Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[ukdave2002]

I'm looking at buying a lathe, to the sort of jobs that come up when restoring old vehicles, been looking at the http://www.chesteruk.net/ site as they have a broad range and are local, anyone got some advice or tips?

I have decised to buy new rather than something like an old myford as I don't have the knowledge to asses how worn etc a used machine is.

Any help appriciated,

Cheers Dave

[Jim Walker]

It depends on what you envisage doing.

Obviously the maximum between centres distance (ie length) is important, but the 'swing' may be equally important. Swing dictates the maximum diameter of anything which can be turned. If you only want to make small items like bushes etc. normal swing will be adequate, but to skim things like brake discs or drums a large swing is needed. sometimes it is possible to remove part of the bed to increase swing on short items

If you are restoring older British or American vehicles and want to cut threads etc. an Imperial facility is important.

If expense is no problem a milling attachment can be very useful.

Finally don't under estimate the space needed to instal and operate it.
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Quote from my Late Dad :- "You only need a woman and a motor car and you have all the troubles you are ever likely to want". THAT was pre-computers!

[pigtin]

About ten years ago I bought a Chester lathe/milling machine. As an extra I bought a four jaw chuck an a set of screwcutting gears. I believe it was made in China and the final inspection had not been very good, But after tightening up the bolts on various things it's paid for itself several times over.
I seem to remember it costing about £800.00. But one has to make allowances for the myriad of extra bits you will need. Measurement instruments, tools etc'. A couple of summers haunting autojumbles provided all of these quite cheaply.

Don.
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Due to the onset of my mid eighties I'm no longer sprightly and rarely seen in my Austin special. I have written a book though. https://amzn.eu/d/7rwRRqL

[magic9r]

I'd recommend thinking hard about the things you might need to mount in your lathe & then going for something with a little more capacity than that requires.
If you could find a good one at a machinery dealer an Emco VP10 with a milling attachment is a very competent peice of equipment,
Regards,
Nick

[buzzy bee]

Hi

I may have that CNC Lathe that can be used manually in the new year, your welcome to use that when you like, but I understand it is handy to have one of your own. I can just use them at work, so I am in no rush, they have small ones that will fit in a garage and the biggest is about 10 foot long.

Speaking of lathes, a Guy was asking about big lathes, and needing somethin for his traction engine, the lathe someone came forward with was large, it had no bed, bar two railsway rails on concrete sleepers, a huge tailstock and a ginormous faceplate.

This is What we should all be aspiring too:- Third Pic down:-
http://www.rileyandson.co.uk/html/wheelset_services.html

Rileys do some amazing work.

I like some of Chesters Radial arm drills, a farm I do some work on has a huge radial drill.

Cheers

Dave

[scott_budds]

Buy second hand buy Myford or Harison or Colchester. Iam a toolmaker by trade and have a few lathes. I got a little Myford ML10 which is good for bits. I got a bigger semi CNC by a company called XYZ machine tools which is a American CNC system fitted to a Taiwan Cast machine. The castings are fairly nice but it you can tell its not a British machine. I also got a turning centre which is a fully CNC lathe I bought from Cincinnati Machine tools designed and made in Birmingham UK which is a really nice bit of kit. Your worries about wear are the main reasons I would say buy a decent second hand machine rather than a new China machine!! This company looks to sell some nice examples.

http://www.west-point.co.uk/lathes.html

Any questions feel free to contact me.

Buddsy

[the fly]

Hello uk Dave to throw my two pennyworth in a very good book on lathe work is called the amateurs lathe author is L H SPAREY .iam no expert just a metal butcher but have a couple of lathes made in the early 1900s.both are able to cut metric and imperial threads and exeed my ability . before bolting your lathe down read any gen you can it is very important.good luck with your purchase. regards The Fly

[ukdave2002]

Hi Thanks for all the advice, just ordered the book by J H Spare from Amazon.

The 2 jobs that I need to do that really got me thinking were; skimming some brake drums and putting some throttle spindle bushes in an SU carb, the brake drums will dictate the minimum swing over bed I need. I'm looking at all the sites you recomended, thanks again.

Dave

[the fly]

Me again Dave brake drums can be real toughies and need a good heavy lathe to handle them .small sh machines tend to comand a higher price than larger sh machines. this will make the purist cringe the man that i worked for in my youth would grip a small chuck in the jaws of a large one to do small work on his 12 inch centre lathe .One of the jobs that i recall him doing was to make a 6 speed gear box for a 50 cc itom racer. Abetter man than i . Regards The Fly

[pigtin]

One of the problems with buying one of the widely available largish s/h lathes is that many of them have three phase motors. You can buy a converter but it's an added expense... unless, of course, you have three phase available.
_________________
Due to the onset of my mid eighties I'm no longer sprightly and rarely seen in my Austin special. I have written a book though. https://amzn.eu/d/7rwRRqL

[the fly]

I agree with you Pigtin .Ihave fitted a one h .p single phase motor to my old 6 inch flat belt drive lathe and it handles my work ok if a bit juicy. Irecon more modern machines would not be as easy to change from 3 to 1 phase. Also what the availability of single phase motors of suitable h.p is my motor was sh when i bought it. Regards and seasons greetings to you all . The Fly