Help choosing a Chinese lathe please

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Neil Mccarthy 1 on 04/09/2019 07:49:55:

Thank you all I am even more confused now. If you had £700 to spend on a lathe and accessories what would be the best deal to get please. I need something that I can bore and tap as Well and make parts for my rifle that are now obsolete

thank you

Neil, perhaps in the mass of posts you missed my advice which is for what you want to do there isn't much difference between any of the various machines in the Mini-lathe class. They will all turn brass and steel. Any of them will do the job.

I dithered for ages before buying a mini-lathe. It's very easy to get confused by details that probably don't matter much! As there isn't really an obvious leader or an obvious crock you won't go far wrong whatever you buy. I achieved very little by fretting and my time would have been better spent learning to use a lathe rather than confusing myself looking at sales literature.

Today I personally would favour a brushless machine like ArcEuro's Seig but it's a close run thing. There's nothing wrong with the Amadeal Bundle you identified: for a reasonable price you get all the bits needed to cut metal out-of-the box. It's an attractive starting package. I personally have no experience of Amadeal as a supplier but – if it helps – I don't recall any complaints about them on the forum either. If Amadeal take your fancy, go for it.

The one thing I'd advise against is buying very cheap or from an unknown ebay seller or direct from China. It's because this multiplies the risk of getting a poor example (they exist) coupled with an ineffective warranty. Buying from an established British vendor de-risks what happens if the lathe arrives damaged or is unmanageably crude.

By the by you will have spend some time practising to get the best out of the lathe. For example, you might have bad trouble turning stainless steel. It's not because the lathes are inferior but because many stainless steels make life difficult by work-hardening severely during cutting. The cure is to change the steel, not the lathe.

I recommend getting a good book too. Sparey's 'The Amateur Lathe' is the classic, but omits modern ideas like carbide inserts because they weren't available when the book was written. More up-to-date and aimed squarely at the Mini-lathe is Neil Wyatt's 'The Mini-lathe' as sold by Camden. Camden are worth exploring for other technical titles.

Don't be afraid to ask questions on the forum either. It's remarkably good at answers!

Dave

[Former MemberParticipant @formermember19781]

[This posting has been removed]

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

+1 for look out for a good second hand machine.

BUT before parting with money, check over the machine very carefully. If unsure, take someone with you who is experienced. You may well need help loading it into your car.

If you are a member of your local club, there will be someone prepared to help you.

If you are not a member, join! Advice and help will be available, and quite probably someone prepared to come and help you look at the lathe.

You will get no, or very little, support after a private sale. A dealer may cost you more, but if reputable should give some after sales support.

Sometimes you can find a little used, but well equipped machine, which has been found to be unsuited to the desired task, and so on the market.

HTH

Howard

[Neil Mccarthy 1Participant @neilmccarthy1]

Thank you everyone I think I have made my mind up and will be going down the new route the one with the full package as it should have a lot of what I need to start out and saves having a second hand one and something breaking

thank you for all the advice and I will be looking into the book that have been recommended as well and look for a local club that I can join to help me out

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

The Warco WM180/Chester DB7 is a decent lathe, the main difference to a standard mini-lathe is more metal in the lathe bed, which is reflected in the price. Whether this increased rigidity is material to you will largely depend on what you want to use the lathe for and how hard you intend to drive it.

The 70kg weight for the WM180 is gross weight, net weight is about 55kg.

A 300mm between centres SC3 mini lathe comes in at 37kg so the difference is about 40% more, still a fair bit heftier, but the WM180 is not twice as heavy!

The SC3-400 has greater capacity between centres than either SC3-300 or WM10V, at 40Kg net weight.

Neil

 

Edited to get my numbers right!

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 04/09/2019 19:10:28

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