What lathe to get?

Hello everyone,

Thanks for all the replies, i was not notified that all of you had posted your comments, so thank you.

Space wise i could fit a M400 in the garage if i wanted, my floor space is also quite large,

I am looking to build 7 1/4" locos, such as Romulus, Sweet william and 4" Hunslet

I was going to run the lathe off an inverter, but which is best value for money? i can get a bantam for around £750 cause of contacts, i also know someone who could get a M300 for just over £1000 depending on condition.

hi well in my workshop have the following lathes DSG 13x42 , Leinen Approx 9x18 , and a hercus southbend boxford type . a nice lot of lathes and the lathe I like using the most for small jobs is the Hercus ( quick change box ) all the bells etc VFD .The hercus does the most .easy to use . the only lathe I have sold was a Myford baught brand new saved for when I was at school . would not give a flat bead lathe shed space ( I learned a lot on this lathe .book in one hand machine in other ) I find a v bed lathe strets ahead of a myford .I red all the books as a young fellow and Myford was it . so that is what I bought. . wish it had been a Hercus . buy the bigest lathe you can afford .

I have a Denford 280vs lathe, 5.5" centre height, strongly built, camlock spindle fitting, variable speed. I find it streets ahead of the Myford I had before. These are really good value machines if you can find one and they were built here in Yorkshire.

Mark Foster, would you please be so kind and upload a couple of pictures of your Leinen lathe?

I wonder if you have the same as mine.

Don't hurry with this btw, but it would be nice.

Greetings, Hansrudolf

I kNow this is a fairly old thread but I wondered if you were still active and posting as I have some questions you may be able to assist with regarding inverters. Thanks in advance

REgards Andy T

The snag with most Harrisons is the left hand position of the saddle handwheel ,your hands are in direct line of hot metal off the chuck,

I would go for a 61/2 inch lathe with 40 ins between centres,any shorter and the tailstock gets in your way. I have a colchester master 2500 which is an exellent lathe, and well suited to large loco build ,its surprising how easy it is to make small parts on a larger lathe,if required a 5 inch chuck will fit on a D1-4 backplate, I also have a super seven 40 years old from new and still very good. backing this up is a colchester triumph for those bigger jobs though when you get the wrong side of 70 the chucks seem to get heavier and a large machine can be hard work,

then back up the lathe with a turret mill (bridgeport ) and you would be well set uo for 71/2 locos

So which side is that then?

Romeo,

Since nobody so far has given info on the Bantam I'll pitch in with my experience on a 1979 1600 model (metric).

The Bantam was built to the same standards supposedly as the larger industrial Colchesters. It is a very solid, well built and relatively compact machine. It has power feed on both directions. The gearbox makes for convenient setup for screwcutting. The bore on the spindle is generous on a machine of its size. It is easy and straightforward to use. Mine is a 3phase ex-college machine and is run off a converter and mains household voltage. I've had no problems on this setup. There are plenty parts/accessories available yet for it. My best buy accessory yet was a rear mounted parting tool holder specifically produced for the Bantam by RDG (usual disclaimer). It comes with a small slotted base that can be used to fasten work on the cross slide also and costs c. £65 for base, tool and rear toolpost. Tool is 26mm and uses 3mm inserts. Works very well.

That brings me to the only fault I can find with the Bantam, ie. it has a plain rather than a slotted cross slide. Slotted slides are available but cost £275 or thereabouts. Apart from that it does anything I ask of it with no fuss.

Tail stock is MT3 so plenty drills etc. available for that. All in all a competent medium capacity lathe that will give good service.

John

Hello, to the OP, if you are interested, Lionel Fell on his "squirrels anonymous" website, has a nice Harrison M300 for sale, offers over £1250. I saw it last Sunday, excellent lathe, and a nice bloke to deal with.

Hello All, thanks for all the advice and help, at the moment i still havent found a lathe to buy, i spoke to "Lionel" the lathe sold unfortunately.

Recently set my heart on a colchester student 1800 just dont have the £4k everyone wants for one bantams are just as expensive, but i can't run a triumph as it has a whopping 7.5hp motor in it which will make my converter probably die lol

I have an M250 which is very similar to the last Bantam. As I understand things the M300 has a more versatile gearbox enabling simpler switching from metric to imperial threads. On the M250 the full set of change wheels needed for metric to imperial runs to 7 or so wheels. One thing to note is M250/300 wheels are Mod 1.5 And 6 spline whereas Bantams are DP and 8 spline these are far far more common and therefore far cheaper used RDG even do them. Another machine to consider is the Chipmaster.

Take your time and buy a good one - you won't regret it in the long run.

Tony