What to buy

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I understand the resistance to buy 'Chinese' and I personally don't like their attitude regarding IP, but they only took advantage of our market when Thatcher handed over everything when she decimated our manufacturing industry. Unfortunately we won't live long enough if we wait for our industry to revive and produce machine tools again.

Even if you don't buy a product completely made in China, you'd be hard pressed to buy anything without a component made there. Cars and planes for example have many Chinese parts, so where does the principle stop?

As I mentioned earlier, I can thoroughly recommend Excel Machine Tools. Mine was manufactured in Taiwan and I think they still are. Myford are expensive as are parts and they seem to have a 'snob value' attached. I have come across people who reckon you're not a model engineer if you don't have a Myford. Each to their own of course, I can produce scrap on any machine

Well worth a look if you're anywhere near Bristol, a few things strike me:

• No photo of the important front side, showing lead-screw, condition of knobs etc. (May be worth asking the vendor to provide one.)
• No motor or motor mount so it can't be demonstrated running.
• A motor and mountings will have to be bought separately (more money) and fitted, including the electrics
• Few gears
• Not all the parts pictured are necessarily related to the lathe. For example the Pitch Table is for a Myford, as perhaps is the Dewhurst Switch.
• The Dewhurst Switch has no cover and may be a dud. (Not that it matters, I'd rather fit new switches)
• No chuck keys visible
• Definitely collect in person at those delivery prices.

lathes.co.uk are always worth a read and they're not exactly over the moon about the Norfolk. But it is what it is, a decent enough small lathe when new, and it might get you going.

Try making an offer. £450 is more than I'd pay, but my main objection is it's small size, and the time and money it would take to get it ready to cut metal. Lathes that can't be demonstrated worry me more than lathes than can be tested before purchase, but this one is relatively simple, ie no horrible problems hidden inside a gearbox etc.

Dave

Yes but that's luck, not industry best practice! I've driven through a few red lights in my time, never had a problem...

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And that is the biggest problem for a newcomer who may have no engineering background and possibly never used a lathe even at school, they can't tell a good one from a poor one.

Would be interesting to know what proportion you let go compared to what you took a punt on.

Edited By JasonB on 27/05/2019 19:49:55

There's pro's and cons to buying either British or Chinese, British built lathes are undeniably better quality but they come with a price tag to match. The good thing about Chinese lathes is that parts and accessories are readily available and cheap.

That said there is loads of options for British made lathes under £700 quid. These are the ones I would be looking for:

.Boxford AUD, BUD, CUD

.Myford ML7 or Super 7 (if your lucky)

.Myford ML10

.Raglan Little John or Loughborough (no screw cutting on the latter)

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Hi Barrie,

Apologies if you thought I was mocking in a hurtful way, I just find human frailties amusing - especially my own! I'm teasing rather than criticising.

I do get why people like nice tools, but I've been trained to challenge it. Businesses should never invest in unprofitable tools and it's amazing how salesmen, one-upmanship, or wishful thinking can persuade theoretically rational engineers into ignoring cold logic and thereby wasting money.

Hobbyists are different, tool collecting, tool restoration, tool using, pottering, whatever people want to do with their time and money is fine by me. Nonetheless honesty is good policy; always worth questioning one's motives because another approach might be better.

In your original post you refuted Jason's point about the need to travel and look at second-hand lathes with 'I bought everyone of the Compact 5's sight unseen, never had a problem, and I am fussy.'. I don't think that's good advice for beginners! It implies anyone can buy a lathe off ebay without any bother. Now you've said something rather different: 'It is not luck at all, it is skill and knowledge. I look carefully at the photo's, look at what is in the background, read the description and then make a decision to buy or let it go. My instinct rarely lets me down on this kind of thing.'.

My advice to beginners is simply that buying a new machine of the size and type you want with consumer protection has advantages if the purchase is unsatisfactory. Buying second-hand is much less predictable, anything between rip-off and mega-bargain. Hard to tell which is which. Much safer buying second-hand tools when you know what to look for.

Dave

PS Quite right - I was lucky not to have hit anything during my accidental red-light adventures. Pretty sure it wasn't intuition or skill that saved me!

If you are in the market for any machine tool, join a Club and take with you someone who, preferably, knows the machine in question, An experienced person will spot things that you may not, even if they are not too familiar with that particular one, and save you a lot of money, time and effort afterwards.

You might do better looking at a secondhand machine from a reputable dealer. Their business depends on keeping a good reputation, so are unlikely to try to shaft you. But there can be exceptions to this!

Good luck with the search

Howard

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