Dad wants to get me this.

[xXvapourXx]

My dad wants to get me this lathe for my b day but he wants to know if there any good and if there worth the price.
soo good some one help me and my farther out?
He thinks its pretty good because you can get a turret attachment and stuff so yea.

Cooper

[snowyskiesau]

Link? Photos? :)

[xXvapourXx]

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/L148

woops forgot to add the most important part hahaha

[Big Shed]

Shame this is so far away from you

http://www.woodworkforums.com/f223/al-60-lathe-unused-139926/#post1371132

Snowyskiesau can give you the lowdown on th AL-60 or C6 lathe, he is the proud owner of one.

[snowyskiesau]

Fred beat me to it! I got lost searching for the thread he referenced. That one is going at a great price.

I can confirm it's a good lathe. I've had mine for about 3 years and I'm happy with the purchase. So far, it's done everything I've wanted to do on a lathe.

[new_guy90]

Good choice of machine I would give it the thumbs up

Sieg also make a better version of this lathe the C4, it just a bit smaller in turning specs but with a better motor and it has a power feed check it out just don't be led into the trap of thinking bigger is better its the features and quality that makes the difference

Carba-Tec® C4 Metalworking Lathe : CARBA-TEC (http://www.carbatec.com.au/carba-tec-c4-metalworking-lathe_c19802)

[xXvapourXx]

they sell most of Hare and Forbes lathes at general tool which are in S.A
By the way is the AL-60 loud?

[snowyskiesau]

they sell most of Hare and Forbes lathes at general tool which are in S.A
By the way is the AL-60 loud?

Just running it in gear without actually cutting, it's quiet. Depending on the material you're cutting and how aggressively you're attacking the work piece, the sound level does go up.
Another factor is how solid a bench it's mounted on.

I ran mine in the back room of a semi detached house in Sydney and never got any complaints from the neighbours :)

[xXvapourXx]

The bench i got is pretty strong and i got it made for free and it had and black powder coat which really holds out well, it was to made to hold at least 300kg


Just running it in gear without actually cutting, it's quiet. Depending on the material you're cutting and how aggressively you're attacking the work piece, the sound level does go up.
Another factor is how solid a bench it's mounted on.

I ran mine in the back room of a semi detached house in Sydney and never got any complaints from the neighbours

Have you made any videos or have you got any pictures of yours?
Also are there anything that i should change when i get this lathe or is it perfectly fine?

[snowyskiesau]

Have you made any videos or have you got any pictures of yours?
Also are there anything that i should change when i get this lathe or is it perfectly fine?

You might want to look at a quick change tool post (QCTP). There are several threads here on the subject .

[xXvapourXx]

Ok cool.
and im guessing you have to change the gears manually?

@new_guy90 the c4 looks great but dad wouldnt pay $1800 for a lathe.

[Big Shed]

Cooper, have you looked at this lathe at Paramount Browns?

http://www.woodworkforums.com/f65/9x20-similar-lathes-140770/

[xXvapourXx]

Yeap and they are way to expensive, the wanted $1000 for a lathe that is smaller than the c6 and has crap build quality and it also comes with no accessories on the standard 3 jaw chuck.

[snowyskiesau]

Ok cool.
and im guessing you have to change the gears manually?


Yes, the spindle speed is set via belts and pulleys, a bit of a pain to change. Gears are used to control the carriage movement for thread cutting etc.

[xXvapourXx]

ok cool shouldn't be to bad with changing gears and stuff.
Whats the fuse for? isn't that for more older stuff?

[simso]

The lathe is small, so dont expect too much from it, but it is a good starter into machining.

[xXvapourXx]

Small :o you must use some pretty big lathes then, but its all i need the, perfect size for home machining :D

[simso]

Thats cool, I just hate seeing people purchase a smaller lathe expecting it to be able to machine up things for there cars and so forth.

They are great little lathes but dont expect too much.

[xXvapourXx]

haha dont think ill be machining things that big yet but it will be great for little projects and stuff. :)

[new_guy90]

Small :o you must use some pretty big lathes then, but its all i need the, perfect size for home machining :D


Lol when I was looking for my lathe I first looked at getting the bigger 9x20" lathe then it went down hill at the dealer a few grand latter I ended up with a 12x36" model and that is small for industry!

Lol just to gloat I was running a universal CNC mill with a 4meter table today, Its one of our big toys in the shop :wink:

[xXvapourXx]

Lol just to gloat I was running a universal CNC mill with a 4meter table today, Its one of our big toys in the shop

geee thats huge :o what type of stuff do you machine on that?

[Miner]

Cooper,
G'day from Canada, I saw your question and decided to register so I could give you a few tips about the C-6 lathe your interested in. The metal stand that's shown with the lathe is pretty light duty and without some added stiffening it isn't worth buying. You also really need to buy the 4 jaw chuck, Faceplate, A tailstock drill chuck and arbour, And the fixed and traveling steadys. These accessories of course depend on what projects your building in the future. I own a C-6 and I'll give you a few points to check. Any lathe can be machined and ground surfaces can be misaligned. Mine happens to have some rather major misalignments built in at the factory. I'm not saying their all like this but my tailstock barrel pointed uphill .009 in 2 inches. I also bought the rear mounted milling head for mine. The cross slide operates very smooth so I know it's well aligned and not twisted but the top surface is ground with a twist in 2 directions of about .003. The added tee slotted table warped after the machining so without some remachining the cross slide and tee slotted table are pretty well usless for accurate milling.

As I said, I highly doubt all C-6 lathes are built this poorly but it's something to check. For any lathe you purchase, I'd highly recommend you buy a dial indicator with at least .001 reading dial and a magnetic base first so you can check basic lathe alignments. You'll use this tool for many other lathe set ups in the future so the small extra cost makes it well worth buying. I hope some of this helps.

Pete

[xXvapourXx]

Hey pete
Im currently not getting this lathe anymore because my dad wanted to go halfs with his dad but he didnt want to but this weekend im going to have a look a south bend lathe and to see what he wants for it?
thanks for all the tips and everything :D

[xXvapourXx]

Hey pete
Im currently not getting this lathe anymore because my dad wanted to go halfs with his dad but he didnt want to but this weekend im going to have a look a south bend lathe and to see what he wants for it?
thanks for all the tips and everything :D

Cooper

[new_guy90]

Peter makes some good points. First off just because something is machined doesn't make it accurate all steel has stress in it and when it is machined it moves, dont worry you wont notice it trust me. The high tailstock is normal its to compensate for wear in use so dont worry about it, its made that way. Most Asian machines particularly hobby ones have poor points but there is heaps of info on the net so dont be put off with a little work you can do heaps of great work. Oh I for one wish I had bought a smaller bench lathe :(

We use the big mills at work for all sorts of large jobs like fabrications, machinery re-pair and well what ever we need to make. Today I was milling plate for a welded fabrication

[Miner]

Nope, I meant the tailstock barrel moved upwards by .009 as it traveled outward 2 inches. Either the bore was done on a slight angle or more likely the base was machined at an angle. The lathe is impossible to use the tailstock to drill anything even close to an accurate and on size hole. Reaming would have been a disaster. A slightly high tailstock is no problem but it still needs to be true to the lathes ways and headstock. I'll need to remachine the tailstock base to bring it into proper alignment.

This lathe taught me some good lessons. I take nothing for granted anymore. And for the lathe I bought to replace the C-6 I did a full check against the factory supplied test certificate using some quite accurate Mitutoyo DTIs.

For the inexperienced, I'd recommend buying at least a cheaper Chinese dial indicator and magnetic base before you buy any machine tool.

Pete