Nice small lathe ( CVA )

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

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Just browsing ebay and saw this nice looking CVA lathe. (no idea who seller is)

**LINK**

Quite short bed length but depending on what sort of things one makes it may not be an issue to many model engineers.

Are CVA a well respected make as TBH I have never actually seen on in the flesh.

Nick

[davebParticipant @daveb17630]

Very similar in appearance to the American Monarch. If I sell my big shaper………………………………..

Dave

[MalcBParticipant @malcb52554]

Yes, as Dave says, this one is quite similar to the Monarch 10EE which I have worked on and which was a first class toolrom lathe.

I have seen one or two of the larger versions of their toolrom lathes in other toolroms and machine tool dealers, they were reputed to be very good quality machines but never managed to use one. Never seen one of these shorter bed versions, but looks a nice machine to have.

In my earlier years CVA were more widely known for their automatic lathes. We had a whole shop full of their cam operated autos when i was at Ferranti Ltd.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

One Man and His Lathe features Martin Berry and his CVA in this month's MEW.

Neil

[Nigel McBurney 1Participant @nigelmcburney1]

Worked on a brand new CVA toolroom lathe in late 1960s it was a bit stiff at first but it was a good machine with a good reputation, the problem with most of this class of machine is they are very heavy and have limited capacity for their size,most have straight beds for rigigity as in a factory environment there are always larger less precise machines available which have a good capacity and a gap bed for the odd jobs.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Nick,

If that's got a D1-3 Camlock mount I am going to

You may remember that I sold my Burnerd Multisize collet chuck when no-one could suggest a compact lathe that would take it.

Aaarghh !!!

MichaelG.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Michael forget it.

Even though it's the 20" bed model it going to weigh the best part of 1 1/2 tonnes and it doesn't split.

It is a D1-3 as it's the same as the 30" model, just shorter although this one looks to be the full metric version as opposed to the imperial version with transposition gears.

The transposition gears are like hens teeth to get, they are half size, 32 DP as opposed to 16DP so you have to swap the whole set.

Be interesting to see how much it fetches as a decent full size CVA very rarely makes it past £1200 even though they will knock the socks off a Student or M250 or M300.

I ran one for quite a few years until I parted it out a couple of years ago to replace it with a larger, full metric machine.

I broke mine for spares as it was worth more for the sum of it's parts , especially when listed on Ebay.com as Monarch 10EE spares. The fixed steady made $600 on it's own, transposition gears made £400 in this country but would have made far more in the States.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Thanks, John

… I feel a bit better now.

MichaelG.

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

Posted by John Stevenson on 14/02/2017 21:19:41:

Be interesting to see how much it fetches as a decent full size CVA very rarely makes it past £1200 even though they will knock the socks off a Student or M250 or M300.

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Well John, you were damn close. It went for £1280.

Nick

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Possibly because it was a bit rarer model ?

Can never work out why they don't fetch the money compared to a clunker of a Colchester with ropey headstock gears and an apron thinly disguised as a hand grenade.

[MalcBParticipant @malcb52554]

Posted by John Stevenson on 22/02/2017 10:30:25:

Possibly because it was a bit rarer model ?

Can never work out why they don't fetch the money compared to a clunker of a Colchester with ropey headstock gears and an apron thinly disguised as a hand grenade.

I think people may get cautious about buying when there is minimal spares available. Very little information about if you have to dive into the drive and gear systems. This is a rarer model with next to no chance of decent spares. It would be a similar situation with a Monarch 10EE or similar where people have to go via the States.

In comparison there is a bit more of a market for the Hardinge toolroom lathes as they were more plentiful, so good ones do tend to command a reasonable price. Another reason may well be the factor of their weight, They can easily fall out of the range of the cheaper engine cranes and other lifting equipment available to the home engineers.

[Michael Green 2Participant @michaelgreen2]

Posted by MalcB on 22/02/2017 11:36:17:

I think people may get cautious about buying when there is minimal spares available. Very little information about if you have to dive into the drive and gear systems. This is a rarer model with next to no chance of decent spares. It would be a similar situation with a Monarch 10EE or similar where people have to go via the States.

I must admit it always amuses me when people talk about spares being available for non industrial machines or industrial class machines that have been out of production for some time.

The reason for having machine tools is to make stuff – making up a set of 32DP change gears is time consuming but is possible. Making up and machining castings is possible. Unless you are using the machines commercially where time costs, making up replacement parts is no different to making up anything else. Manuals for these machines are available and give enough of a clue about what shape things should be that combined with 'the old bit' (if you are lucky to have it), it is not an insurmountable problem.

Someone I know is repairing a Hemburg lathe and is doing exactly that – he has a manual that shows what should be there, he has measured the mating parts and as a result he has made a drop in replacement. Some times he needs to ask for help if it is outside his capabilities but asking a favour and helping others in return is all part of the deal and what makes us a community.

I know some people like to buy machine tools like they would a car – it's there when needed and if it breaks you buy the spare and fit it. Nice if you can do it, but this older type kit was designed with the idea that it would need to be repaired as well as maintained, so why not do just that? Related to this is that old industrial gear was generally built in a robust way (and without electronics), such that parts are more likely to wear than break.

Michael

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