Machine selection

[alan brown 7Participant @alanbrown7]

Hi, I'm new to this forum, but looking at buying a small lathe for various hobby projects and eventually a model steam engine/traction engine.

I'm looking initially at a small lathe and tooling for machining spacers max outside dia 50mm max inside dia 25mm, washers, threaded mounting bolts up to 12mm dia , metric and imperial threads, all in either steel or aluminium or occasionally titanium.

Can anyone recommend a small lathe, ideally 240 volts single phase that would meet these requirements? I'm considering new or good secondhand.

Thanks

[alan brown 7Participant @alanbrown7]

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Welcome Alan,

You will soon be offered many choices. My advice would be to think about the size of that steam engine/traction engine. You may be able to borrow a larger machine for the biggest components (wheels/flywheels) but a machine capable of handling larger components will make working on smaller components in tougher materials less stressful.

As for choice -most beginners on a budget look at either new far-eastern imports or a good second-hand British machine, but there are other (more expensive) options such as new British or European.

I suggest you search these forums as there are threads on this topic already, but forum members never tire of this particular subject matter!

Neil

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

Alan,

I started off many years ago with a similar ethos, and bought one of the mini combi machines, thinking that would satisfy my desires, I very soon realised I was wrong, that sold (now regretted btw), I am now on my fourth lathe, a Warco GH1330 which satisfies the majority of my needs although I still hanker after a smaller machine for some jobs.

Similar story with Milling machines, one piece of advice I would give in this respect is get the largest you can accomodate/afford. I now have a Ajax AJT4, picked up cheap from a workshop clearance and never regretted, it has more 'meat' than a similar Bridgeport turret mill and plenty of capacity (54" x 11" table and 40 Int tooling)

As Neil says, think about the biggest project you imagine you will tackle and start sizing your machines from there.

If you tell us where you are then there may be people or clubs local to you where you can get a taste of various machines.

Graeme

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Whatever you do don't get one of those things with a sort of milling head stuck on top of the lathe headstock.

Save a lot of faffing around and just get a Boxford AUD or BUD. It's teh right sixe for just about everything

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Whatever you do don't get one of those things with a sort of milling head stuck on top of the lathe headstock.

I've got one of the above and it does what I want it to do, horses for courses.

Martin P

[Chris TriceParticipant @christrice43267]

The milling capacity is very limited compared to a dedicated machine though and let’s be honest, we all try to machine far bigger items than our equipment is designed for. They’re never big enough so thinking small is sometimes flawed if you have the space for a bigger machine. It’s one of those situations where you may love what you have but when you do use something bigger and/or better, you realise what you’re missing.

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