For a start, you need to have some idea of the use to which the lathe is going to put, plus space available, and not least, your budget. The neighbours will not thank you for using a noisy machine within a semi detached house, or in a block of flats. Nor will you relish hauling a 200 Kg machine up two flights of stairs!

If in doubt, go a little larger; your horizons WILL expand over time.

If you were into watchmaking, a 21" Dean Smith and grace would be little use, similarly, a watchmakers lathe is no good if your ambition is a 6" scale Foden lorry.

Having said that, it is amazing what has been made on a Myford 7, far in excess of what would be imagined, initially.

Myford used to be almost the standard model maker's lathe, but with anything at least secondhand, beware of the example that is worn or has been abused rather than used. They tend to be pricey, and you can spend quite a bit on new spares or upgrades..

Boxford is another popular make. The later Far Eastern products have improved a lot over the last 15 years or so, in quality, reliability, and specification. For larger, used machines, Colchester and Harrison spring to mind.

A machine ex Industry is almost certain to have three phase motor(s). Equipment to convert single phase supply to three phase, will increase costs, as will changing the motor to single phase, (which some might regard as a retrograde step), if that were to be your chosen solution.

Before the education system lost it's way, and shortly afterwards, machines with a little wear, but some scars would become available from Technical Colleges and Schools, but having rid itself of these nasty dirty practical machines, the supply has virtually dried up.

For secondhand machines, research availability of spares, or accessories. You can get very frustrated not being able to obtain the changewheel that you need to cut an unusual thread, or the steady that you need for a particular job.

There have been many tales of woe about mini lathes with variable speed. Some of this is down to failing to heed the instruction always to start with the speed control set to zero. Hopefully, reports of quality/reliability problems, have resulted in improvements from the manufacturers.

Very often, Far Eastern machines are imported from the same manufacturer, by various companies, differing only in paint scheme or the range of accessories provided as standard.

When I retired in 2003, for roughly the same specification, a new Myford would have cost me four times what I paid for a larger Far Eastern machine, with all the Chucks and Steadies, and hardened bedways, as standard, plus Inverter Variable Speed drive.. No machine is totally ideal, but I have very few complaints about my machine. It does what is required of it, with as great a degree of accuracy as I would expect from a new Myford 7 Series, and is more rigid. (As you might expect from a machine weighing three times as much) It replaced a ML7!

Good luck with your choice!

Howard

As said above, you need to decide just what sort of things you want to do on the lathe to buy the correct one. I do mainly motorcycle stuff so need a bigger lathe than some on here. Where are you ? I am between Lichfield and Burton in the midlands if you are close you are welcome to see my set up.

As a complete beginner I rejected the idea of buying second-hand mainly because I didn't know how to spot problems or how to fix them or how much spares might cost. Nor did I have a clear idea what accessories would be needed, what I would do about 3-phase power (if needed), or even getting the thing home. And if it's a crock, you're stuck with it.

Unless you have very deep pockets, a new lathe will probably be Chinese in origin. A range of similar designs are rebranded for sale in the west. On the positive side, they usually come with all the basic accessories and, I think, are fine for most hobby use. But they are not of identical build quality or specification (eg motor power and type varies).

I would avoid buying one direct from China or cheap from a random ebay supplier in case it happens to be a dud. By buying from a reputable UK supplier, you de-risk the purchase if something is wrong. Also, it appears that the reputable UK importers of Chinese kit put some effort into sourcing better examples of the breed.

I bought most of my kit from Warco with only minor issues. When there was a problem, they responded.

Others speak highly of ArcEuroTrade, and I've not noticed showers of complaints about MachineMart, Axminster or any of the other advertisers in MEW and ME. I know nothing of Sealey.

One snippet of advice that turned out good is to buy the biggest you can. BUT bear in mind it has to fit into your workshop, and will be heavy. I started with a Minilathe partly because they are affordable, but mostly because it was easy to move into the limited space I had available at the time. I'd say at least 80% of what I do can be done on a mini-lathe, but a bigger machine just makes many jobs easier.

You didn't mention metric vs imperial. Buy the type you use most. For me this is metric, but you might be better off going imperial if you're going to build classic locomotive designs because old plans are usually imperial.

Dave

The differences between a Sealy SM27 and a Clarke 430 are small. I have a Clarke 430 and the Warco version of the Clarke 500, a WMT300/1. The are plenty good enough for .05mm on diameter and using the compound slide improves accuracy too. The Clarke needs a new gear spider to permit LH threads to be turned. Changing gears on these lathes is best described as a right pain. Not having a half nut does slow things down.

Don't bother with the milling head, it really isn't up to much, and isn't worth paying any extra for.

They are good, sturdy, and very cost effective machines if you can get one for sub £850. They are not good for the nth degree of precision, but few things really need precision better than .01 mm, which is achievable with these machines. If you find you need better precision – try changing the design maybe?

Regards

Richard.

3 phase motors are not a problem these days, so don't let that put you off. A VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) will enable your 3 phase motor (subject to original motor power, but up to 3 h.p. should not be a problem) to be powered from single phase mains and among other advantages, speed control of the motor is infinitely adjustable.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

Hi Malcolm,

I suggest you have another think about what the lathe will be used for. Unless of course money is no object!

Generalising wildly, Industrial machines tend to be physically bigger than hobby lathes and they come with more powerful motors that will run for hours on end. They also have operating conveniences that speed up certain operations. Those conveniences matter most when time is money and you are working the machine hard to make a living. Very few of them extend the sort of work that can be done by a lathe, they just help you do it faster. Very nice to have in an amateur workshop, but probably completely over the top when the job is "mainly for the odd repair, make a bolt, etc." Apart from the extra cost of an industrial machine, the weight, space and power requirements are likely to be more problematic too.

I started with a Mini-lathe. It's main restrictions were:

• the maximum size of the object that can be turned. (A little less than, say, a Myford 7. It easily did 80% of what I wanted, only failing when I wanted to trepan a 5" diameter disc. )
• A slightly limited range of threads. (though this can be fixed)
• An awkward gear banjo. (Swapping change wheels is a fiddle, taking perhaps 15 minutes. )
• Lowest motor speed is too fast for thread cutting under power ( but a hand-crank in in the spindle works very well)
• You can't easily bolt work on the cross-slide
• The chuck is bolted to the spindle and it pays to have small fingers! Takes a few minutes to change the chuck.
• Metal removal rates are on the slow side: it's a small lathe.

I now own a WM280, a much bigger machine. It's main restrictions are:

• the maximum size of the object that can be turned. (Rather bigger than, say, a Myford. I haven't hit the limit yet. )
• The chuck is bolted to the spindle. It pays not to have big fingers or to want to change frequently between 3-jaw, 4-jaw, collet chuck, or face-plate.
• It has a good range of imperial and metric threads but some of them are approximations
• The gearbox range is limited to three speed options from each change-wheel combination. This means that it's still likely that change wheels will have to be swapped, wasting about 8 minutes.
• No automatic stops on self-traverse
• No clutch
• Noisy cooling fans.
• I use an Engine Crane to move it. For safety reasons a two man job.

As it happens, a WM280 sized machine is pretty much the biggest lathe I could fit into my single garage workshop. (Don't forget you will probably want a milling machine, bench grinder and bandsaw as well.) If I was to upgrade, I'd be looking for something with a full gearbox, a clutch. and a camlock spindle. It's not necessary for me to have any of those features, but it would mean I could work faster with fewer set-up changes. Now I'm retired time isn't the issue it once was so I prefer to spend the money on other toys.

When buying a lathe a huge amount depends on what you going to do. For learning and most smallish work, a mini-lathe should be fine. The Myfords hit a sweet spot in terms of physical size and capability for model making, OK for a small loco, and were also popular for light R&D work. The big problem with Myfords is that they are likely to be overpriced, even in poor condition. There are several Chinese lathes in the same capability bracket, though not as nicely made.

If you want to thread scaffold pipe, make a half-scale traction engine, or produce parts for motor-bikes, you need something bigger.

The other factor is precision; people occasionally come unstuck buying a cheap hobby lathe when they really wanted something high-end. If you really need precision expect to pay big money for it.

Dave

You can still get a decent Myford for a reasonable amount, provided you have someone with you to examine the lathe! Local buys are better, Ebay seems way overpriced!

The advantage of a Myford is that there is a huge range of tooling you can get for it. No other lathe compares in this respect. Are Myfords the best? No they were built down to a price, but then so are the majority of Chinese imports.

Boxford are also a good buy, but these can be as worn out as a Myford, or indeed any other second hand lathe! Boxfords do not have the huge range of tooling made for them as the dread Myford.

I would not buy a mini lathe, they are too restrictive in what you can do on them size wise, unless you are only going to build very small models. I have a Norwegian friend who built a Rob Roy 3 1/2" gauge loco on an old bar Unimat, so it can be done, but I would not want to try it!

Andrew.

Andrew.