Troddenmasses Posted October 10, 2005 Share Posted October 10, 2005 I am thinking about buying a lathe for small hobby type work. I have been looking at the Clarke CL500M Which can be had for £649.95 on one of their vat free days. It comes with a 6" jaw as standard. The other one that I was looking at is the Chester Model B - Super This one sells for £645, but only comes with a 5" jaw as standard. To upgrade to a 6" jaw will cost another £162. I have been looking on ebay for one of these, but the prices that they generate are rediculous. They sell for about £100 less than the new price, even if they are years old, and worn to hell. I was wondering whether any of you had any experience with either of these machines, or had enough lathe experience to be able to make some suggestions. Thanks in advance...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minivin Posted October 10, 2005 Share Posted October 10, 2005 I am thinking about buying a lathe for small hobby type work. I have been looking at the Clarke CL500MWhich can be had for £649.95 on one of their vat free days. It comes with a 6" jaw as standard. The other one that I was looking at is the Chester Model B - Super This one sells for £645, but only comes with a 5" jaw as standard. To upgrade to a 6" jaw will cost another £162. I have been looking on ebay for one of these, but the prices that they generate are rediculous. They sell for about £100 less than the new price, even if they are years old, and worn to hell. I was wondering whether any of you had any experience with either of these machines, or had enough lathe experience to be able to make some suggestions. Thanks in advance...... A lot of it depends on what you intend to do, aluminium work is not so strenuos on the tooling, while stainless steel can be a biatch, I'd love a Colchester Student or something slightly bigger, but they go for silly money now so my modellers lathe will have to be fixed and pushed into service again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dollythelw Posted October 10, 2005 Share Posted October 10, 2005 Can you get 3 phase laid on where you live? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astro_Al Posted October 10, 2005 Share Posted October 10, 2005 Hi, I think I have used the Chester one (though I can't be sure cos none of the photos show up on the webpage for me...?). Personally I'm becoming allergic to lathes like this. Its ok as long as you don't expect too much, but I'd put my money into a much bigger second hand one. I've heard that schools and colleges sell them off pretty cheap if you make an offer - and you can guarantee they've hardly been used in years! I'd prefer something with a larger swing and generally heavier construction - these ones just tend to be on the flimsy side - lots of backlash and stuff. Also, personally I find some of the controlls too small to use easily (and I'm not a big chap particularly) - I never understand why they make the handwheels so small on small lathes - ok its a small lathe, but the size of the user doesn't change! Al. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted October 10, 2005 Share Posted October 10, 2005 My personal opinion is go with a good quality second hand machine. I use a Myford ML7 (which to be fair isn't really big enough for some of the things I want to do, but it fits in the workshop!). The chinese machines are getting pretty good now, but I like the old style quality... Keep an eye out here cos there are always lathes for sale, and they are often less than the eBay prices. There are however, plenty of people on here with lathes and opinions on them, and more importantly far more experience than me.... Cheers Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MogLite Posted October 10, 2005 Share Posted October 10, 2005 I bought a project lathe a while back - a Colchester Chipmaster. However in order to change the motor and speed controller, I needed a lathe to make the bits for my lathe, a viscious circle, so I gave up and sold it on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ltwt1981 Posted October 10, 2005 Share Posted October 10, 2005 Mine came out of the ark. No name on it but it does the job, only 8 inch swing but OK for most things except brakes. Paid £50 two years ago, got it from modelmaker magazine, worth a look. Good things heard about Myford so go there or big second hand items. Look around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will_warne Posted October 10, 2005 Share Posted October 10, 2005 Myfords are nice if you're only wanting to do small stuff; I've used a couple of super 7s and I'd reccomend one. However, I've got half an eye open for something a little larger. I used to use Harrison's at school, I can't remeber the model but they were about 1000mm between centres with all the features you want (oil cooling, thread cutting, power feed in both planes etc). They're a bit more expensive but it just gives you the scope to do more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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