13:00:13

Before we all get carried away defining our “perfect” model engineering lathe with gold plated bells and whistles, perhaps a cold hard look at what the market can support is called for.

How many machines a year can you sell at £8k+ – not enough to keep an established business going.

At £4k+ – quite a few more but probably no more than the low hundreds.

At £2K+ more than at £4k but even at this you’ll probably have to sell world wide with all it’s implications in order to get the sort of volume you’d need to meet this selling price, and remember this is the selling price to the end customer, if you’re making them you’ll need to do it, finished, for half that price in order to get a decent margin to pay for the factory unit, the heating, lighting etc.

Not a business proposition to take on lightly I think especially in the UK, Europe or the USA.

Keith

Hi Roger

No harm at all in dreaming, in fact it’s essential to come up with a suitable spec For example the built in DRO’s would probably at the moment push the price too high, but provision for fitting DRO’s designed in from the start and available as an option from new and as an accessory for retrofit could make the basic machine much more affordable in the first place, and more versatile for users as time, funds and experience allow. We are seeing home cnc machines “off the shelf” becoming more affordable and the same technology will extend to lathes, we might just have to wait a bit.

Perhaps the people that you mention, Wabeco, Emco, Ceriani et al will decide that there is a gap to be filled with a suitable machine. They already have the distribution and service networks in place so should be better placed to respond. Another alternative is that the makers of the cheaper Chinese machines may realise that there is a market for a better finished, more robust machine and again respond to the challenge.

I think that if someone does go for the vacant niche they will have to invest in production tooling and methods that can produce a lathe without the need for extensive hand finishing and fitting – that really is expensive.

Keith

I think there would be a Market for a quality lathe in the range of 2 to 5k. Look at the Tormach Cnc mills in the states or the syil or seig Cnc mills. They are not cheap machines but seem to be selling. People do have money to spend on hobbies. In terms of manufacturing what about a lathe designed in the UK, manufactured abroad and then finished and quality checked back in the UK? That would reduce costs and ensure high quality.

I like the idea of modular machines using stock off the shelf parts as much as possible – motors, bearings, feed screws, spindles, tooling, electronics, handles. This simplifies manufacture and ensures parts availability in the future and at decent prices. The manufacturing process then concentrates on the core lathe, everything else is bought in. The lathe would be available at a basic spec but with extras like DROs designed in from the start – no retofitting needed just buy an off the shelf add on and plug it in / bolt it on. Basic design has to be rigid and well finished, big bore and cam lock spindle fitting makes sense. No plastic handles etc to give a quality feel.

Sales and support would be online only with no expensive showrooms to fund.

Just some ideas….