New old 1950’s Myford 7 Lathe still in the crate

[Chris TriceParticipant @christrice43267]

But a cheap petrol station Chinese digital watch will tell the time for £2.99. I submit that makes my point. Logic doesn't come into it. People enjoy ownership of something for its own sake and that thing is liked/loved by its owner regardless of those who don't "get it". Some parties in the past have verged on the nasty about other people's passions under the guise of joshing and then had to face accusations of not being able to take a joke. I'm not impressed by passive aggressive bully types. Respectful comments of somethings pros and cons versus value is welcome and useful but it only plays a part in the decision to buy but ultimately a purchase is made because the buyer wants. I'm currently surfing a lathe from the early 1940's for no reason other than I want to. I don't care if there's better to be had for the money. There's more than logic in the mix i.e. a historical interest.

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Chris,

Nicely put.

Rod

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

Yep, get what you want, do what you want and don't be put off – within reason of course.

I can never understand peoples love of steak. I really enjoy beef, but every steak I've ever tried has left me disappointed, so I don't touch it now, but each to their own.

Martin.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I agree wholeheartedly with Chris, but I think his argument applies at the 'low end' as well. People shouldn't be made to feel lesser for settling for less charismatic machines.

I think discussions of the capabilities of machine tools get over-polarised because the differences in actual performance between spending £800 and £8,000, for example, are actually not particularly marked. I suspect performance goes up in proportion to something like the cube or even fourth root of cost…

It's rather like the difference between spending £85 on an Epiphone LPS or and £800 on a Gibson Les Paul Junior. If you have the skills, an experienced player can make the cheap guitar sound far better than the expensive one in the hands of a beginner. The cheap guitar will have its rough edges but with some effort in the setting up it's likely to serve the needs of a beginner perfectly well (much to the annoyance of some guitar salesmen). Riffing on the same subject, it's also the case that some top-end custom made instruments can be awful – never holding tune, awkward to balance or difficult to get a good tone out of. There are plenty of examples where good imported copies can have as good or better reputations as the originals (Japanese Tokai SGs had better QC than many Gibsons and several professional bass players preferred the 'wood' tone of Hohner headless basses to the carbon/fibreglass top end basses they imitated).

The same can be true of machine tools; the cheaper or the imitation can be better in some cases, if not as the rule, but it is certainly the operator's skill and experience which makes the biggest difference – although the beginner can compensate somewhat by using patience and care at the expense of speed.

As hobbyists, every machine tool is usually something of an emotional investment, the cheap and cheerful ones almost as much as the classic ones. Ownership of a good example of a classic machine can make you assume that al S/H examples can potentially be as good; equally if you get the best from a well set up imported machine you may look at vintage machines askance.

To really understand the reality is very hard. Vast numbers of imported machines are sold to beginners with no experience who are used to things being 'plug and play'; it's no wonder some come up with issues (not always arising from inexperience) and these probably get more public comment than those who do fine.

On the other hand, if you invest in a 50+ year old machine, you probably know what you are doing, and will expect to have to make a few allowances or at least cope without some modern niceties like sealed bearings. And let's be honest, it's harder to admit 'I spent a several thousand on a vintage lathe and in the end it wasn't really any more than a kit of clapped out parts' than complain 'I bought a cheap new lathe and broke it in a couple of weeks'.

Neil

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