Which lathe

I have had an ML7 for 30 years and indeed it is a delight to use. Even now I look forward to using it, but I agree with Bob Brown 1, it is no where big enough to do normal tasks such as vehicle components. I am lucky enough to have an M300 Harrison which is a very capable machine. I made two TVR flywheels recently without any problems. (only just fitted mind) So i guess there is both ends of the scale, you can alway make small items on a big lathe but not the other way round. If you look on Ebay, you can pick up a Harrison sometimes with tooling for the same or less than a Myford. I too am still unable to work out why Myfords command such high prices. They are nice but some times limited. Have a search on the internet for some good deals and go and look before parting with your hard earned funds.

Has anyone had any dealings with SPGtools. They look to be a smaller outfit than most, however their lower overheads are reflected in price. I met them at Harrogate and they seemed to really know their machines, they also had a range of off the shelf upgrades and accessories - belt drive kits for the popular mills, tumble reverse kits for the Chinese lathes all designed in house and warranted for use with their machines. I would recommend calling and not going on their website, as when something is out of stock, they remove the price, so you don't know if it's worth waiting for!

I was looking at a large lathe, the same as the Warco WM240 or larger (400 centres, I think it was 450 maybe) for around £700 with many extras that I'd added (face plate, 4 jaw, fixed and travelling steadies etc), One downside is they sell out of stock rapidly, but if your on a budget, it could be worth waiting for - I remember thinking, the prices aren't just cheap, its a whole different world!

They were Soumy or Suomey machines I think, these machines are not re-branded - apparently, they do have a website but I can't find it now, so I suspect I'm getting the name wrong.

Edited By Russ B on 18/07/2014 10:51:57

Russ,

I don't know them, but; from the look of the SPG website, I would think that's a very respectable operation.

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 18/07/2014 10:58:34