Thread: In search of a lathe and Mill

What bike Maxi77?

Welcome to the forum Max.

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,
Ew

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.

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.

Ew

Originally Posted by Maxi77

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.

Cool. Pics are always good

Heres a photo of it undressed Which it seems to be most of the time. ATM the engine is having a full rebuild.

Originally Posted by Maxi77

Hafco HM-32 or 36.
I have used a Lathe at work, the Hafco AL-960B.

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.

Originally Posted by variant22

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.

Thanks for the heads up. I have little Knowlegde of what to look for in a mill. I don't plan on doing heavy work. I guess for an extra $400 new sounds like the HM-46 is worth it. Are the geared and tilting heads a good feature?
Thanks

Here's a Lathe at Milperra Max

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/271430065...84.m1423.l2649

Originally Posted by Maxi77

Heres a photo of it undressed Which it seems to be most of the time. ATM the engine is having a full rebuild.

Lovely. Do you know any of the other owners of ex TKA superbikes? Does Jerry Kushnir still have his?

Originally Posted by Gammaboy

Lovely. Do you know any of the other owners of ex TKA superbikes? Does Jerry Kushnir still have his?

I'm not familiar with the name Jerry Kushnir? I know Of 2 guys in NSW who have an Ex TKA Zx7rr and a guy in Queensland Who Imported an ex Betocchi WSB Zx7rr.

Originally Posted by Maxi77

Thanks for the heads up. I have little Knowlegde of what to look for in a mill. I don't plan on doing heavy work. I guess for an extra $400 new sounds like the HM-46 is worth it. Are the geared and tilting heads a good feature?
Thanks

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..

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