Thread: Saw a lathe on Ebay today

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.

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

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. )

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

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

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.

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.

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 accomodationEffin!.....scary!! Anyway can help you if need be?
Regards,
Gary.

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.

Originally Posted by snowyskiesau

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

Originally Posted by gregoryq

...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

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,

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*.

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.