20-06-2011, 11:52 AM
Thanks Alan 
Steel may work ok but as you say the magnetism may have an affect on static etc and near a magnetic cartridge too.
The bronze came from school but due to it's expense is rarely used in projects (I used some for my main A2 design project, more on that later).
These lathes are kept by the school but are very rarely used, I've only known two other people to use them in the last two years. They used to teach engineering courses at the school but now the council have built a special centre for this with brand new top spec equipment so the school's own stuff is rarely used and as such isn't maintained
Same for the wonderful milling machine which in five years at the school I have never seen anybody use.
'Ex school' to me tends to mean vandalised and badly maintained but perhaps that depends on which schools you have been too
I have seen many ex school lathes for sale and it seems as though they are usually reconditioned or if not can be done so once bought. Eventually when Suffolk scrap the three tier education system and they build a new larger school they will of course get new equipment, so myself and my friend will be standing by armed with wallets and a van! We've already bought several surplus bits of kit including a Gryphon bench grinder, similar ones new cost in excess of £1000. There is a BBC Computer controlled lathe which has been bodged to become hand operated via the control panel but they want a fair bit of money for it
Steel may work ok but as you say the magnetism may have an affect on static etc and near a magnetic cartridge too.The bronze came from school but due to it's expense is rarely used in projects (I used some for my main A2 design project, more on that later).
These lathes are kept by the school but are very rarely used, I've only known two other people to use them in the last two years. They used to teach engineering courses at the school but now the council have built a special centre for this with brand new top spec equipment so the school's own stuff is rarely used and as such isn't maintained
Same for the wonderful milling machine which in five years at the school I have never seen anybody use.'Ex school' to me tends to mean vandalised and badly maintained but perhaps that depends on which schools you have been too
I have seen many ex school lathes for sale and it seems as though they are usually reconditioned or if not can be done so once bought. Eventually when Suffolk scrap the three tier education system and they build a new larger school they will of course get new equipment, so myself and my friend will be standing by armed with wallets and a van! We've already bought several surplus bits of kit including a Gryphon bench grinder, similar ones new cost in excess of £1000. There is a BBC Computer controlled lathe which has been bodged to become hand operated via the control panel but they want a fair bit of money for it
