Clarke metalworkers 6speed

[steve mccaffreyParticipant @stevemccaffrey63218]

hi guys some of you may know I haven’t touched a lathe in over 30years, I’ve been offered a Clarke metalworkers 6speed lathe for £500, are they any good is it worth the money. I do know some of the lathes these days use plastic gears, don’t know about this one. any help great fully received, many thanks guys

[steve mccaffreyParticipant @stevemccaffrey63218]

is it worth it

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

As there's one only 6 months old on ebay for £400  I wouldn't

Edited By Dave Halford on 16/09/2018 17:54:35

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

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

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

I would doubt a CL500 mill/drill is worth that second hand, let alone the lathe only.

But, as always, we know no more than we are told. There may be lots of extras which are worth more than the lathe.

The fixed lead screw nut makes traversing a pain, among other design features of the lathe. 20 years ago, the change wheels were metal. No reason to believe they have changed

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

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

[Brian GParticipant @briang]

Looking at the price of steadies, chucks and the stand for that machine, I suspect tooling and accessories will make or break the deal.

Brian

[jann westParticipant @jannwest71382]

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.

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Yikes! I just looked up the machinemart prices. Rather more expensive, new, than I thought. Perhaps it might be a reasonable price, depending on condition.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

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

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

Posted by steve mccaffrey on 16/09/2018 17:37:47:
hi guys some of you may know I haven't touched a lathe in over 30years, I've been offered a Clarke metalworkers 6speed lathe for �500, are they any good is it worth the money. I do know some of the lathes these days use plastic gears, don't know about this one. any help great fully received, many thanks guys

Hi,

I actually have this particular lathe and like martin, i would say the same, it can make very decent parts.

I would agree that my main gripe with it that many have overlooked in favour of simply bashing on the chinese, is the old fashioned design of using a fixed leadscrew saddle traverse, very reliable but damn slow. You can tell in some rare, hard to obtain variants of this machine, (such as grizzly or warco) that they have tried to overcome this problem by adding a rack and pinion feed but they really are rare as hens teeth and not many of them about.

But in terms of what you can make with it, it's got a hefty centre height of 5 1/2" and the skill and level of setups you're willing to do is going to ultimately determine how accurately you can make things.

Now i'm trying to overcome said problem with traverse by adding a feedscrew motor, probably the easiest thing to do, as i've looked extensively at the leadscrew area and theres not alot of room on the casting and funny angles make it awkward to fit any kind of rack and pinion mod.

Also, note on the plastic gears thing, the idea is that cutting a fine pitch screw isn't going to impart alot of force, so you can get away with having flimsier gears. Thats the logic anyway, but i'm glad mine are all metal.

I think for the same money now, i'd rather sacrifice the extra headroom for an easy traverse on a warco lathe, brand new especially so. But hey, that's not to say i'm not happy with it, shes a hefty beasty. Everything about it just is chunky. It's not for the feint of heart. 

If i was you though, for goodness sake, get the CL430 instead, lathe only model, and try to get an independent mill. The crossover thing doesn't justify the extra bucks. 

Michael W

Edited By Michael-w on 17/09/2018 20:14:05

[steve mccaffreyParticipant @stevemccaffrey63218]

thanks for all the info and advice guys

[vic francisParticipant @vicfrancis]

Hi i used one for quite a time; it was poor in many ways; the tailstock barrel had about 2 inches of movement, I would a older machine like a colchester similar footprint… or boxford ,myford,ect or anything but the clarke effort… its true you could improve it; such as the jib and screws which constantly undo, or the lack of feed disengagement… locking levers are grim …..ok it can swing a good size, and the milling head is ok! but thats my advice!…. sorry ! vic

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