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Thread: In search of a lathe and Mill
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24th March 2014, 05:25 PM #1Member
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In search of a lathe and Mill
Gday Guys,
New to this Forum. My name is Max, 36 years old, I live on the Lower North Shore in Sydney.
I am Keen to purchase a lathe and Mill for Metal work. Alot of my work will be Aluminium as I like making parts for my Motorbike. I am Looking at 240v Machines. A lathe approx 300x900mm, not set on particular brand. Also a mill like the Hafco HM-32 or 36.
I have used a Lathe at work, the Hafco AL-960B. I'm no expert however feel confident on the basics of turning drilling and facing.
Thanks for any advice or leads to what I'm after.
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24th March 2014, 05:44 PM #2Senior Member
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What bike Maxi77?
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24th March 2014, 05:55 PM #3GOLD MEMBER
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Welcome to the forum Max.
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24th March 2014, 05:59 PM #4
Hi Max, welcome to the forum.
I think the first thing you need to ask yourself is if want to buy new or second hand. Your not likely to.get as much machine for the money if you go new, but there will be no chance it will be worn out. You can buy a lathe that will take 300x900 and only weigh a few hundred kilos, or it could weigh well over a ton. Which leads to another problem, transport, unloading etc.
I would always recommend an older machine over a new Chinese one, but I have had both bad luck with Chinese machines and incredibly good luck with finding good cheap second hand machines.
The market seems to be flooded with second hand lathes at the moment, not so many mills though. A search on gumtree and eBay will find you plenty to get you thinking.
Cheers,
Ew1915 17"x50" LeBlond heavy duty Lathe, 24" Queen city shaper, 1970's G Vernier FV.3.TO Universal Mill, 1958 Blohm HFS 6 surface grinder, 1942 Rivett 715 Lathe, 14"x40" Antrac Lathe, Startrite H225 Bandsaw, 1949 Hercus Camelback Drill press, 1947 Holbrook C10 Lathe.
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24th March 2014, 06:09 PM #5Member
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Many thanks for the replys, My bike is a 1996 Kawasaki ZX7rr ex Team Kawsaki Australia superbike. I have had it for over 10 years now and done alot of work to make it lighter and generally trick it up. Any part that i could modify or change for something tricker and lighter I have.
I have been looking for a couple of months on Gumtree and ebay. As said there are some Lathes but not to many mills. Transportation may be a pain at least the loading and unloading part. Once in the garage I will have a place for them.
I know the weight of the machine is important. What is interesting is that some cheaper Lathes ie the AL-336 is 140kg Heavier than the more expensive AL-960B. Why is this? I dont so much have a budget but of course would like to get the most for my $.
Maybe a trip to H&F is in order.
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24th March 2014, 06:35 PM #6
The 960b is a Taiwanese made machine, all the rest of the lower end h&f machines are Chinese. If you go have a look at h&f have a good look at the build quality and feel of the machines. Then if you can look at some older machines that are not made in China you should see difference.
It is pretty amazing how easy it is to move a heavy machine with a car trailer and some pipe rollers.
Ew1915 17"x50" LeBlond heavy duty Lathe, 24" Queen city shaper, 1970's G Vernier FV.3.TO Universal Mill, 1958 Blohm HFS 6 surface grinder, 1942 Rivett 715 Lathe, 14"x40" Antrac Lathe, Startrite H225 Bandsaw, 1949 Hercus Camelback Drill press, 1947 Holbrook C10 Lathe.
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24th March 2014, 07:43 PM #7Senior Member
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24th March 2014, 10:03 PM #8Member
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Heres a photo of it undressed Which it seems to be most of the time. ATM the engine is having a full rebuild.
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24th March 2014, 10:08 PM #9SENIOR MEMBER
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I sincerely hope you mean HM46. The 36 is a round column, 46 dovetail. I own a 46 variation and it is capable for a small machine. I recently purchased an AL960b and can't fault it. Not sloppy like the Chinese variations I inspected. So far the AL960b has not missed a beat. Glad I purchased it. As far as the mill a knee mill would be better but I have no way to move a 1ton beast. If you do I would consider one as the rigidity is much better than the smaller 45's.
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24th March 2014, 10:50 PM #10Member
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25th March 2014, 06:46 AM #11
Here's a Lathe at Milperra Max
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/271430065...84.m1423.l2649Shane
Still trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
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25th March 2014, 10:51 AM #12Member
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25th March 2014, 11:04 AM #13Member
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25th March 2014, 12:01 PM #14SENIOR MEMBER
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The $400 will be money well spent. When you move the head up/down with a round column it loses alignment with the work/table/zero position. You will setup your part, get your zero position and work from there. If you need to do a tool change (which is common on just about every job) you will have to re-zero all over again which is an constant PITA. There are tons of threads online discussing the issues ("round column vs dovetail"). One discussion is here..
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25th March 2014, 12:51 PM #15Member
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Thanks for the Link, I really have to do my research. Looks like alot to consider. At least the HM-46 is still not huge money especially compared with the HM-32
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