Does anyone have any experiance with this lathe?

[Keetha WilliamsParticipant @keethawilliams10696]

G’day all, first post here I’m looking at buying a small lathe to get started with and found this on ebay ebay.com.au lathe I would like a larger Australian or European lathe but my current house has no vehicular access to my shed so anything i buy will have to be carried up a hill on a trolley (not easy with a 500Kg lathe) This lathe seems to be a reasonable compromise as far as capacity goes, 26mm spindle bore etc. as everyone knows equipment manufactured in asia can have quality issues so i was hoping that maybe someone has experiance with this lathe and can advise me if it is worth buying. thanks in advance for any assistance.

[Keetha WilliamsParticipant @keethawilliams10696]

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

How does the price compare with normal retail price? Most of the Chinese lathes have a 4 jaw chuck included in the set of equipment (well here in NZ ), but a chinese 4 jaw is quite reasonable, and its a good exersise making a backplate. Does it have a back gear, or are the speeds all direct, you’ed find 80rpm fairly quick for thread cutting?

You could do quite a bit of work on a machine like that. Ian S C

[adyParticipant @ady]

Looks good.

Weaknesses, electronics. mincy compound.

 

But you can fix those things or use workarounds.

 

Looks like a good starter pack, a raised bed too.

 

Spareys “the amateurs lathe” is the best reference for buying a new lathe, he details all the issues an amateur encounters.

 

good luck bruce

 

edit:

Try and get a 4jaw and a faceplate supplied with your purchase, saves messing about once the new love of your life arrives, especially a 3 and 4jaw chuck which you shouldn’t start without.

The other thing Chinese lathes tend to not have is a t-slotted cross slide, which is extremely useful for an amateur.

There’s no such thing as a perfect lathe though, as long as the basics are fine you can sort the other stuff out for yourself.

Edited By ady on 28/10/2011 12:27:17

[Keetha WilliamsParticipant @keethawilliams10696]

thankyou both for your replies

 

Firstly Ian S C: price wise is pretty variable here in OZ as there are so many vendors selling so many diferent spec machines it’s hard to pick. The main thing that has attracted me to this machine is the spindle bore size for this size of lathe (just for the work i envisage for the lathe) i’ll contact the seller about the four jaw chuck too thanks for the advice, as far as thread cutting goes,i dont even know how, it’s something i’ll have to teach myself. (i’m a boilermaker by trade and back in the early 90’s when i was an apprentice we had to do several modules of fitting and machining but it was pretty basic) i was planning on putting a 3 Phase motor run off a VFD for speed control so maybe the low speed limitations wouldn’t be such an issue as with the supplied gearing.

 

Ady: that’s what i was thinking, looks like a good starter, but as mentioned a four jaw chuck would be good (turning eccentrics etc.) Electronics not such an issue as i’ll convert it to 3 phase with VFD therefore bypassing those issues? I’m not sure what you mean by mincy compound (still a relative lathe virgin) but i assume you men the compound slide? Also can you buy aftermarket T slotted compound slides? is that for bolting things to for machining? cheers!

 

[Richard ParsonsParticipant @richardparsons61721]

Like many Asiatic Lathes her bed looks a bit narrow gutted for her centre height and her tailstock base rather short. The bed ways themselves are narrow. These may tend to make her a tad wobbly with a tendency to vibrate. But providing you do not ask her too many questions and are prepared to live within her limitations she would be OK.

As to moving a 500Kg lathe up a hill issimple. A large keg of the ‘Amber Nectar’ sitting where she has to go and a simple notice on her saying Get this lathe up there then you can drink. This should do the trick. It is the way I got my DH600 down into a cellar. Getting it back up one day is easy with ‘telfers’, block and tackles but getting her down was the devil.
rdgs

Dick

[MetalhackerParticipant @metalhacker]

Prices of Lathes in Oz sure have gone down since 1990. I bought a 918 clone in Perth then, nearly $au 6k! now worth very little and headed for ebay once I get my hands on a Boxford AUD. This therefore looks a bargain to me, tho as Ady says get a 4 jaw and faceplate when you buy.

send my love to Oz (I live in Essex now)

 

Metalhacker

[Steve WithnellParticipant @stevewithnell34426]

You might find 400mm between centres doesn’t give you much elbow room for tricky setups on the faceplate or 4-jaw. I’ve a similar sized lathe, except it’s 550mm between centres and it’s sometimes tight. Not talking about machining things greater than 400mm long, simply getting the tailstock and carriage out of the way so you get a good look and instruments at a complex setup.

 

Steve

[LathejackParticipant @lathejack]

Hello Keetha

 

If you type Gloaming Agnet into a search box at the top of the results is a South Australian Web Guide. This takes you to a website with various topics, fourth one down is the CQ 9325 lathe which is the same as the one you are considering. There are seven pages of info on the owners lathe, with links to two other owners of similar machines.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited By Lathejack on 30/10/2011 21:22:09

[Keetha WilliamsParticipant @keethawilliams10696]

Thanks heaps to all those who replied. I’m actually looking at another lathe made by Weiss in china it seems tb be pretty good and has a longer bed as suggested by Steve Withnell http://www.weiss.com.cn/products/wm280vf.php Lathejack i’ll go and have a look at that site now thanks very much.

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