Equipment/Lathe

This page will serve as a proposal to buy a lathe and the peripheral tools that support it.

Lathes

We could buy used or new...

Large used lathes sell for cheap. They have the capacity to work large pieces, and they may be of very high quality for the price. Transporting them is difficult: they can weigh (literally) a ton. Getting spares when they arrive incomplete, they break, or we want accessories could be very difficult. Making a decision as a group about what to buy could be very difficult -- the used market is a moving target.

New lathes cost a lot, but there are entry level lathes of reasonable quality that would get us started. The downsides are a more limited capacity, and a less rigid machine. The small machines coming out of China dominate the small-lathe market, and buying one of these would make it easy to get spares and accessories from multiple sources. There is also an online community of hobbyists using them that we could draw upon. Chester, Machine-Mart, Axminster, and Arc Euro Trade all re-brand and sell very similar Chinese lathes.

Desirable Features

Thread cutting

Variable speed

Quick change tool post

Concrete suggestions

The following small lathes have the features:

http://www.chestermachinetools.com/products/detail/2 -- 332.50 ex. vat

http://www.chestermachinetools.com/products/detail/3 -- 415.83 ex. vat

Joe says that these are rather small and he knows, from experience, that they are easy to knock out of alignment. He recommends a bigger machine for beginners:

http://www.warco.co.uk/metal-lathes-metalworking-lathe-machine/19-wm280v-f-variable-speed-lathe.html

Peripheral tools and accessories

Running the lathe will require many accessories, there is a suggested list here:

http://www.mini-lathe.com/Mini_lathe/Accessories/accessories.htm

List desired accessories below:

Bench grinder

HSS tool blanks

Tailstock chuck

Vertical slide attachment (enables limited milling operations)

Vernier Calipers