Hi everyone

I was hoping to join quietly but it seems my first job is an introduction so.. Here goes. I'm a 50+ Londoner living in Lancashire, that's a very long story in itself. I used to be a Carpenter but the dust is no good for me as I am a chronic Asthmatic, so I thought maybe Metalwork is the way to go to ease my daily boredom.

I purchased a small simple lathe about two months ago on a whim and although it was a little moth eaten it seemed to work okay. I decided to strip it and repaint it as I had no clue what I even wanted to do with a Lathe as yet. So I set about removing all of the old paint and I found that it was hiding some P38 disguised as glue so used my (second hand inherited) welder to bridge the gap and fix it. First ever weld and it worked okay I think. Sanded and re-painted I was now hooked so went out looking for more.

i'm all in and have now completed a second refurbishment of a Clarke Lathe and using it as a stepping stone to something a little better. I try to do things properly so I am renovating as an excuse to not do any turning as yet. looking for as much info before I start to play and save myself from losing my fingers or limbs. I have kept all my photos and short videos as I have gone along so I may share them if there is any interest.

I'm going to be looking for some advice and I'm in turmoil though as weighing up all the different options mean my head gets turned again and again while I am looking for the very best option. I Will have a read of some articles and then just dive in I guess.

Cheers John

Thanks Chris I will do.

Hi Brian

I have uploaded some photos of my first project simple Lathe. My second is a Clarke CL500M. I will upload some pics of that one tomorrow at some point. 14 days and nights solid to clean it up strip it rewire and paint it.

Thanks Hopper for the pointer.

My aim is to sell this one on ASAP as I'm on a mission to get a fund together for a decent Lathe to tinker around with. Looking at some threads on here my initial plan for a good old fashioned English engineered Lathe is not as important as I first thought.

Not even sure which forum to post my documented attempt to breath life into this ML 1-2-3-4 any pointers please?