I've been debating for a while whether to get a mini lathe like the Siegs to see if it's useful for making occasional odds and ends and whether I can learn the necessary knowledge and skills, but this old Mc Pherson just popped up on Facebook Marketplace for a lot less than the mid-range Sieg types would cost new. It's bigger than I want or need, but I can live with that.

Although it's very old, I'm guessing that it might still be more durable than modern relatively cheap machines out of China with plastic gears and, according to various reviews I've seen on Sieg type machines, somewhat uneven manufacturing standards, accuracy and reliability.

No tail stock is illustrated but there are two boxes of lucky dips under the lathe, so there's a pretty fair chance that there's more there than I'm likely to need.

First picture looks like a couple of teeth missing on bottom row about 8 or 9 teeth to right of motor / belt cover. If so, I wouldn't buy it.

Assuming that the motor spins the chuck without obvious run out and that the sliding parts are tight, would I be wasting my money buying this or should it be able to do the pretty simple work I'm likely to do?

Apart from the motor and bearings which can probably be replaced from current stock, is there anything that could break or wear and not be replaceable nowadays?

Would the tool holder accept modern carbide tools etc or, if not, could it be readily modified to do so?

Are there hidden traps for young players, like weird and no longer available taper sizes for the tailstock and so on?

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...3-062787854102

Thanks for any advice or informed comments.


Read the full thread at metalworkforums.com...