Steve,

Good evening, before you get swamped with the words don't do it, rubbish etc I have had a CL500 for many years, I use it to make parts for full size industrial petrol engines, it is accurate and easy to use, it has it limitations, all lathes of our level do, but these can be overcome or modified. My CL500 has the milling attachment but with two small milling machines I have no need to use it, the lathe comes with loads of accessories, bought as extra's.

The feed/thread cutting gears are all metal.

Martin P

I'm not familiar with the lathe in the flesh. They come up now and again on the web and I don't recall anything negative, rather the opposite. A competent lathe and people who own them don't complain. There are limitations, for example, I like lathes with a wide variable speed range, and the Clarke has 6 fixed speeds. Does that matter? Not much.

It has other limitations but getting the extra conveniences involves buying a more expensive machine. If it's the version with a milling head, be aware that milling is very restricted compared with separates. Lathe/mill combinations are a compromise for people who don't have space for two machines rather than a cracking good idea.

One thing to check if you're into screw-cutting is that the particular model you're buying produces the Imperial &/or Metric threads you need.

The main issue is that the lathe is second-hand. Condition is all. Make sure it runs, ideally use it to cut metal, and check carefully for damage, wear and missing parts. It may come with a decent set of tools, or not. Buying a second-hand machine is tricky territory for the inexperienced. Is there a genuine reason for the sale, or are they dumping a crock? You have to get a feel for the sellers honesty. If the seller gives you a full demonstration and answers questions that's much better than seeing a machine that can't be turned on and shifty evasions.

I feel the asking price is a bit high, but lathes are worth a combination of whatever people are prepared to pay and how urgently the seller wants to move it on. Negotiate.

Dave

much like the above comments – seems expensive unless it's particularly well kitted out. Even then the machine itself is not a particularly great example of far east engineering. For not much more and a little patience on eBay or Gumtree you can get a more recent and well specified Sieg lathe, or something older from Emco.

It may be things have changed.

Back in 2000 I looked at one of these in a Machine Mart branch.

I couldn't tell whether the parts it was made from were good or not, because it had been so casually assembled that I wondered if the branch Saturday sales assistants had put it together during a quiet afternoon. There was slop and backlash in every slide and leadscrew. Maybe I could've sorted it by adjustment, maybe not. That time I bought a well-used but decent Myford instead.

Since then some Far Eastern budget products have improved vastly, and I'm very pleased with the Chinese lathes I now have – so don't assume I'm slagging them off. Just ask what sort of work's been done on it, and take a gander at some of it if you can.

Edited By Mick B1 on 17/09/2018 19:28:52