Discussion
I am in the market for a lathe.
It will be used for producing limited runs of 50 or 60 items at a time.
I haven't used a lathe for over 15 years since I did my apprenticeship. The lathe that I used then was a Colchester Student 1800.
This is the kind of thing that I am looking for.
Is there anyone on PH that is in the know that can tell me if there is a better lathe for the job?
I am only looking at a budget of about £3k, for a used lathe obviously.
Thanks
BB
It will be used for producing limited runs of 50 or 60 items at a time.
I haven't used a lathe for over 15 years since I did my apprenticeship. The lathe that I used then was a Colchester Student 1800.
This is the kind of thing that I am looking for.
Is there anyone on PH that is in the know that can tell me if there is a better lathe for the job?
I am only looking at a budget of about £3k, for a used lathe obviously.
Thanks
BB
Size would be the important factor here, I suspect.
My dad has a student, and a Myford Super 7. Both would be candidates for you, depending on the size of material you want to machine, both have wide availability on the second hand market in the UK, both have a huge variety of aftermarket attachments and tooling available (remember to factor this in to your budget).
One of the Chinese machines would work out probably work out cheaper initially, but all should be available for under 3k - it's been a while since he got his last one, so I'm not sure where prices have gone.
The model section might also be a good place for this topic?
My dad has a student, and a Myford Super 7. Both would be candidates for you, depending on the size of material you want to machine, both have wide availability on the second hand market in the UK, both have a huge variety of aftermarket attachments and tooling available (remember to factor this in to your budget).
One of the Chinese machines would work out probably work out cheaper initially, but all should be available for under 3k - it's been a while since he got his last one, so I'm not sure where prices have gone.
The model section might also be a good place for this topic?
jimmyjimjim said:
Size would be the important factor here, I suspect.
My dad has a student, and a Myford Super 7. Both would be candidates for you, depending on the size of material you want to machine, both have wide availability on the second hand market in the UK, both have a huge variety of aftermarket attachments and tooling available (remember to factor this in to your budget).
One of the Chinese machines would work out probably work out cheaper initially, but all should be available for under 3k - it's been a while since he got his last one, so I'm not sure where prices have gone.
The model section might also be a good place for this topic?
I've got a Myford, but I wouldn't want to be banging out 60 widgets at a time on it.My dad has a student, and a Myford Super 7. Both would be candidates for you, depending on the size of material you want to machine, both have wide availability on the second hand market in the UK, both have a huge variety of aftermarket attachments and tooling available (remember to factor this in to your budget).
One of the Chinese machines would work out probably work out cheaper initially, but all should be available for under 3k - it's been a while since he got his last one, so I'm not sure where prices have gone.
The model section might also be a good place for this topic?
OP have a look at http://www.warco.co.uk/ They sell Chinese stuff, the bigger models can all be fitted with DRO's and the like, which would be handy for volume production I suspect.
You will get an excellent colchester student 1800 for 3k and far better then the chinese crap you can buy.
Also you can get a phase converter to give you fully variable speed and reversing. You just need to rewire the control system which i can give you some guidance as that is what i have at home
Also you can get a phase converter to give you fully variable speed and reversing. You just need to rewire the control system which i can give you some guidance as that is what i have at home
Thanks for the replies so far.
I should have been clearer, it is a metal lathe I am looking for.
I would like to stay away from the Chinese lathes as accuracy and spares are important to us.
We would also be probably looking at three phase power supply which the Colchester's / Myford's all are as standard.
The size of work is not massive, somewhere around 600mm between centres with a maximum swing of 200mm would be plenty.
The reason that I am still pulled towards a Student is that spares and accessories for them are everywhere.
Are they still the lathe of choice for learning on?
BB
I should have been clearer, it is a metal lathe I am looking for.
I would like to stay away from the Chinese lathes as accuracy and spares are important to us.
We would also be probably looking at three phase power supply which the Colchester's / Myford's all are as standard.
The size of work is not massive, somewhere around 600mm between centres with a maximum swing of 200mm would be plenty.
The reason that I am still pulled towards a Student is that spares and accessories for them are everywhere.
Are they still the lathe of choice for learning on?
BB
I stumbled accross this place yesterday whilst trying to find out how heavy my colchester student was.
http://www.homeandworkshop.co.uk/
Must resist to buy big mans toys...
http://www.homeandworkshop.co.uk/
Must resist to buy big mans toys...
I think the question you need to ask yourself is, what type of components will you be machining and how often will you be machining them?
Will it be the same components day in day out, or does the component change from week to week?
From what I can remember the Student was a superb mid sized machine, whilst the Colchester was considered it's big heavier brother along with the Harrison. My preference was always the Student.
The student was a relatively easy machine to get to grips with, 3 jar & 4 jaw chucks were a reasonable weight and could be changed at ease, you can also get a collete system that was a breeze to use. IIRC you could also get multi spindle indexing turret tail stock if you needed to do lots of drilling/tapping etc.
If you want to know what types of lathes are currently being used for training, I'd suggest popping along to your locate college and take a look around a couple of machine shops.
Will it be the same components day in day out, or does the component change from week to week?
From what I can remember the Student was a superb mid sized machine, whilst the Colchester was considered it's big heavier brother along with the Harrison. My preference was always the Student.
The student was a relatively easy machine to get to grips with, 3 jar & 4 jaw chucks were a reasonable weight and could be changed at ease, you can also get a collete system that was a breeze to use. IIRC you could also get multi spindle indexing turret tail stock if you needed to do lots of drilling/tapping etc.
If you want to know what types of lathes are currently being used for training, I'd suggest popping along to your locate college and take a look around a couple of machine shops.
Big Al. said:
The student was a relatively easy machine to get to grips with, 3 jar & 4 jaw chucks were a reasonable weight and could be changed at ease, you can also get a collete system that was a breeze to use. IIRC you could also get multi spindle indexing turret tail stock if you needed to do lots of drilling/tapping etc.
Indexing turrets/capstans are where it's at for jobbing lathe work; it may pay to look for a Herbert capstan lathe or similar. I've seen usable ones go for scrap value as they're so big there's little demand from hobbyists and machine shops all stick with CNC these days(not because the Herbert can't do the job, but because it takes a skilled machinist to change set ups quickly enough to match a CNC driven by semi-skilled labour)I've dealt with these people before.
http://www.gandmtools.co.uk/cat_branch.php?sub=1
There's a really cheap Harrison on there, 11" swing, Norton box ............... might only be fit for scrap though (and you won't get it in the back of your Escort).
http://www.gandmtools.co.uk/cat_branch.php?sub=1
There's a really cheap Harrison on there, 11" swing, Norton box ............... might only be fit for scrap though (and you won't get it in the back of your Escort).
hidetheelephants said:
Big Al. said:
The student was a relatively easy machine to get to grips with, 3 jar & 4 jaw chucks were a reasonable weight and could be changed at ease, you can also get a collete system that was a breeze to use. IIRC you could also get multi spindle indexing turret tail stock if you needed to do lots of drilling/tapping etc.
Indexing turrets/capstans are where it's at for jobbing lathe work; it may pay to look for a Herbert capstan lathe or similar. I've seen usable ones go for scrap value as they're so big there's little demand from hobbyists and machine shops all stick with CNC these days(not because the Herbert can't do the job, but because it takes a skilled machinist to change set ups quickly enough to match a CNC driven by semi-skilled labour)Usurped by CNC for the reasons outlined it is a bit of a white elephant in the modern workshop hence bargains to be had!
bigbubba said:
Thanks for the replies so far.
I should have been clearer, it is a metal lathe I am looking for.
I would like to stay away from the Chinese lathes as accuracy and spares are important to us.
We would also be probably looking at three phase power supply which the Colchester's / Myford's all are as standard.
The size of work is not massive, somewhere around 600mm between centres with a maximum swing of 200mm would be plenty.
The reason that I am still pulled towards a Student is that spares and accessories for them are everywhere.
Are they still the lathe of choice for learning on?
BB
Pity you didn't post this six months ago, My Dad was looking to get rid of his 12" Harrison and Elliott miller, both three phase. Sold them to a machinery dealer for IIRC £750?I should have been clearer, it is a metal lathe I am looking for.
I would like to stay away from the Chinese lathes as accuracy and spares are important to us.
We would also be probably looking at three phase power supply which the Colchester's / Myford's all are as standard.
The size of work is not massive, somewhere around 600mm between centres with a maximum swing of 200mm would be plenty.
The reason that I am still pulled towards a Student is that spares and accessories for them are everywhere.
Are they still the lathe of choice for learning on?
BB
I have a myford super 7, warco major mill and a little 4 axis x1 fully CNC jobbie from compucutters.com
Now the reason I post is that depending on actually what you are doing you may well be surprised with something like the little X1 CNC jobbie. It wouldn't be your first thought.
I can plan something in google sketch and a few hours later I can produce them with the press of a button. There have been times when it is strangely faster to cut a cylinder using the CNC mill than it is to do it in the lathe.
CNC have come a very long way in the last ten years. Its at least worth a look before you buy something because that the way you did it in the past.
Now the reason I post is that depending on actually what you are doing you may well be surprised with something like the little X1 CNC jobbie. It wouldn't be your first thought.
I can plan something in google sketch and a few hours later I can produce them with the press of a button. There have been times when it is strangely faster to cut a cylinder using the CNC mill than it is to do it in the lathe.
CNC have come a very long way in the last ten years. Its at least worth a look before you buy something because that the way you did it in the past.
julian64 said:
I have a myford super 7, warco major mill and a little 4 axis x1 fully CNC jobbie from compucutters.com
Now the reason I post is that depending on actually what you are doing you may well be surprised with something like the little X1 CNC jobbie. It wouldn't be your first thought.
I can plan something in google sketch and a few hours later I can produce them with the press of a button. There have been times when it is strangely faster to cut a cylinder using the CNC mill than it is to do it in the lathe.
CNC have come a very long way in the last ten years. Its at least worth a look before you buy something because that the way you did it in the past.
The other supporting point being that the OP specifically stated "limited productions runs" - I'd of assumed that the repeatibility of CNC would be an advantage in this case. Sort the design, tooling and workholding and the press the go button (well almost) - will beat manually running 60 parts and the consistency will be higher.Now the reason I post is that depending on actually what you are doing you may well be surprised with something like the little X1 CNC jobbie. It wouldn't be your first thought.
I can plan something in google sketch and a few hours later I can produce them with the press of a button. There have been times when it is strangely faster to cut a cylinder using the CNC mill than it is to do it in the lathe.
CNC have come a very long way in the last ten years. Its at least worth a look before you buy something because that the way you did it in the past.
The problem I can see though is that whilst it's possible to pick up the machinery relatively cheaply the same cannot be said of the software you need and/or the potential training costs.
GnuBee said:
julian64 said:
I have a myford super 7, warco major mill and a little 4 axis x1 fully CNC jobbie from compucutters.com
Now the reason I post is that depending on actually what you are doing you may well be surprised with something like the little X1 CNC jobbie. It wouldn't be your first thought.
I can plan something in google sketch and a few hours later I can produce them with the press of a button. There have been times when it is strangely faster to cut a cylinder using the CNC mill than it is to do it in the lathe.
CNC have come a very long way in the last ten years. Its at least worth a look before you buy something because that the way you did it in the past.
The other supporting point being that the OP specifically stated "limited productions runs" - I'd of assumed that the repeatibility of CNC would be an advantage in this case. Sort the design, tooling and workholding and the press the go button (well almost) - will beat manually running 60 parts and the consistency will be higher.Now the reason I post is that depending on actually what you are doing you may well be surprised with something like the little X1 CNC jobbie. It wouldn't be your first thought.
I can plan something in google sketch and a few hours later I can produce them with the press of a button. There have been times when it is strangely faster to cut a cylinder using the CNC mill than it is to do it in the lathe.
CNC have come a very long way in the last ten years. Its at least worth a look before you buy something because that the way you did it in the past.
The problem I can see though is that whilst it's possible to pick up the machinery relatively cheaply the same cannot be said of the software you need and/or the potential training costs.
Googlesketch is free, and I have never needed more than D2nc trial for the cutting path direction. The machine runs on Mach3 which does cost, but not much. Even its free if you stay below 1000 lines of cutting code which is fairly easy unless its very complicated or you ramp up your curve cutting paths.
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