Hey you! What lathe? Why?

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Chris –

The only sensible objections they'd have would be disturbance, most likely by noise, though if they knew you had all this gear they might think you are running a business there.

Jack Hobson –

The very same thing! Except my little watchmaker's lathe came in a neat little cardboard box with the maker's name on it, and no more tooling than a pair of dead-centres; and I did not treat it to a lovely wooden case.

I forget how I came by it – either from someone at work or a second-hand shop.

I have a BCA jig-borer, and am presently making for it, holders for my Myford chucks. (Threaded adaptor from RDG Tooling, mounted on a disc with T-bolt holes.)

[Dave WoottonParticipant @davewootton]

Chris

I used to live in a nice little road with great neighbours, unfortunately five doors away lived an old couple who appear to hate everyone and everything. Complaining to the council about fence heights ,extensions- even if they couldn't see them from their house, just about everything. One day I had a visit from an official ,there having been a complaint that I was running a business from home, into the workshop with ML7, drilling machine, part finished loco on bench. After tea and a pleasant chat about his OO gauge layout, said official went away happy. Shortly after I received a visit from a man with a noise meter, there had been a complaint about the deafening noise from my machinery, he set up his meter a few metres outside the workshop, took an ambient noise reading and asked me to switch the lathe on, after I came out of the workshop he said," I need the machines to be running" to which I replied they are! so he went away happy the ML7 didn't even register on the machine. After that it was two very serious policemen who came round , asking about the workshop and what I did in it, I showed them round and immediately the atmosphere changed, " we had a complaint that you were making firearm parts for the IRA" ( it was the 80's) they also went away happy, but I understand had a word with said neighbour about wasting police time. After that i had no more problems, I believe they transferred their complaints to someone who was building an extension. From speaking to the first official you can have virtually any machinery or equiplment you want as long as there is no nuisance to others or breach of planning the authorities are quite ok and will leave you alone. He also said that the majority of complaints came from residents objecting to people carrying out car repairs at home as a sideline business, which he said was very common at the time.

Dave

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

Chris & others,

At about, or more likely shortly before, I was looking into a larger lathe, there were a few articles in ME about this subject, the end result, as I understand it, being that yes, you can do whatever you wish in/on your private property until such time as the local council receives a complaint at which point said council is legally obliged to investigate.

In my case, my 13 year old daughter had been, shall we say, somewhat cheeky to a neighbour (and we all know just what 13 year old girls can be like), plus my elder son out walking our dog along an unmade up lane had been told off by a relation of the neighbour and who threatened to shoot the dog on the grounds that he owned the lane and son & dog were trespassing. Needless to say after a conversation with the local council, and the police, to establish exactly where we stood resulted in me making a visit to this person who quickly started talking about shooting with a camera! Hence afterwards, I attempted to at least keep on the right side of the neighbours on our street – which was somewhat awkward when Warco delivered the 220 lathe inside an rather large panel van emblazoned with Warco Machine Tools etc, at 2200 hours! No offence intended to Warco, by the way – that was just the way it happened. Fortunately nothing came of that, but in view of the ME articles, and my run-ins with the neighbour & relatives, I was indeed rather wary.

I should point out that all of my activities took place either at a weekend, or early evening usually ending somewhere between 20:30 and 21:00.

Incidently, shortly after these events and nothing to do with them, and once early retirement became a realistic proposition, we took the opportunity to relocate from that city suburb to our present address on the edge of the Lake District. That being 25 years ago.

Cheers,

Peter G. Shaw

Edited By Peter G. Shaw on 08/02/2021 11:32:50

[JAParticipant @ja]

Chris and others

When I bought my present house I held back money from the sale of the previous house to fund the building of a workshop. There was already a single garage with room for an identical second along side. However I needed planning permission (the new garage being over 10% of the plan area of the house). I had a close looking at the planning details and decided it would be unwise to call it a workshop. According to the details (25 years ago) it was obvious that you could use a garage for almost anything so I did not feel dishonest. I kept all my neighbours informed of my intentions and there no objections. I have never had any complains and I try not to upset them.

I think if I was repeating the exercise now I would say it is a workshop in the application since the concept of a work space outside the living area of the house is well understood.

JA

[Chris CrewParticipant @chriscrew66644]

It has been interesting and informative to read the responses provoked by my previous post. Regarding the post from JA as far as I am aware 'portable' constructions that are under a certain internal volume, i.e. those that can be dismantled and removed like my pre-cast concrete workshops, are exempt from any sort of planning requirement or permissions. (actually I don't think you need planning for house extensions, e.g. permanent conservatories, that do not extend beyond a certain distance from the rear of your property, but that's another story). I would agree that it is only common courtesy to inform immediate neighbours of any intentions if you happen to be on speaking terms with them, but should they object and you do not propose to do anything that it is not within your rights as a property owner they cannot legally do much about it. Anyone may choose to be deterred by objectors or they may elect to stand on their rights as I would choose to do with as much diplomacy and civility as I could muster in justifying my actions. Happily, for me at least, I have not been tested in this situation. (Yet!).

I think that even if you did need planning permission for anything that had been built over 20 years ago without any objections being received over that time, you would get it almost automatically retrospectively on the grounds of 'established use' if you had to apply. However, I am not a lawyer and only have cursory knowledge of planning matters, so I stand to be corrected and educated on this last point.

Edited By Chris Crew on 08/02/2021 14:26:55

Edited By Chris Crew on 08/02/2021 14:29:41

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

Re the IMO quite rude “Hey You” address it was a late Archbishop of Westminster when promoted Cardinal on being asked how he should be addressed stated he would respond to most things but drew the line at “Hey You”.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

I assumed the peremptory opening was intended to be humorous, so I didn't think to take umbrage. I also guessed he was punting for quick and simple answers.

Some 'opes wi' you lot, eh?

[JAParticipant @ja]

The opening did not worry me. It was/is a good question.

If I was in a pub in Corby 45 years ago and someone adressed me as "Hey, Jimmy" I would have ducked, trying to avoid the next part of the address!

JA

[OldironParticipant @oldiron]

Posted by JA on 08/02/2021 17:22:09:

The opening did not worry me. It was/is a good question.

If I was in a pub in Corby 45 years ago and someone adressed me as "Hey, Jimmy" I would have ducked, trying to avoid the next part of the address!

JA

Which would probably be F— O–

Corby is a much more refined place now.

regards

[Liam CookParticipant @liamcook40712]

Meant in humour, to stand out, a good title should be eye-catching to draw an audience in so my english teacher used to say. Don't take it to heart, there is nothing more than that meant by it, besides it's been (it is) a good discussion!

I'm encouraged by that JA, overwhelmingly it's the skill I'd like as much as the capability and I'd have a crack at making… well anything, unless it needs a mill Peter, SWMBO has supported 3D printers, a workshop build and blinked (only the once) at a lathe… a mill might be a bridge too far… For now :D.

So I'm now on the page that I need to make way for several lathes, not because I want more than 1 but because it seems they bred when you're not looking? Preferably quiet ones for the neighbours sakes (Though they're a good lot and it turns out my garage keeps most of the noise in, as I've brought it up a few times only to get puzzled looks).

Ironically the only complaints I've had off my neighbours was from the bloke across the road, the security light overlooking the drive was aimed too high. The other from the guy out the back as I was burning some wood which was a lot wetter (and hence smokier) than the stored dried stuff I'd started with, so fair enough.

[jaCK HobsonParticipant @jackhobson50760]

Posted by Liam Cook on 08/02/2021 18:25:43:

SWMBO has supported 3D printers, a workshop build and blinked (only the once) at a lathe… a mill might be a bridge too far… For now :D.

 

You won't know till you try. She'll love it. What could go wrong? Go on…

I just printed this for my Pultra. Can you tell what it is yet?

 

Edited By jaCK Hobson on 08/02/2021 23:26:33

[Nick HulmeParticipant @nickhulme30114]

I used to espouse an Emco Maximat Super11 (later big bore model), latterly I transferred my affections to the rather lovely Harrison M300, typically when a new lathe finally came my way it was neither of these.
When choosing a lathe keep in mind that 4 things in life are sure, death, taxes, that you will want a longer lathe and that you will at some point wish for more capacity through the spindle.

[Pete.Participant @pete-2]

Posted by jaCK Hobson on 07/02/2021 14:15:23:

Once you have one, you can't get enough of them. Another Pultra. A Pultra '10' which is a smaller 8mm. That makes sense!?

That pultra 10 is very nice.

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

Just another couple of totally unrelated comments:

Firstly, as someone else has said, I took "Hey You" to be nothing more than an eye-catching statement. Certainly I did not see anything wrong in it.

Secondly, we used to have a black Labrador. Idle, good for nothing, friendly family pet who had some unfortunate, but not bad habits, things such as raking a paw down your leg if he wanted some attention. Plus, of course, as a Labrador he seemed permanently hungry! Anyway, I digress. Unfortunately for him, the 220 lathe must have produced some sort of high frequency noise which he could hear. We couldn't hear anything, but if I started up the lathe he immediately went as far away as he could get. It wasn't just the lathe, because when my daughter ran her washing machine at night, again he could hear something that distressed him. And if you could imagine about 90lbs of quaking labrador…

As an aside, just to show how gentle he actually was, I was reading the paper one night, the dog was laid in his usual position and our youngest was crawling about the floor. Then I heard some quiet groans, and when I looked up, the baby was laid on top of the dog who other than groaning wasn't doing anything to escape. This is, until he heard something in the kitchen which meant a titbit, at which point he stood up at the front, the baby slid off onto the floor, the dog then stood up at the back, turned on the spot, carefully stepped over the baby and trotted off into the kitchen. Which told me that the the dog knew exactly what he was doing. And more importantly that he could escape at any time.

Peter G. Shaw

 

Edited By Peter G. Shaw on 09/02/2021 10:46:27

[jaCK HobsonParticipant @jackhobson50760]

Only one Pultra cross slide is never enough. I think this one is quite rare. And a pic of genuinely useful 3D printed things – pullies and motor stand!

[Liam CookParticipant @liamcook40712]

Thats a nifty wee thing. Watches n Clocks?

So far I've used to my 3D printer to make catapults, I've got a trebuchet to do this week, then a Curta Calculator (which is why I bought the printer). Good to see a practical use!

[Author]

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