Thread: Hercuse in Sydney you guys have all the fun

a few lathes in QLD on e-pay

Originally Posted by wheelinround

a few lathes in QLD on e-pay

yeah saw them some are cheap but not what im looking for then look at the ones from Sydney and Melbourne, i saw an advanced lathe in Sydney, a tiny 7" (i think) Hercus somewhere in NSW hell even a Dean Smith & Grace for a very nice price (to high for me ) owell i want to get a lathe not sure if i will yet

That Hercus Crafsman sure looks nice Patrick. You're always likely to pay more if you buy from a dealer. I have a different problem to you, currently I've got nowhere to put anything.

If you join a local model engineering club you could put the word out that you're after a lathe.

I second the ebay suggestion. If you keep your eyes on ebay regularly you will probably find something turn up. You may be a good chance to pick up an old hobby lathe, say 7" swing, for less than $500 if you perserver. Watch out for screwcutting lathes without a gear box that don't have the set of change gears. Replacing them can be expensive and difficult.

I've seen lathes like the Qualos Junior, the Advance etc. pop up on ebay from time to time. You may find the bigger Qualos lathe pop up on ebay a bit too, I think there's a few of them about. The older machines, which are still capable of making good stuff, somtimes go pretty cheap. I saw a very early LeBlond regal go sub $1000 bucks once. That could have been a good machine. Hercus model C lathes can also be picked up at reasonable prices. The old Mars lathes, such as the Hercules and even old belt driven Colchesters pop up from time to time.

If you get an old clunker for minimal outlay now, you can always replace it with something better down the track when you have more money.

Old lathes are likely to have worn beds. But if the price is right you can still make all sorts of stuff on a lathe with a worn bed.

Originally Posted by blackfrancis

That Hercus Crafsman sure looks nice Patrick. You're always likely to pay more if you buy from a dealer. I have a different problem to you, currently I've got nowhere to put anything.

If you join a local model engineering club you could put the word out that you're after a lathe.

I second the ebay suggestion. If you keep your eyes on ebay regularly you will probably find something turn up. You may be a good chance to pick up an old hobby lathe, say 7" swing, for less than $500 if you perserver. Watch out for screwcutting lathes without a gear box that don't have the set of change gears. Replacing them can be expensive and difficult.

I've seen lathes like the Qualos Junior, the Advance etc. pop up on ebay from time to time. You may find the bigger Qualos lathe pop up on ebay a bit too, I think there's a few of them about. The older machines, which are still capable of making good stuff, somtimes go pretty cheap. I saw a very early LeBlond regal go sub $1000 bucks once. That could have been a good machine. Hercus model C lathes can also be picked up at reasonable prices. The old Mars lathes, such as the Hercules and even old belt driven Colchesters pop up from time to time.

If you get an old clunker for minimal outlay now, you can always replace it with something better down the track when you have more money.

Old lathes are likely to have worn beds. But if the price is right you can still make all sorts of stuff on a lathe with a worn bed.

oh i really want a lathe but i dont want to settle for a worn out piece of junk that will never do any accurate work and the only good thing about them are they are cheap

now i would love to have this Advanced BUT ITS IN SYDNEY. i know of one Hercus lathe in Brisbane listed on the Gregory machinery web site but its $1500 money im not sure i have and then theres the tooling to get and setting it all up proper i think id go for the little TNC lathe or the BIG old iron for some fun ...........lol is this ok to talk about in the hercus forum

With some luck and patience something like that Advance may pop up in Qld. Alternatively you could look into getting it shipped.

If you want an Advance look for the Tapered Roller Bearing Headstock model and make sure it comes with change gears. They are often missing. You can adapt a set of Myford Change Gears.

An Advance Lathe Website -

http://www.titaniumstudios.com/tooljunkie/advance.html

I wrote the section on how to dismantle and reassemble the Tapered Bearing Headstock model. I still have not completed the rebuild on this lathe yet.

Nev

well was i the only one biding on this or were some of you biding to? started cheap then went through the roof!!!! and man when i started i wasn't looking for a lathe but the more i looked the more i wanted a lathe any lathe so now i may have to go Asian and get a small mini lathes ............thinking about it they can do more than a beat up hercus and who cares id you break it?

there is one other option but is $1500 a good price to pay for a hercus? i know that some people have paid over $2000 for theres but is it a good deal or not?

Could be a terriffic deal for the seller,
Depending what if any tooling or extras come with it as well as what model it is.
The age of this lathe or any small bench lathe isnt really of a great concern,whats more important is how well its been treated.
A lathe 40 yrs old could be in a lot better condition than one a few yrs old.
Working a machine hard doesnt mean its had it not keeping up with day to day and periodic maintainence does.
In regards to your of $1500 it might be ok but for that money it would need to have a good selection of extras,if possable I would also be doing a personal inspection.

can find that all out latter but have to wait till tuesday, oh i want a lathe its either a metal lathe or the vl100 owell there both expensive

Yep - At $1500 you'd probably want it to be a roller bearing model A in top condition or alternatively have some good stuff with it. The going rate for a good model A 260 is probably more.

Second hand lathes don't cost what they used to, so keep in mind what people paid may have been some time back.

Buying second hand is all about waiting for the right deal to come up. If you want to get value for money you'll have to be patient. If you don't see the machine first you should probably err towards the condition being bad.

So is the vl100 a wood lathe?

Originally Posted by blackfrancis

Yep - At $1500 you'd probably want it to be a roller bearing model A in top condition or alternatively have some good stuff with it. The going rate for a good model A 260 is probably more.

Second hand lathes don't cost what they used to, so keep in mind what people paid may have been some time back.

Buying second hand is all about waiting for the right deal to come up. If you want to get value for money you'll have to be patient. If you don't see the machine first you should probably err towards the condition being bad.

So is the vl100 a wood lathe?

yeah i want a new wood lathe

back to the metal lathes i did some more looking and found a great big Colchester triumph circa 1950's for $1200 but its 3 phase and looks very heavy ill ask else where about this lathe but if anyone has used one of these lathes i would love to hear from them oh its a round head lathe kinda art deco i would love to have it. i also found another hercus in great condition but no price tag ( it was labled hercus/myford how do you mix them up?) and a myford on a cabinet set up for jig boreing but missing the compound slide, tool post and tail stock, the price was far to high and it looked beat up

i can afford the hercus and it would be so much easier and size suited for me but if its a high price im not going to pay, i have used a 260 before at school didnt like it much because it had been very abused

ill call about both these lathes on tuesday and hopefully go see them when i have time (got some work this next 2 weeks)

oh and just for comparison a normal bench lathe has what 1hp well that triumph is 5hp wouldn't that be nice

If the Colchester is in ok nick, has sufficient accessories, and you want something that size I don't think you'll go too far wrong with it at that price, they are reliable and capable machines.

We had 260's when I was at school but ours were only a few years old and in excellent condition. I think they're far and away the best Hercus. If you had poor teachers they might not have had the lathe's adjusted properly which would make them seem terrible. In the old days all the trade teachers were qualified tradesmen and taught their trade only, not sure if that's still the case.

I think a Hercus came with half horespower with single motor pulley and 3/4 with twin pulley. A typical belt driven lathe can't come close to using up 1hp. With carbide cutting tool at high speed that Colchester will eat up 5hp at the blink of an eye.

Originally Posted by blackfrancis

If the Colchester is in ok nick, has sufficient accessories, and you want something that size I don't think you'll go too far wrong with it at that price, they are reliable and capable machines.

We had 260's when I was at school but ours were only a few years old and in excellent condition. I think they're far and away the best Hercus. If you had poor teachers they might not have had the lathe's adjusted properly which would make them seem terrible. In the old days all the trade teachers were qualified tradesmen and taught their trade only, not sure if that's still the case.

I think a Hercus came with half horespower with single motor pulley and 3/4 with twin pulley. A typical belt driven lathe can't come close to using up 1hp. With carbide cutting tool at high speed that Colchester will eat up 5hp at the blink of an eye.

yeah the 260's were in very poor order and the teachers didnt teach you how to use them at all really just "do this and this and show the next person how to do it" really it wasn't the best way to learn, the teacher said if we broke it we wouldnt have it anymore and so he wouldnt fix it if we did really shoddy

i have been doing some more thinking on the colchester and im not sure what it is but i dont think its overly bigger than a hercus and i could have it in my shop but i would have to mount it properly and sort out the motor oh we are going to get a sparky in to do some stuff in the shed how much do you guys think it would cost to put in 3 phase?

heres a pic off the website

Originally Posted by new_guy90

how much do you guys think it would cost to put in 3 phase?

Many, many thousands..Energex will firstly want their bit, maybe $10 000 if the three phase is close, more if you need a new transformer and other bits and pieces (you have to pay for the twenty men they will send to do the job...1 working, 19 watching on)

Then you need to install a couple of new meters in the meter box, most likely have to lay new cable to your shed as the old conduit won't be big enough for the extra wires..New fuse box and then some three phase switches...

It would have cost me $20 000+ to get three phase on here, Ergon/Energex would have wanted $15 000 alone to run one wire 300m and a transformer..I got a 10hp phase converter installed for about $7000..

As for the lathe...Depending on what you want to do, if you are new to lathes and get a worn out one it will be the worst thing possible...You will not know if your poor work will be due to your skills or the lathe...At the very least try to get someone who at least knows a bit about machine tools to accompany you when you go for a look...

My first lathe was a worn out piece of scrap metal and I never knew if the poor work it produced was because of me or the machine...After I bought my new one a few years later it turns out the poor work was both from me and the worn lathe.. When I got the new one I was able to teach myself better skills where today I an just not so crap as I was... You would be surprised how hard it is to work to close tolerances even on a new machine...