If you're looking at new lathes, I would suggest avoiding the DC motor versions and stretch the budget a little more to one of the Inverter based ones, I've have a Warco 250V for almost 2 years now and no complaints whatsoever.

If you can get to their open day in November, they usually have some good discounts on new machinery as well as a selection of ex demo/second hand to peruse.

If your spending £2000 total I suspect one from Warco will include much of the tooling that is needed with a lathe – the expensive stuff anyway.

If you want collets though they don't include those. The other thing most people soon want is a quick change toolpost and a few holders. Especially one for a parting off tool however it's possible to get a holder that fits into the usual holder and takes deep blades with an insert.

HSS for tool bits isn't expensive but needs an off hand grinder which I suspect you may already have. Indexable tip holders needn't be expensive. The price if the actual tips varies but the ones that come on the cheaper holders are usually usable.

The 280V comes with a variable frequency AC drive. It and it's stand would come to a bit over £2000. Some people reckon that the milling heads that can be attached to these lathes are pretty good. Might be an option in the future if needed. Not used one so pass.

They list the accessories on the same page as the lathe. I don't think I would go for the tool set they offer. Most use rhomboid tips. I use triangular. 3 tips all the same. Looks like Warco's inserts only have 2 as they are diamond shaped.

Whoops that is this one – a pretty serious lathe capable of doing all sorts.

http://www.warco.co.uk/metal-lathes-metalworking-lathe-machine/302996-wm280v-lathe.html

The other model mentioned is popular as well.

John

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Edited By Ajohnw on 19/10/2016 19:26:48

Mostly it will be making stud, bolts, pivot screws, bearings etc mostly from M2 up to around M6.

Just lost my comprehensive post, but basically you need to consider the extremes, not the 'mostly'.

A 250mm swing is OTT, in my opinion, for threading M2 (some will clearly disagree, I suppose). Most operations can be done on a mill with appropriate tooling.

But your choice. If going on to model making, the small threads can be be carried out with taps and dies at much lower cost, so a larger lathe might be a better choice.

I prefer old iron over the shiny new Chinese offerings. My priority choices would be a QCGB with separate feed and lead screws. QCTPs can come later.

A quote from the OP's post

I primarily make knives, both fixed and folding, as a hobby. However i'm becoming more and more interested in some model engineering.

Buying used Myfords is a mine field and when buying any used lathe it's a good idea to go take a look and do some turning with it and also take some steel, a micrometer and a decent turning tool. This means that there is a need to know what usually causes various problems. A lot of lathes are sold on the basis that things go round so all is ok. In real terms there are far more about that are past their best by various amounts including past their sell by date.

I sold a 4 jaw a while ago on a good Raglan back plate. By good I mean that it and the chuck fit the lathe properly. The buyer asked if the jaws were a good fit. Sensible question to ask. They were. Same with 3 jaws plus is the scroll damaged at all. It's best to ask.

The Chines lathes have improved a lot but in my view they still tend to thin things down more than they really should. The main effect of that is that really heavy turning at the max diameter they can take is probably a very bad idea. Providing people are aware of that it isn't really that much of a problem.

A used lathe with a chuck might look good price wise but it wont if further bits and pieces are bought. Sometimes on ebay ones with a lot of kit turn up and that can be a bargain – if all is ok.

Chinese chucks aren't as "nice" as Burnerd but they will do the job and new ones that come with new lathes should last a long time even with excessive hobby use. TOS chucks aren't as nice either.

It is a shame that they don't offer a quick method of changing feed speeds because that can be very useful. QCGB's or quick change gearboxes do offer that. Some of the new style Boxfords do offer something similar. Some have the ability to select more than one feed rate at the turn of a lever. Some don't so changes need the gears that drive the feed changing. Older Boxford;s can have worn beds and may have headstock bearing problems. It's much the same with any used lathe.

A lot depends on what a user wants from it really. Personally I prefer a decent finish without any messing around or one that polishes up very easily and also one that doesn't turn a significant taper. Putting all of that together means no noticeable wear in the bed, everything fitting rather well together, slides etc and headstock bearings that are in excellent condition. A more or less a hardly used lathe in other words. They can be about but there will be lots more that don't measure up.

You takes your choice basically hopefully with eyes wide open. Some used tool dealers are terrible. Ask to try a lathe and they will find the most horrible looking piece of steel and tool imaginable so that people will blame that rather than the machine. Personally I think that if some one uses a lathe and has a good one it wont be sold while they are around. Some newish used Chinese ones get sold because the user can't make effective use of them but also because they aren't very good for some reason. They may have simply lost interest as well. A smaller miller I bought once fell into the nothing wrong provided it was adjusted carefully category. That's ok providing some one can recognise that. My current miller was much the same but it's a sort of home made one built from a kit.

John

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Edited By Ajohnw on 20/10/2016 00:08:37

You might want to have a look too at the Sieg C3 mini-lathe, or similar clones. I've a mate with one and it's quite impressive for its size. No problem turning 6mm stainless etc as you ask.

+1 on be wary of secondhand Myfrods,Boxfords etc. Good lathes if you can get them in good condition. But a nightmare for a beginner if you get one that is worn out. Would you buy a 30- or 40- or 50-year-old car off eBay and expect to jump in it right away and use it every day for driving to work and on long holiday trips like you would a brand new car? Old machinery is old machinery. Buyer beware. That said, if you can find a good one, by having it inspected by a knowledgeable machinist before purchase, they will do a larger class of work than the mini lathes and they are a nice quality machine to use.

I would recommend new unless you can address this issue. As suggested before, buying second hand is a gamble.

Personally, I think you can get away with a small lathe. I suggest you need a taper turning cross slide and 7 inches between headstock and tail stock chuck faces (10" 'between centres' may be a bit crapmed) so you can turn fairburn sykes style handles. You can lift a small lathe on your own which could be important to some. http://www.mini-lathe.com/

A well set up small lathe can turn difficult materials for M6 to M4 if you take smaller cuts.

Small, well maintained second-hand young lathes are rare on ebay and should sell well if you can be bothered – so worst case in buying a small new lathe from a recommended suppliers is not that bad.

Worst case buying a myford… could be a lot worse. I've seen some really bad ML7s. Fun restoration projects but that is a new hobby (one that knife makers may enjoy ).

4 jaw chuck and fixed steady are useful accessories and should be considered in package deals. Carbide tooling is not essential at first and HSS is preferred in many cases.

For M6 and below – I agree, taps and dies? I'm not convinced super accuracy is needed on these threads for folding knives but that is a bad attitude to let spread. Most situations I can think of, the screws are just for holding things together – critical location could be done by pins, and you don't use a screw thread dynamically (e.g. like providing feed on a lathe.)

I'm surprised more people don't take notice of this one

**LINK**

Weight wise it's just about handleable by 2 people. Speed range is excellent for screw cutting. Twin V wide bed which reflects in the weight. They also do a belt drive version that due to that will put out a lot of cutting torque at lower speeds. Probably explains the difference. The variable speed one does offer a better speed range for screw cutting if needed. They have fitted a motor twice as powerful as the belt drive version – good idea.

People often get hung up on weight and want too low but good machine tool are not light weight items.

Never used one but when I was looking around that particular lathe looked to be the best option for a small lathe to me. Other than power in some ways it's comparable with my Boxford. I was rather lucky to find that.

One Myford that can probably often be found in good nick is the Speed 10 and the later ML10 with taper roller bearings. The earlier ML10 where the spindle runs directly in cast iron will be risky. Some of that will be down to owners not maintaining them correctly. That plus lots of use is why ML7 and Super 7's can be a risk. Sorting bearings out on these lathes is not a trivial task. The small ML's just need the taper rollers changing however looking around at them in the past my impression is that not many get much use. The early ML1's, 2's, 3's and 4's were used for all sorts of things. I looked at a number of them years ago and failed to find a single one in decent condition. The main problem with the ML10 and Speed 10 is that if Myford don't still supply a fixed steady any one who wants one will probably have to make it. I have wondered if this is why some haven't been used much as it generally doesn't take people long to realise that they need one but much depends on what people want to make. You might have to pay getting on for £1000 for one of these lathes. I've seen them sell for more and less. Personally I wouldn't go near one of the early ones that doesn't have taper roller bearings – just in case.

John

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Further to Ajohnw's comments amout the ML10 …

The other significant area of concern is the bed which [I suggest] needs to be thoroughly checked for wear.

Please see my post at the end of this page.

http://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=104744&p=4

MichaelG.

Being fair to the lathe Michael wear is most likely on the sides of the dovetail. Easily checked by adjusting the gibs or even feeling how stiff it is at each end and in the middle with the rack feed wheel providing it's not stupidly loose. That is never a good idea really on any dovetail slide. Ideally it needs to be done with the bed oiled up. The gib strip as on many used lathes can be worn at both ends as well which can cause them to have a sort of jamming feel to them.

The main thing about them really is that style of bed design. Wear causes looseness and that in turn has an effect on how well they will turn. The slide length to width ratio is not too good on them either.

To be honest I can't see why just 0.005" as a one off. It's not difficult to take less off anyway. It's just a case of taking out any table errors on the grinder by grinding the feet first. That can be done by inverting the bed standing on parallels directly under the feet and grinding the feet first. If some one can't remove say 0.002" that way they aren't trying. The area on the top is so large if more than that was needed I would say it would have had it for other reasons. They will need to take some of the top to ensure they get the right relationship with the sides. In really terms they could clock that up to better than a couple of thou so not much needs to be taken off their either. The advantage of doing it this way is that the stuff should still go back together without packing.

I think I would want a 7 reground before the limits mentioned in the link. More of the how much does the front of the headstock spindle run out too – doesn't mean anything really.

John

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Edited By Ajohnw on 20/10/2016 16:55:33