Do I need a Lathe?

[AlanBeckett]

I do keep an eye on lathes on eBay, although I keep telling myself I don't under any circumstances need another one, like Pyes and Advances

I suspect that this may be a good time to buy as people are having a clear out before the winter, and other people don't want to take anything on with bad weather coming.
I suspect that one is a product of the Portass family - see http://www.lathes.co.uk/portass/index.html
Probably a Model S - http://www.lathes.co.uk/portass/page4.html - which was apparently badged up by several firms.

I was surprised that eBay Item 170727921147 didn't sell. It's a splendid (American) lathe and generally very popular. I've got one which I'm setting up in the warm end of my garage for use during the Winter, I hope

Alan

[60 oldjohn]

I did not see that one David, but it was at wrong end of the country.
John.

[AlanBeckett]

I've put the pictures back in Post #1.
Alan

[Retired]

Hi,

Many thanks for your kind words in post #17 Alan. I was always taught not to blame the tools. It is true that I went to considerable trouble when I found my worn out Myford MF36" had broken the headstock right across the front main bearing.

I was cutting the wave winder gears at the time and couldn't understand why at times the lathe would take a decent cut then suddenly begin to chatter with just a skim cut.

I completed the 45 cast iron gears by rigging up a heavy temporary clamp to anchor the broken bearing in place.

Once the gears had been successfully cut I turned my attention to the broken headstock. It took considerable patience but I turned the pair of headstock bearings from Whale Tufnol and these were turned to very high precision; I then had the mandrel metal sprayed in hard stainless and ground to the original dimension; Metallizers who did this work were very impressed with the new bearings.

Next job was to do a great deal of hacksaw and filing work to remove metal from the headstock to accommodate new cast iron bearing caps which I also made. Once it was all assembled and powered up the bearings ran very hot for a short while until they bedded in and I kept adjusting as necessary. The headstock is now fine; just the rest of the lathe that is junk.

I do intend to restore this lathe and hope to add some detail onto the forum in due course. I've worked with lathes since I was 15 years of age and being trained as a mechanical engineer I'm used to using hand tools.

Even a rough lathe will produce accurate work with a little practice and a lot of patience.

I always work to the principle that you can turn small items in a big lathe but you can't turn big items in a small lathe and always go for the biggest lathe I have space for. I was deeply saddened to part with my Colchester Triumph engineering lathe and my huge Dominion woodturning lathes but they simply took up a vast amount of space in my garage.

If you have the space for a decent sized lathe then an old cast iron lathe will be a good start; once experience is gained then there is no reason why you can't change to a more suitable lathe.

My chum David (Yorkie) has a lovely small clock-makers lathe by the maker Lorch and it is delightful; this small lathe will do just about any turning that would ever be needed for radio/TV work in fact it is surprising just how much work such a small lathe is capable of.

I wouldn't be without a lathe so for anyone with a bit of space and wonders about buying a lathe I would say go for it; you won't regret it.

Kind regards, Col.

[Bushbaby]

Hi All,
I've thought about buying a small lathe but never put any serious effort into buying one. However, since I've restoring test equipment and radio I can see that one would be useful. I've been doing a little research and have thought about buying a small Unimat lathe - any thoughts?

Regards

Rob

[AlanBeckett]

Rob,

Tony has a lot of information on the original Unimats - http://www.lathes.co.uk/unimat/index.html
Despite his comment that they are 'common' my experience is that they are rarely available and go for serious money, or at least I think so.
The modern ones are entirely different and much more conventional.
My advice would be to go and look at one and see if you think it's suitable for what you want. They are very small.

Alan

[Yorkie]

Hi All,
I've thought about buying a small lathe but never put any serious effort into buying one. However, since I've restoring test equipment and radio I can see that one would be useful. I've been doing a little research and have thought about buying a small Unimat lathe - any thoughts?

Regards

Rob

There are many 'min-lathes on the market known as '7x14' which can spin a workpiece up to 7" in diameter; that's what the 7 in 7x14 means. The 14 means it can hold work up to 14" long between the headstock (the bit holding the chuck) and the tailstock (the bit on the right). Many of therm are made in China, and though I've no personal experience of them, I've fiddled about with then in shops like Machine Mart, and on a superficial examination, they look quite reasonable. I don't think many of us as going to do any precison work or to expect too much of a lathe. I've used my simple little relic of the past to do things like make spindle couplers and other small tasks.

7x14s have facilities for other tasks such as screwcutting. There's an example of one at this link:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-Lathe-Bra...4340.m1374&_trkparms=algo%3DPI.WATCH%26its%3DC%252BS%26itu%3DUCC%26otn%3D5%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D4494696779870055160

The mini-lathe that Machine Mart sell - the Clarke CL251, has variable speed and screwcutting. With VAT it's £418, but they do have 'VAT free' promotions which drops the price to £349.

I've got no connections with the above outfits or any other and I'm not recommending them, but they're examples of what's on the market, and doubtless they come up cheaper secondhand due for example to people upgrading to something larger. Unless you de-clutter your garage Rob, a 7x14 is all you'd find space for! :D

[Bushbaby]

Hi David,
I'm going through a big tidy up of the garage at the moment but I am going to be very limited for space even with a tidy up. i do have a feeling that a mini lathe is all that I will be able to accomodate in terms of physical size and cost too.

I have been looking on ebay and I am thinking that if I do buy a lathe (which is possible) such as a Unimat then I would like to get one that is as complete and working as possible. I'm not looking for one thats been 'unloved' and stored in the back of garage for years as in the long run this will surely cost more to get working the long run.

I'm also aware of the limitations of a mini lathe but I honestly don't think that I need anything that big that will cause placement and storage issues within the garage.

Regards

Rob