Which lathe from these four?

[Gordon Henderson 2Participant @gordonhenderson2]

Hello guys,

This is my first post as I have just joined, so hello everyone!

I am looking at buying a small lathe and have four contenders which interest me, and I would appreciate some advice as to which represents the best deal for me, given that price is one of my primary concerns .

My choice is between the following;

The CJ18 from Amadeal @ £420 plus £45 carriage.

The new Warco mini lathe @ £499, carriage included.

The Sieg Super C3 from Arc Eurotrade @ £561 plus £25 carriage.

The Sieg C2 from Axminster @t £635.

I already own a Sieg C0 which I bought for model making, (not engineering) so I am not a total novice to metal turning, but I want something a bit bigger to allow me to develop my metalworking skills.

If anyone could give me guidance on the most suitable of the above, I would be most grateful.

Thanks in advance,

Gordon

[Gordon Henderson 2Participant @gordonhenderson2]

[BishboshParticipant @bishbosh]

I have a Warco WM180 which I bought thinking it would me plenty big enough for my needs. Of course, as is the way with these things, I have rapidly out grown it and wished I had bought something bigger….

So, my advice would be to think long and hard about the size you need and then go and buy something bigger!!

[Steve FParticipant @stevef]

Hi Gordon

First i have to say i am no expert .I am a beginner model engineer but i can understand what you are going through.

when i was looking for a lathe a few years ago i went through a similar exercise. What i did find is that the mini lathes advertised normally dont come with accessories. You have to buy everything so the costs grow. Lathe + 4 jaw chuck + faceplate etc.

So for example if you look at Warco and check out their variable speed lathes like the WM180 which is a similar size to the mini lathes for example and yes it is more expensive.£640 but look at what you also get.

3 jaw chuck, 4 jaw independant chuck (which is the main chuck i use), Travelling steady, and fixed steady., 2 dead centres. and a mass of 70Kg compared to 43Kg of the mini lathe

I ended up buying a 2nd hand WM210 trade-in lathe from warco in the end. i was just lucky that they had one at the time.

Sorry i didnt want to confuse you but just add things for you to consider before parting with your cash.

regards

Steve

[john kennedy 1Participant @johnkennedy1]

Gordon,

Try and hang on and buy one at a show, I did and they knocked £150 off the normal price without having to haggle.

At a show they are all laid out and you can play with them and get a feel for their size.

Either save money or buy the next size up.

John

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

Before you even consider what lathe you want or think you need, you need to ask yourself – what do I want to make?

Are you building small table top stationary engines?

are you likely to build a 4" scale traction engine?

Do you have desires to build a 7 1/4 gauge loco?

I looked at all of these and more when I purchased my current lathe, having already owned several machines previously.

I settled on a Warco GH1330 which gives me a 12" swing over the bed and over 18" in the gap.

A larger lathe can do small work (my 5C collet chuck goes down to 1/16th and up to 1&quot

A small lathe is handy to have, but I would have something Myford sized in addition to the big lathe.

[MadMikeParticipant @madmike]

Gordon, you say you have a mini-lathe already and yet you have highlighted 4 more mini lathes. Coal Burners advice is spot on. Before ever attempting to identify the machine choice, you absolutely must decide what you want to do with your machine. A good large machine is more than capable of producing small work, BUT a mini lathe is strictly limited in the size of work you will be able to produce.

Before making any decisions you should visit http://www.lathes.co.uk and read up on most machines available past and present. Look at the machines they have for sale as well. Whatever machine you initially pick I can assure you that in a very short space of time you will wish you had bought a larger one.

HTH rather than confuses.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I,v got a BH lathe about the same size as Coal Burner, after much looking, and barganing, it's a Taiwanese one and better than the Chinese ones even today (its nearly 20 yrs old). I looked at smaller lathes, the place I got mine from had a beefed up copy of a Myford for about twice the prtce I payed(even that was a fraction of the price of a real Myford), The other lathe I looked at was a 1230 BH Russian made lathe that was proberbly a better machine, but that was in the days of the USSR. Ian S C

[DitheringParticipant @dithering]

Gordon,

I don't think you can do better than follow L H Sparey's advice in his book "The Amateur's Lathe" where he says "… it is desirable to buy as large a machine as the pocket or the accomodaion will allow".

I've had a Unimat and a Myford Super 7 and I now have a mini-lathe and a Boxford but the one I use is my Chester Crusader which is roughly the same size as the Warco GH1330 mentioned by Coalburner above.

I find big lathes much easier to use than small lathes (although I have quite small hands) and they can cope with very small work, particularly with a set of collets – mine are ER32.

Regards,

Brian.

[StovepipeParticipant @stovepipe]

Gordon,

Another consideration, surprisingly, could be your age and health. Will you be able to handle large heavy lumps of metal when you complete them ? At approaching 70 (with brand-new heart bypass and pacemaker), I've resigned myself to small scale modelling, because I know I can handle the results. This is not intended as a put-u-off, but a realistic factor which MAY need to be taken into consideration.

Dennis

[Gordon Henderson 2Participant @gordonhenderson2]

Thank you all very much for your posts, they have been most helpful and food for thought. As stovepipe pointed out, health will play a factor as my physical capacity to lift and carry is diminished due to asthma.

As to the intended use of the machine, I will be limiting myself to small scale projects of the type suitable to developing machining skills. To that end, I have bought several of the Workshop Practice series and will work my way through those.

This is purely for a bit of relaxation and I have no ambition to build engines of any type. I do greatly admire the skill and workmanship of those who do though.

Thanks again fellas, your input is greatly appreciated.

Gordon

[AlaninOzParticipant @alaninoz]

As others have said, buy the largest lathe you can afford and have space for.

. I bought a Hafco AL330 several years ago after my youngest son "borrowed" my previous smaller 200 x 600 lathe. The AL330 weighs about 400 kg so he cannot bring 3 friends and lift it by the carrying handles. Carrying handles on a lathe? Who would have thought of it but the Chinese !

. I use it for making tractor parts, OO train parts 5 – 6 mm diameter and other things and could really use something bigger, still, no problem. My son has since bought a much larger lathe for his business which I can use. It is similar to the Hafco TM-1960G – 480 x 1500 http://www.machineryhouse.com.au – he and his partners modify cars, build intercoolers and fit turbochargers for "boy racers" with more money than sense!

The drift car he built is a Nissan Laurel with a Holden V8, twin turbos & intercooler and puts out more than 620 kW at the wheels. Go to http://www.c-red.com.au to see it in action at the classic challenge. 2 videos of about 45 seconds each.

By way of a contrast, my Fordson Super Major does 26 km/hr flat out and would take 5 minutes to complete the course!

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