Emco Maximat V10 Lathe

[Anorak Bob]

Emco lathes were mentioned in the thread about small milling machines and I recalled how I had encountered an example of a V10 at a used machinery sellers over here about six years ago.

At the time I did not find the machine overly attractive. All squared off and sharp. Totally at odds with my 9" Hercus and it's more curvaceous and I will admit, complicated form. It was not well maintained, a couple of things were broken giving the little lathe a forlorn look. So when Pete F said " fiddling with the Emco was a delight." and PDW made his comments about the Maximat 11, I thought I'd have another look at the V10.

The machine below sold on Ebay in the US back in March for $1,925.01.

I do like the tee slot orientation in the cross slide and the milling attachment most probably has more Z travel than either of my mills.:no:

It is funny how tastes change ( or preconceptions disappear ) with exposure. I had difficulty with the shape of Schaublin's larger, post mid 60's lathes. Now I would make room for one though the chances of ownership of one of their Austrian cousins would undoubtedly be higher!

BT

[Dave J]

Hi Bob,
I have not seen one of those lathes personally, but for that sort of money you could buy some bigger and better if you had the room.
I had a Hercus for around 18 years and after upgrading to the Toolex 12 x 36 lathe I would never go back as it is much better.
The squareness or curves don't bother me as I am more worried about about capacity and the features of a lathe/mill.
The 12 x 36 is a lot more rigid, has power long and cross feeds and has the capacity to turn car fly wheels in it which I do ever now and again. Other than the bog job on the outside of the castings (which is a lot better than the H&F's lathes), I haven't found any quality issues with it in nearly 7 years .
I wasn't on the internet when I bought it, and almost bought one from H&F's, but from what I have seen and heard on these forums I am lucky I didn't as there have been all sorts of issues with them.

The mate I sold the Hercus to still has it and is happy with it for what he does, though if he had the funds he said he would buy a 12 x 36.

Some people go after the brand name even though they maybe limited in capacity, because thats what they want, but for value for money these Chinese lathes are a good choice as long as you pick the right importer.


Dave

[Big Shed]

There's one for sale on Ebay (Canberra) with about 7 hrs to go, $1525 so far.

[Pete F]

Some people will go for "bigger is better", others will go for quality. It's all a matter of personal preference. However there is no comparison to an Asian built lathe and something like an Emco.

Pete

[Anorak Bob]

So here's bigger http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=182733&d=1316998060AND better

[Pete F]

Is that your new lathe Bob? Have you told your wife about that yet? :p

[Anorak Bob]

I spent 3 days moving the 13 into position in the shed. It weighs a bit over 500 kilos. That 150 tips the scales at 1250. Hard to sneak something like that into the shed and avoid detection.

I downloaded a 150 brochure from the French website Joe provided a link to. There is a penciled price at the top of a page. 62,000 Swiss francs in 1978. That's 70,000 Australian dollars at today's rate. Serious dosh!

BT

[Dave J]

Thats a nice stout looking little lathe Bob, but for that price these days, it would buy you a nice CNC lathe where you could watch it do it.:D

Dave

[Anorak Bob]

Bear in mind Dave that I still draw using a pencil while the rest of you use SketchUp.
I'd be lost on the CNC stuff. The manual 150 would suit me fine. :U

BT

[Dave J]

I agree Bob, but I couldn't see you paying $70,000 for a work shop lathe. For that price you could buy a CNC and lessons to use it, and also buy a new/used manual lathe.

I wouldn't be happy unless I had a manual lathe in the shed. For the time it takes to program some parts it would be easier to manually make it.

I see your going on holidays, have a great trip and I hope all goes well. Don't spend too much and if you do hide it on the way home.LOL

Dave

[Anorak Bob]

No, sadly not even in my dreams would I be spending 70 large on a lathe.

What I like about the machining that I do is the opportunity to make spontaneous adjustments and alterations as I'm doing it. I know you do it. I imagine with CNC all the planning is finalised prior to pressing start. Not a lot of fun in that.

The trip overseas takes in Berlin, Prague, Munich, Lucerne, Lyon and Paris. You can guess what I will be looking for in my travels.

Thanks Dave. We will have a great time.

BT

[Greg Q]

I have had the occasion to actually run my sweaty fingers over a pristine-as-new Schaublin 135C*. It was much better than my very high expectations.

*(Privately owned, in this country)


The U of WA Physics lab bought a 135 five or six years back. The manager told me they paid close to $100K

I rather like my Hembrug the more I work on restoring it...nice combination of conventional features and size/mass. No gimicks...just a pleasant old-school lathe.

[RayG]

The U of WA Physics lab bought a 135 five or six years back. The manager told me they paid close to $100K


Hi GQ,

Reminds me of something someone once said....

The only thing faster than light, is the rate at which the physics department engineering budget decreases... I guess, especially, when they have a liking for Schaublin.. (Warp 9)

Regards
Ray

[Anorak Bob]

They have a taste for Swiss. I don't know when this was last updated. I can recall seeing the same machines on the list a few years ago. Maybe I should go down there and dribble on the window.

Physics workshop equipment


Electric discharge machining equipment

MachineRating/accuracy KTC "Ezen Plus" CNC EDM Hole Drill 0.08 - 4.00mmxxxxx0.05mm minimum wire diameter

Lathes

MachineRating/accuracy *Schaublin High Precision 120 0.001 mm **Schaublin High Precision 125 0.001 mm Sheraton Challenger 0.005 mm Sheraton Cub 0.005 mm Hercus 9" bench 0.01 mm Hercus 260 0.01 mm Holbrook C 0.02 mm Holbrook 0.01 mm Tos 0.01 mm Chin Yea 0.01

Milling machines

MachineRating/accuracy *Schaublin High Precision 53 0.002 mm **Schaublin High Precision N53 0.002 mm Johnford 0.02 Cincinatti 0.005 Kao Fong 0.05 Annayak 0.05 Pegard Horizontal Borer (second hand) 0.05

Welders/Furnaces

MachineRating/accuracy Miller Gold star 2.5 to 500 amps Linde Plasma 0.1 to 10 amps Hughes Mini spot Brew Vacuum & Inert atmosphere furnace (Secondhand) 1,370°C programmable Radyne vac brazing

[Greg Q]

Physics workshop : School of Physics : The University of Western Australia (http://www.physics.uwa.edu.au/staff/workshop)

My mistake...it was a 125 obviously. Bob, see if you can't sneak one of those -53's out of there.

GQ

[Dave J]

What I like about the machining that I do is the opportunity to make spontaneous adjustments and alterations as I'm doing it. I know you do it. I imagine with CNC all the planning is finalised prior to pressing start. Not a lot of fun in that.

BT

It's a good feeling you get when making something by turning the hand wheels manually, instead of the machine making it for you. You bring up something I hadn't thought of with making alterations to the part so it's more pleasing on the eye etc. As you say once you push the button you can pretty well forget about it.
I have read that there is hand wheels for the CNC's that give you complete manual control, only without the effort of turning them.

Sounds like a great holiday, don't eat to much or they will charge you double on the way back. Come to think of it, you would be better off starving yourself so you can bring back more goodies.
If you have time to take a few pictures and post them up I am sure all us guys that could only dream of going their would be interested.

Just watch dribbling down their window, as they might send you the cleaning bill.:D

Dave

[pipeclay]

Dont the CNC machines the blokes play with making in this and other forums have the manual feature.

[WillyInBris]

Dont the CNC machines the blokes play with making in this and other forums have the manual feature.

Most dont, with small mills like the X3 you lose manual control with the kits you buy, you can do a lot through the software but you need to usndrstand the language I guess it can be done but a lot of fluming around is required probably only worth it if it was a big mill and they cost a mint to CNC from what I understand as well.

I have been thinking about CNC'ing my little C3 lathe but I wont be doing this until I buy another lathe that I can leave manual the reason is its just easy to whip a part out without designing etc well that's what I find.

I think I have a seen a Hercus CNC'ed not sure maybe its a user on this forum? not sure if the kept manual control but it looked good.

[Anorak Bob]

I think Dave may have been suggesting something along these lines for the money I mentioned. You'd still have a bit of play money left if you bought this one. It's a 2005 HAAS TL-1 CNC toolroom lathe. Seller's chasing 23,500 US dollars. There are a number of Haas machining centres available in the States that are likewise attractively priced if that's your inclination.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=182771&d=1317023060

[Pete F]

Personally more often than not machining is a means to an end and not the end in itself. I'd have no hesitation in using a CNC lathe, it's just for some things a manual machine is simply faster. Indeed I would eventually like to get something like the Hercus CNC lathe (incidentally NOT because it's a Hercus for those who think I have some infatuation with the brand). They are incredibly over-engineered for the type of work they typically do, and are very compact. Most (all?) CNC work I would do would be relatively small so they would be a perfect size for me. I think it would be difficult to have a CNC only lathe with no manual machine available.

Pete

[vk4]

I have a small UNIMAT 3, had it since 1981, still has all the original tooling.I brought this LAthe in Geelong when I was stationed at Queenscliff at the command & staff college, (1980 -1983).

I used it to build a working model of the disappearing gun, I believe that the model is now in the Museum down there now.

the Lathe is in reasonable condition and is still regularly used.

Jeff