Advice sought on a lathe

**Johncs** · 12th November 2008, 01:29 AM

A lathe isn't high on my list of things to buy, but I was in a local pawnbroker's today and saw a lathe at $80.

I know next to nothing about lathes, there's a brace of them in the classroom where I'm attending woodwork class, and I used one once about 1966 (when Yellow Submarine was popular enough that 6PR played it five times in the evening).

That seemed to me extraordinarily cheap, especially as it apparently includes a few chisels.

The lathe is about 150-180 cm long. The end that is supposed to turn does so under hand power.

The chisels are rusty, and the one I looked at had no brand.

The brandname is Elephant. I sort of recall the brand name, but googling for Elephant Lathes is a challenge. Even when elephant and lathe appear in the same article along with woodworking, the elephant seems mostly to have been carved.

Does anyone have a feel for their reputation?

What do I really need to inspect on the lathe? It would be very nice to have a reasonable lathe, but I don't care a lot about the chisels for the moment, good or bad they should work to some extent given an introduction to my grinder.

**hughie** · 12th November 2008, 09:10 AM

John,

A few pics would be handy, cant say I have heard of the elephant brand.
But a few questions might be in order here

What is it constructed out of ie cast iron bed or tubular

"Powered by hand" no motor?

Length 150-180cm this equeals roughy 4ft to nearly 6ft

This is the only link I could find on Elephant lathes

http://eboinc.net/index.html

If its this one go for it.

**Manuka Jock** · 12th November 2008, 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by hughie

John,

A few pics would be handy, cant say I have heard of the elephant brand.
But a few questions might be in order here

What is it constructed out of ie cast iron bed or tubular

"Powered by hand" no motor?

Length 150-180cm this equeals roughy 4ft to nearly 6ft

This is the only link I could find on Elephant lathes

http://eboinc.net/index.html

If its this one go for it.

Hey , at $80 in anybody's money , I'll take it

**Johncs** · 12th November 2008, 11:02 AM

Originally Posted by hughie

John,

A few pics would be handy, cant say I have heard of the elephant brand.
But a few questions might be in order here

What is it constructed out of ie cast iron bed or tubular

"Powered by hand" no motor?

Length 150-180cm this equeals roughy 4ft to nearly 6ft

This is the only link I could find on Elephant lathes

http://eboinc.net/index.html

If its this one go for it.

Back to school fella

300 mm = 1 foot, 1500 mm = 5 feet.

The machine is sitting on the floor, I just spun the chuck by hand to see whether it's seized. It spun freely.

Bed looks cast. I need to look more closely.

It's not _that_ lathe. Looks like I'd need a crane to lift it. The one I saw is more like those in the classroom. It has no stand, but a Q&D bench should do fine.

Pics will have to wait until I either borrow Wife's Canon (mine's a little conspicuous) or get an SD card for Pentax (uses non-standard USB cable, misplaced, and I gave the SD card to Wife.)

**Ed Reiss** · 12th November 2008, 01:08 PM

Hughie...that Ebo is probably more like in the $8 grand range!

**Johncs** · 13th November 2008, 11:59 AM

Originally Posted by Manuka Jock

Hey , at $80 in anybody's money , I'll take it

Apparently someone did, all that's left is the depressions in the carpet.

Thanks for your time.

**Manuka Jock** · 13th November 2008, 12:07 PM

No worries mate , we had some fun , and learnt a bit along the way ,
eh guys

Thread: Advice sought on a lathe

Thread Tools

Search Thread

Advice sought on a lathe

Similar Threads

New or Secondhand - Advice sought

Advice on saw purchase sought

Advice from the IT people sought

Photo slideshow advice sought

Apricot.. advice sought

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions