Saw a lathe on Ebay today

[Sterob]

I saw a Hafco AL330 on Ebay this morning with a 'buy now' price of $980. That makes it 1/3 the cost of a new one. Was tempted to buy it but wanted to know if the the seller would pack it up and send it over to WA and also what the cost of such an exercise would be.
Alas, it has now been sold and I didn't get a reply......
I think this could have been a good buy,but for the missing cost info. In case something like this comes up again, has anybody had a similar sized lathe , sent across the country before? How much did it cost and was it worth it?
S/H lathes are a bit rare on this side of the country and I am not in a large city as well, so that makes if even more of a challenge.

[Greg Q]

I think it depends greatly on volume, and the availability of back hauls. I'm guessing that most of the road freight is westbound already, so you may not get a great price.

For what it's worth, I was speaking to a lathe dealer in Brisbane today-they said that a heavy lathe usually costs $100-$200 to ship to Melbourne, based on their freight rates.

[Sterob]

I suspected that might be the deciding factor. It might be more trouble than it's worth. Maybe I should stop looking...lol

[Greg Q]

Rob...I just this morning saw a Myford 7 in WA in the trading post. I think the asking was $1500. Neat kind of lathe, but I gather the accesories are spendy.

Regards

Greg

(who is trying to decide on a first lathe and wondering about new vs a 20 year old small industrial machine vs a pre-war basket case. )

[TassieKiwi]

Myford 7 with 'normal' acc. would sell for up to $2K, maybe $2500. Veeeeery popular, as the're bloody good!

[snowyskiesau]

There is also a Hercus 260 on ebay. A nice Aussie made lathe.

[Sterob]

I just checked out the Trading Post, found 3 Myfords, but none in WA. Maybe it has sold already?...dunno
I saw the Hercus, but the guy selling them seems pretty adamant, from the description that you have to collect it yourself. We have 2 260's at work so I am pretty familiar with those machines.
I'll keep looking.

[Fossil]

I often send stuff to my brother in Kunnanurra. the freight has gone through Perth in the past, and then he gets it north through a mate of his. I sent him a lathe picked up at Sydney auction last year. Lathe weighed 1400kg and cost $500.00 to Perth. I had to get the lathe to the freight depot in Smithfield Sydney though.

[garf]

Hi Sterob,
Little Hafco AL54 going to auction here in Adelaide on Thursday 8th (lot #120), 2004 build, but might be too basic ie. change wheels, not geared head, 750mm bed length. Mason Gray Strange Auctions.I rang about it, sounds ok, minimal use, some surface rust , pretty sure 240v, some tooling.If your interested I could inspect it for you, and run it up.(public inspection tomorrow)Maybe you might offer an absentee bid,if successful at auction I could pick it up on my trailer,place it on a pallet,cover it, strap it down at work, and take it to whatever transport depot you choose for transport to W.A? Iv'e been through all this before....lol, I bought my lathe on EBay it was a Melbourne pick up,yep! car and trailer to Vic, car,trailer and lathe back to S.A in a weekend, interesting excercise driving through Melbourne on a Friday night at 7pm towing a trailer, trying to find our accomodation:oEffin!.....scary!! Anyway can help you if need be?
Regards,
Gary. :U

[Sterob]

Hi Gary,
Thanks for the offer!!!! I really appreciate it, but I am not really looking at getting that model lathe.Very kind of you to offer to do all that for me though!!
The thought of buying a lathe that way is pretty scary too...lol.

[Greg Q]

There is also a Hercus 260 on ebay. A nice Aussie made lathe.

...And being watched like a hawk from here, too. I was thinking of bidding for it, but wonder about 20 years of constant use. The seller states the wear is typical for its age, whatever that means. Also only two 3 jaw chucks, no tools.

Are they a good choice for a home shop, and can they be rebuilt ( if required)
to a high standard?

Thanks

Greg

[snowyskiesau]

...And being watched like a hawk from here, too. I was thinking of bidding for it, but wonder about 20 years of constant use. The seller states the wear is typical for its age, whatever that means. Also only two 3 jaw chucks, no tools.

Are they a good choice for a home shop, and can they be rebuilt ( if required)
to a high standard?

Thanks

Greg

From what I've been able to tell by lurking on the various Yahoo lathe groups, The
Hercus is a good machine. It's a copy of a Southbend unit and was made up until 2000 or so.
If 20 years of use included proper care and maintenance, I'd say it would be a good buy.
Check out this site: http://www.lathes.co.uk/hercus/index.html

[John Richards]

Hi Sterob,
When I bought my new one at Fiora`s last week the Bloke offered me one there
on the floor for $1900.00 I`m pretty certain it was a AL330 or there abouts, The
only reason I turned the offer down was I did not think the Brother in law and myself
could get it into the shed without damage. It was "Bloody Heavy".
Give them a ring, there`s nothing to loose!.

Regards,

[Sterob]

Ok, Thanks John, I might just do that.
By the way, which one did you buy? Manage to squeeze a discount out of them?
I'm not sure I want to deal with Fiora just yet. We had a 'breakdown in communication' a couple of months ago and I have since dealt with H&F a couple of times, and have not had problems with *them*.

[garf]

Hercus Lathes are excellant for home use! Their lathes are fairly basic in construction and can be easily o/hauled. Hercus are based in Adelaide at Regency Park, they carry a good range of spares, even for early model machines.Beware though their spares are expensive if you buy a run down machine!
I recently rebuilt a Southbend 9B lathe and some new parts I needed were a direct match with the Hercus equivalent, so I didn't have to import some parts.Others I did however usually purchased on EBay.
Good Hunting.
Regards,
Gary.:2tsup:

[snowyskiesau]

Just noticed another interesting lathe on eBay.
Although no detail is given, it appears to be an ML10. Current bid $600
If it was an ML7, then I'd be bidding for it :)

[Greg Q]

There was a very nice Myford 10 on ebay last week, with much tooling, and all the change gears and two chucks etc. It went for less than $700.00.
Nice lathe but only swings 13" between centres which I thought would limit me too much.

Greg

[John Richards]

Hi Sterob,
I bought the "AL54b" a belt drive model which is my choice really, same as my old "Hercus" was and the "Unimat 3" back in the early 80`s I think, I was quite shocked
pleasently at the accuracy it has, not what I expected of a "Rice Powered Lath".

A chap in Collie has bought my old Hercus to use in rebuilding his old Colchester
he has in the back shed. {half his luck};-}

I had no problems with Fiora in the Purchase although It would be nice if they backed
their sales up with a "few" spare parts, I couldn`t even buy a couple of small "T Bolts"
from them to beef up the Compound Rest.

It would seem they and others are happy to sell the Machines but, will only send for
parts as you/me order them.
I`ve been told this is whats called "Progress" in retail sales!!.

Very Poor Service if you ask me, I`ve thought of dealing direct with the Chinese.

Regards.