Thread: Which Lathe?

Hi Mal,
It's hard for anyone to give a definitive answer, but here's what I will be doing.
You've done the research and you are sick of looking through catalogue's?, I know I am...lol.
Decide how much you want to spend on the basic lathe.Try and get an idea which lathe you would like. Make a list of questions.Then go and see H&F , so you can see what you can get for your money. Hard to gauge physical sizes of lathes from a catalogue. Ask alot of questions, compare different machines and then go home and have a think about it. Then go back in a day or so, ask MORE questions, that you forgot to ask the first time then chose the one you want.(ask for a discount!)
I will go for a smaller lathe as I don't need 1000mm BC and I want to be able to lift the lathe with an engine crane, if I have to. I want auto feeds, gear drive, coolant and a lamp....amongst other things.
Good luck with your purchase and let us know how you go.

Was actually in H&F today having a gander.

If it were my $, I'd actually skip the 960B and grab myself a 340A. If you have to turn any threads and happen to know the foot brake trick, it'll come in handy. Also, being a heavier unit, its less likely to chatter when taking deep cuts.

One other thing you may wish to consider is that H&F also sell second hand machines, which might be worth looking into.

I tend to agree with Sterob in this matter, I kicked it around with the Wife who knows
little or nothing about Lathes but is a good listener, I`d pawed my way thru` the
Catalogue`s until the pages were blank.
In the end {last week} I sat down with a pencil and paper and jotted down all I intended
to use the Lathe for, set up a list of Spec`s I`d need to cover my intentions such as
"distance between centres" bed swing, Etc`.
From there I went back thru` the Catalogue`s and found the Lathes that covered my
wants and wishes, Then I went thru` the prices of the three I`d penciled in.
Now, many years ago I owned a little "Unimat 3" Lathe and Mill, This was at the time the
Bee`s Knee`s in Small Lathes and I remembered the simplicity of the Speed Changes
{rubber band belts on pullies} and wondered?, You see I was a little taken aback to find
that most of the GearHead Lathes in my required size all had "Plastic" Gear Wheels
at one place or another in them, Not quite my Cup of Tea, and after having the pleasure
of owning and operating a Hercus 9" for many years {belt Drive} I rather hoped that just
maybe these newer "Rice Powered Lathes" had a Model or two with a simular drive.

Friday last I took my Wife out for a "drive", somehow we ended up at "Fiora Machinery"
in Cannington and I contentedly wandered thru` their Showrooms in a Daze, Just by
a pure "Fluke" I happened to have a piece of paper in my pocket with the three Models
I was interested in, "well, I`ll be".
I checked out two only the first was an "AL60", which was very smart to look at, only
I felt she was a little cluttered for my liking, I then checked out the "AL54b" and here
my quest ended, I ask the Lass who works there if she would open the Gearbox for me
which she did, Believe this or not, I was looking straight into the Gearchange of the
long gone "Unimat 3", albeit a size or two larger in Pullies & Belts.

So, my Bank Manager now owns a new Lathe, a "AL54b" which I will look after for
him until he needs it or it`s worn out, whichever comes first.

Take your time, it`s a lot of money to pay out then find you don`t like the colour, I hope
you enjoy your choice as much as me and the Bank Manager!.

Good Luck.

G'Day Mal, I'm going through the same exercise at the moment. I've got a little Mk11 6" Atlas and I find that it's just too small for some of the stuff I want to do... So I've dug into the bank (with the better half's blessing) and decided to get a bigger lathe. I've looked at all the Chinese units on offer and if you are going for an AL340 have a look at Standaco Machinery and their "Turner 320". It's a very similar machine but with a far superior finish (IMHO)and about the same price. For my part I've decided to go for a bigger secondhand unit(14"-!8" swing) and I'm trying to avoid the chinese units all together in favour of a Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean or European tools. I've been on to a lot of dealers and I have them searching for the right lathe for me. You might want to consider doing the same thing because you can get some very nice high quality used machines for about the same price as a smaller new Chinese Lathe. I'd be interested in how you go.
Good luck. Cheers, Steve.

How did you go Slipery?
Got a new lathe in the shed yet? Do tell....

I have owned a 6" centre height asian lathe and didn't like it at all. I now own an old refurbished english lathe, that I like, howewver I have almost outgrown it. I have looked in to all of the usual SH offerings and have settled on 3 lathes. I am just waiting for the right one to come up. The first is a Colchester Bantom 2000 or mabey a newer Chipmaster. The second is a Harrsion M300. Both weigh in at almost a ton, which is good for me. As far as the chinese H&F units go, the heavier machine would be the one I would go for. Look for hardened ways, and hardened gears. A decent high speed is good if you intend to use carbide tooling. Examine the carriage/topslid and cross slide very carefully, to see that it will do just what you want it to. Don't forget to ask for the spindle bore size...... bigger is obviously usually better. Ease of lubrication is also something to consider, as is the height of the machine on its stand. I am quite tall (over 6') and the asisan machines are usually too low for my comfort.
A machine that has coolant facillity may be handy for you, as si a slide out chip tray.

As I always say in reply to these types of posts...... Consider the tooling that you wish to run, and a get a lathe that will run that tooling. It doesn't often work the other way around.

This one in the link below is quted at a couple of hundred kg heaver than the AL-340A, and is cheaper.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Turner-320-Ge...QQcmdZViewItem