Britan Lathe – New Lathe Day

[Anonymous]

Posted by Baz on 20/10/2021 17:28:07:

I think Britan are still trading………….

They're long gone. The name on my Britan manual is Britcam Tools and an address in Cambridge on what is now Castle Park. They shut down and formed Britan Machine Tools in 1979, who I think were based in Newmarket. There was a further sale to Arden Machine Tools, based in Birmingham, in 1985.

When I bought my Britan there was a company (may well have been Arden) who had spares, although you had to look hard on the website to find the information. Arden now seems to be dissolved, although I don't know when. So it looks like there is no longer any support.

Andrew

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Andrew Johnston on 20/10/2021 19:37:23:

[…]

There was a further sale to Arden Machine Tools, based in Birmingham, in 1985.

[…] Arden now seems to be dissolved, although I don't know when. …

.

.

MichaelG.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Michael, long before I bought my Britan. So they must have sold on the spares, but I can't find any trace on the internet.

Andrew

[websnailParticipant @websnail]

I'm still lurking on here, so if I can help in any way, just ask.

The Britan 4 wheel grinder was a nice bit of kit but had non -standard size grinding wheels both in diameter and thickness if I remember correctly.

Andrew, glad you used your machine for what it was designed for

Cheers

Dave

[Anonymous]

Posted by websnail on 20/10/2021 22:51:47:

I'm still lurking on here, so if I can help in any way, just ask.

Dave: That's good to know, thanks.

I've never seen one of the Britan 4 wheel grinders but for ages there was one on Ebay. It seems to have disaapeared, but I don't know if it was sold or the seller got fed up.

I'm aware that I'm not pushing the Britan anywhere close to it's capabilities. The last items I made were for work; a batch of custom lockscrews for D-type connedtors converting from a Japanese standard M2.6 thread to the more common 4-40UNC. The next job will be custom flat head rivets for the chimneys on my traction engines.

Andrew

[Author]

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