Thread: Emco Maximat V10 Lathe

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

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

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

So here's bigger AND better

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

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

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.

Dave

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.

BT

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

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

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.

Originally Posted by Greg Q

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

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

Physics workshop : School of Physics : The University of Western Australia

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

GQ