Adding a Lathe to my workshed

Prospecting Australia

Help Support Prospecting Australia:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
jethro

jethro

Joined
Sep 6, 2013
Messages
873
Reaction score
1,646
Location
North East , VIC
Hello DYI people
Ive noticed that there are quite a few people on here that turn out some pretty good looking machines. As the title says Im looking at purchasing a lathe for my work shed & would like to hear for anyone that either own a lathe or have access to one the you are familiar with the operation of. I have to stay with 240v as thats what my shed is wired for and I would like a machine with around 38mm spindle bore size and powered cross feed as well as quick change G.box for the leadscrew & threading. I would appreciate anyones opinions & experiences on chinese vs tiawanese vs secondhand english, aussie, japanese, american made.
 
Hay Jethro,
It all depends what you want to do.
You are pretty limited with single phase machines but in saying that there are some good machines out there.
I have a small lathe at home, the belt drive type we used at school in metalwork which is handy for small jobs.
I have a milling attachment for it as well but just don't expect much from it and your OK.
We have a couple of lathes at work that I use all the time, one of which is a single phase Chinese machine which I tend to use more than the bigger machine.
As a starting point I'd have a look at Hare and Forbes range and work from there.

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Centre-Lathes

Oh, I think unless you know what to look for I would advise against looking at the second hand market.
 
have a single phase hare and Forbes at work and it never lets us down... A good operator makes all the difference though!
 
Hey back creek. I worked in a job up until 3 years ago where I had access to a sheraton defiance 3phase machine. It was worn in the bed from abuse over the years but was still a great machine over short length cuts. Next place I worked had a chinese machine fitted with digital readout. I made a set of valve guides for a motorbike on that amongst other things that really showed up its limitations as far as accuracy went. I think hare & forbes machines are the pick of the bunch as far as price for features goes. I need more swing radius than length of cut 750mm between centres would be enough but a minimum of 32mm thru spindle is a must.
 
Hey Frank, thanks for the reply. What do you think of the quality & how were your dealings with that particular ebay store? what did freight set you back? I liked the look of your Jaw crusher was almost going to build one myself but the amount of machining put me off. When I get this lathe it will be near the top of my to do list.
 
Hi Jethro
It is free freight in that price,and it was sent within a couple of days,I found the quality OK but I am no expert,but I looked up youtube and found that others found that they were happy with what they got.
Regarding the machining it was not that great,to cut the cam,you only have to put a packer in your 3 jaw chuck of about 3mm and that will give you a movement of about 6mm for the jaws
Hope this helps
Regards Frank
 
have a look on the machinery auction sites such as grays and manheim sometimes you can find some good used equipment for cheap prices i recently saw a a lathe with a 2.4 meter bed and a chuck size of 750mm go for just under 2 grand
 
Chinese lathes are fine if you are the only person that is going to be using it and you don't crash it. Will do everything and more that a DIY'er could ever imagine. First tip is to Get that digital read out and boot it over the fence Unless you don't mind being a thou out on your final cut. I used one of several for 4 years at trade school and even though they are not as well made as your German or British you would expect in an engineering workshop I could easily pump out the same quality and presision from one of these Chinese models. just get your self a good set of quality micrometres and your away mate. There's nothing you won't be able to nock up mate. Giddy up.
 
Would an old school Myford lathe do the job? Usually around $500 on ebay, but its a desk lathe.

Ill be doing some aluminium casting again soon if anyone wants to clean up some bits for me if your close by.. having a mill would make most of the jobs twice as easy too

Ive looked into making a gingery lathe but its a lot of work and time
 
thedigger said:
Hi Jethro
It is free freight in that price,and it was sent within a couple of days,I found the quality OK but I am no expert,but I looked up youtube and found that others found that they were happy with what they got.
Regarding the machining it was not that great,to cut the cam,you only have to put a packer in your 3 jaw chuck of about 3mm and that will give you a movement of about 6mm for the jaws
Hope this helps
Regards Frank
Click to expand...

Hi Frank,
Didn't they have a four jaw chuck to suit this machine?

Cheers
Peter
 
Hi Peter
Yes it did,but it was easy to use a 3 jaw chuck to cut the cam.
I was told that you were at you claim,but had passed you by,will catch you when I get to Vic next week,have a few things to talk to you about.
Regards Frank
 
Morning Frank,
Carol was going to buy me a lathe for Christmas a few years back, wish now I had taken up her offer. :)
Yes bit over 3 weeks at the lease, going back again soon to catch up with a couple of mates who are scratching around there.
We caught up with Laurie & Roz, Dave & Veronica.
Also one very happy, first time prospecting lady from Qld who was vacuuming a patch with her SDC2300, last count she had a small jar full and was noticeably VERY happy.
Hope you are enjoying a trouble free productive trip.

Cheers
Peter
 
Thanks for the replys guys new chinese lathe is installed in shed and tooled up and running. I ended up buying locally as they said they would deliver it to my place ( Im out of town a bit ) and lend me some machine skates to help me move it around. I borrowed the engine crane from work to get it into position. all good.
 
Nightjar said:
What model did you get Jethro and are you going to anchor it to the floor? If so be sure to use a precision level.
Click to expand...
Good point mate. I'vgit afunny feeling with these lathes from mEmory don't need to be but don't quote me. Best to Check with the manual. Couldn't imagine you would be able to get a big enough job into there and off centered enough to throw it off balance and have it dance around the shed but I wouldn't like to be standing in its way if it was. :eek:
 
Nightjar said:
What model did you get Jethro and are you going to anchor it to the floor? If so be sure to use a precision level.
Click to expand...

Got a hafco AL336D as I wanted a lathe that had a threaded headstock spindle bore of at least 38mm also has a quick change tool post and 3 tool holders which is great. has a DRO which my son can drive better than I can but its early days yet. also has a coolant pump, four jaw and the usual 3 jaw chucks fixed and traveling steadies. Have bought few tools for it off ebay and I,m getting to know my way around the local interlloy metals sales warehouse. The quality of these chinese machines is not on a par with a cholchester or sheraton but they command a fair price even in well used condition & they dont tend to last long before being snapped up if they are in reasonable condition. And no I havent bolted it to the floor yet, I have sat it on timbers laid crossways and shimmed it to take out the uneveness of my floor.
 

Similar threads

M
Back after a break from PA with a tale to tell...
2
Replies
26
Views
8K
Goldtalk Leonora
G
G
Some of My Finds
Replies
15
Views
6K
Guest
G
T
Hi, My name is Mark.
Replies
6
Views
2K
Kawit
K

Latest posts

Top