What is the ultimate lathe for model engineering

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I think most ove the variable speed lathes from the likes of Chester & Warco will cut those pitches on the imperial machines and very close on teh metrics.

 

Do you actually want BSC or the more common ME threads which are 55deg not 60deg as BSC?

 

Jason

[JimmieSParticipant @jimmies]

Hi Jason

 

BSC, for restoration of old pre ’60 British motorcycles. Thread size would be up to 1 1/2″ dia. 

 

 

Jim

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

You should be Ok with what I said just check with the maker what the exact range includes before you buy as they usually just say something like ” 20 imperial threads 12  – 60tpi” its the 26 thats sometimes left out.

 

If you want a similar vintage lathe then any of the british lathes from that period would more than likely have these pitches but possibly not slotted slides

 

Jason

[JimmieSParticipant @jimmies]

Many thanks for your advice/suggestions. Much appreciated.

 

Jim

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

I have several t-slots here. To cheer up Ady, I’m happy to pop one in a jiffty bag and email it to anyone who feels deprived.

 

You’ll have to mill a suitable recess in your cross slide (with a T-shaped cross-section) for it, but once that’s done it should just slide in.

 

Neil

 

BTW before I made my alternatiove t-slotted slide, I just made a few tapped holes in the cross slide of my C3, a handful allow for dividing head, vertical slide and angle plates.

[John OlsenParticipant @johnolsen79199]

For those of you who think no T-slots on a lathe is a problem, I have a shaper that has no T-slots on the main table. Perfectly usable, they made them like that for about 35 years. It does have a pattern of tapped holes for bolting things down. The rows of holes are in shallow slots to allow vices, dividing attachments, rotary tables and the like to align with keys. I think the manufacturers reason for doing it that way is that the table does not need anything like as much metal in it, or if you like the table is stiffer for any given amount of metal. Same would of course apply to a cross slide, a few tapped holes if you find you want them are not the end of the world.

 

Of course back when a guy was lucky to have a lathe at all, it was more important for it to be easily adaptable for milling. Now that small mills are so much more accessable to so many people,  it is perhaps not quite so important for the amateurs lathe to be so adaptable.

 

I could also machine up some Tslots if anyone wanted them, using either the mill or one of rather too many shapers, but shipping from NZ might be too expensive….

 

regards

John

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Hey John, you can E-mail the slot anywhere, its the metal that surrounds it thats the problem. Ian S C

[Stephen BensonParticipant @stephenbenson75261]

Well for me a clock and model maker the ultimate lathe would be this

 

http://www.lathes.co.uk/advertphoto/100905schaublin102/

 

 

[Scaublin120 Deckel fp1Participant @scaublin120deckelfp1]

Hi all

 

I have a Schaublin 120 VM and a Deckel Fp1 to play with. Why i posted the question is, at the model engineer shows and in our magazine we are battered by Myfords. In the workshops of GB we have a plethora of makes and they all do good work what do we all own?

 

The readership of model engineer must realise that there are more machines out there.

Stephen I like your choice schaublins are cool all the best kids have them.(TIC)

The original post was just to provoke a reaction I HATE MYFORDS.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Yabut the Schaublin doesn’t have a slotted cross slide so it must be useless.

 

I HATE GERMAN CRAP [ they bombed ower chippie in the last war ]

 

John S

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

Hi There

I use whatever good articles I have to hand.

The majority of people write articles about Myfords and C3s.

regards David

 

[Axel BentellParticipant @axelbentell]

Schaublin is made in the French speaking part of Switzerland, as German as Citroen!

[Howard JonesParticipant @howardjones35282]

the ultimate lathe for engineering is the one you are used to using.

 

try doing something remotely awkward on some one elses lathe and you realise just how much you become attuned to the equipment you use and its capabilities.

 

I think the comment I read many years ago about lathes and model engines puts it in perspective. ” some truely beautiful models are built on the most horrible of lathes”.

very true.

 

I know of an F2C team racer who modified his engines using his father’s huge old factory lathe. took him a week to adjust all the slop out of the ways but the work was of the highest quality.

 

lathes are like wives. love the one you’ve got and just get on with it.

 

[Stephen BensonParticipant @stephenbenson75261]

Posted by Brian Todd on 06/09/2010 12:34:45:

Hi all

 

I have a Schaublin 120 VM and a Deckel Fp1 to play with. Why i posted the question is, at the model engineer shows and in our magazine we are battered by Myfords. In the workshops of GB we have a plethora of makes and they all do good work what do we all own?

 

The readership of model engineer must realise that there are more machines out there.

Stephen I like your choice schaublins are cool all the best kids have them.(TIC)

The original post was just to provoke a reaction I HATE MYFORDS.

 

 I agree hobby lathes/Mills are great as far as they go, but if we are talking ultimate lathes and mills with out the barriers of cost or space then industrial equipment wins hands down. I have a Downhams Mini Jig borer and every time I use it puts great big smile on my face, the rest of my stuff is hobby equipment due to cost or space here is a link to my workshop web page.

 

http://www.ajsbsa.co.uk/workshop.html

 

Edited By Stephen Benson on 06/09/2010 16:57:06

[adyParticipant @ady]

No t-slots….and it looks like a shameless copy of our pultra 1590.

http://www.lathes.co.uk/pultra/page11.html

 

Posted by Stephen Benson on 06/09/2010 08:10:17:

Well for me a clock and model maker the ultimate lathe would be this

 

http://www.lathes.co.uk/advertphoto/100905schaublin102/

 

 

 

Edited By ady on 06/09/2010 20:06:15

[JimmieSParticipant @jimmies]

Hi Stephen B

 

What a shock! I thought your web site was about Birmingham Small Arms and A J Stevens motorcycles. However what do I find? Clocks! Is nothing sacred!

 

Jim

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Posted by ady on 06/09/2010 20:03:12:

No t-slots….and it looks like a shameless copy of our pultra 1590.

http://www.lathes.co.uk/pultra/page11.html

 

 .

 

How do you work that out, the Pultra is 17 later than the 102.

 

John S.

[adyParticipant @ady]

———>>><<<———-

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

“Many small lathes have been manufactured in which the accuracy was very dubious, but in view of their low cost, their imperfections were tolerated, and they served the purpose for which they were intended quite well … the requirements of the mateur, to whom time is of less importance, may be adequately served by a simmpler and less expensive lathe.”

 

“Most of the faults and imperfections of inexpensive lathes are capable of correction by adjustment of their working parts … in many cases, such lathes, in the hands of intelligent users, have been converted to precision lathes, in the true sense of the term, by these methods … simple and rugged construction is often a practical virtue.”

 

Such were the words of E.T. Westbury, and I am sure that he would have  suggested that the best lathe for a model engineer is the one that will handle his requrements within his budget. I am sure he would have heartily endorsed the C3-type lathe, even as he acknowledged what could be achieved with the humble ‘Adept’.

 

Neil

[Billy MillsParticipant @billymills]

Brian

Don’t share your Myford view. For many people their Myfords are their pride and joy, to them they may give the same satisfaction as you get from your  Schaublin. I was given an old Myford as a kid. Every surface and bearing was well worn but it was a treasure to me at that time. I learned to work around the backlash and how to repair and adjust a lathe as well as a hands-on understanding of turning and tooling. At School there was a Harrison which made the old Myford look very poor in every way however it was all a great education.

 

Still have the old Myford, last used for winding coils, alonside a Colchester Student 1800 and two other smaller lathes, an Aciera F3 and a couple of other mills. Machine choice depends on what opportunities pass by, finances, space and loads more. One man’s Myford is another man’s Schaublin is another man’s Harrison is another man’s  Sieg.  As long as everyone is happy with their machines and enjoys using them we can  stop worrying about  T slots and continue making stuff and having fun.

 

Regards to all- regardless of your lathes,

Unslotted Alan.

 

PS Neils quote is very good. I’m a bit worried ( only a teeny- weeny bit, well very very small, well really not much at all) about Ady, he seems to have commited the final act by firing barbed arrows into his head from both sides. The arrows are very well aligned  so he must have had a final fling by launching the bolts from his T slots. He was smiling at the time!

[Stephen BensonParticipant @stephenbenson75261]

Yes Alan all very sage advice however we often see people paying Schaublin prices for Myfords, some of prices worn out ML7’s fetch on Ebay must lead to serous disappointment. and possible abandonment of the hobby altogether.

[Anonymous]

Brian,

 

Well, there’s a golden opportunity for you; why not write an article for ME or MEW utilising your Schaublin and Deckel?

 

By the way I do have a Myford in my workshop, but it’s not a lathe, or a mill. I’ll leave you to work that one out.

 

Regards,

 

Andrew

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

Hi Brian

Article welcome.

 

Hi Andrew

How about an article about your Myford, is it the grinder?

regards David

 

[Scaublin120 Deckel fp1Participant @scaublin120deckelfp1]

Hi David

 

Good Mags well done.I am enjoying the crazy guy who is building the aero engines his attitude to building is refreshing, give it a go if it doesnt work try something else! MINT      I am definatley not poking a finger at the mags just the machines MYFORDS???

With regards to writing something maybe i will if time permits Kids work sports and many other things.

 

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Posted by Andrew Johnston on 07/09/2010 09:22:36:

By the way I do have a Myford in my workshop, but it’s not a lathe, or a mill. I’ll leave you to work that one out.

 

Regards,

 

Andrew

 .

 

OK I’ll play

Not a lathe or Mill so presumably not a wood lathe either.

 

Could be a Planer ? a  Saw ? a Cylindrical Grinder ? or a Moped ?

 

Close ?

 

John S.

[Author]

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