Which bench lathe do I need ?

Hi all,

I'm a newbie to this hobby and semi retired but looking for something to pass away the hours. I've been thinking for a while about treating myself to a small lathe and some decent tools.

I was looking at buying a Warco 180 (at £750) but the more I look at the catalogue the more I lean towards the Warco 240 (at £1080).

I'm pretty sure for the small projects I'm likely to make the 180 will be big enough but I am intending to buy a machine that will last me the rest of my days and won't need upgrading in a few years so the 240 looks attractive.. I'd rather pay an extra £300 now and have piece of mind knowing I won't ever need to upgrade.

Has anyone got experience of either (or both) of these machines ? Does the 240 justify the extra cost ? Is it likely to be too big for someone interested in making small Stirling engines ?

Many thanks

Peter

I bought a warco lathe and a spent more time replacing broken parts than i did using it. broken gears, belts at £24.00 a time cross feed nuts were as soft a cheese gad to make my own in the end out of bronze. scraped it and bought a boxford.

Someone once said to me "You can do small work on a big lathe, but you can't do big work on a small lathe".

Marvellous work has been done by folk on a small lathe, bigger than the designers ever imagined. (See what has been done on Myford ML7 and Super 7s) BUT

My advice would be to go for the larger lathe. If you need to do small work, you can always use a smaller chuck or collets to hold smaller work.

For the record, my lathe is a far eastern one, of the Warco BH600 / Chester Craftsman family. Not perfect but no insuperable problems over the eleven years that I have had it from new.

A good secondhand lathe, can be a worthwhile purchase. Sometimes, you may have to hunt for accessories, such as Changewheels, or Steadies, but don't disregard secondhand machines that are in good condition.

Do beware of ones that are worn, have been abused, or bodged! Take someone with you who is experienced when you go to look. Your pal will probably also know if the asking price for the lathe and / or accessories is fair.

If not already a member, find your local Model Engineering Club, join and take advice from various members.

There is a WORLD of experience there, and on these Forums. Tap into it! and Good Luck

Howard

Hi,

Thanks for the advice, I'm not far from Harrogate in Yorkshire so intending to go to the model engineers show there in a couple of weeks. I'll take a look at the machines on offer and possibly treat myself

While you are at Harrogate, if not before, talk to the club stand personnel for some one to one advice. Also as you have time on your hands plug through all the entries on this forum for the last year. There are loads of threads about lathe choice as it comes up about twice a week, plus you will learn all sorts of other stuff. Lots of them centre on Warco and Chester but also a couple of other local dealers who basicly do the same models with different paint. eg toolco, amadeal, etc Again the clubs at Harrogate might put you on to a local supplier with good service.

If you take out a subsription to ME now I thinkthe freebie is a Wixie angle thingy which is pretty useful too.

It is a pity Paul abive has had troubles but I think most people find the far eastern lathes, regardless of importer, to be pretty good if you are after a new machine. If you are lucky and know your stuff you can sometimes find a good condition old lathe like a Boxford, Colchester, or harrison but you can just end up with a different but related hobby of machine restoration (which like car restoration can be very satisfying too)

The smaller lathe should be OK for teh sterling engines but if you do venture onto other things like stationary steam engines you may be a bit limited for choice of subject as a good proportion where designed with the Myfords gap bed in mind so will have flywheels of 9" dia. The larger machines will also have a bit more power so although both will make the same parts you won't be wasting time taking lots of small cuts on a lighter weight machine which can get a bit tiresome.

On those size machines you are unlikely to have any plastic gears of thin belts. I've had the slightly larger 280 for 6 or 7 years and only needed a new set of brushed and a vari speed pot, less than £10 for the two and I do knock models out at quite a rate.

The smaller lathes that have plastic gears use them as a sort of safety feature as its easier to replace a stripped gear if the machine is overloaded than burn out a motor or damage the drive train.

Thanks for the help

On the Warco lathes the maximum swing diameter is either 180 or 240mm, is that figure actually achievable in practice or is it an unrealistic quote ?

To make flywheels I could envisage needing a full 180mm diameter on occasions but can't imagine myself ever needing to turn anything larger than 240mm.

Hi Peter

I'm a beginner as well - buy the largest small lathe that you can afford (not the best way of putting it but trust you know what I mean) especially if you plan to keep it long term. It takes lots of time and work to make things especially when you are learning, you may get to find like me that its good to have something as substantial / large as possible at the end of it. When I bought my first lathe I also thought it would be good to make some small models but I now find it more satisfying to work at as larger scale as I can. I'll go up in scale again with my next engine even though no doubt I'll have to pay to get some of the larger bits done - I should have bought bigger when I upgraded (so I got it wrong twice), just be sure that you think that bit of it through.. It helped me enormously in learning and planning to put the build on here - or wherever you find the most interest as getting regular feedback is so helpful starting out. I was fortunate to have lots of interest and help here on my first build (not much this time though sadly) and it got me going. There are some other similar forums more dedicated to model engine building as well but its so worth getting at least your 1st build on one somewhere. You will likely get a small mill as well perhaps - the most important thing I have found is to get one with the greatest distance between table and tool holder / quill as you can and plan to use it for accurate drilling as well, so again buy as large as you can and take into account the double use - I find I use the mill as much as if not more than the lathe...

All the best, happy anytime to point out all the holes I fell into early on if you want to get in touch..

Allan.

Speaking from using my 280 which the same will apply to the 180 & 240

As you get near to the maximum swing the two legs of the carrage will get in the way so you have to have a bit more tool hanging out the toolholder than is ideal.

As an example this is a 270mm flywheel, if you look just to the right of the drill you can see it is very close the the rear "V" of the bed and the 5mm clearance would take it upto the 280mm max. Although covered in cast iron swarf you can also see the two legs of the carrage that if taken much closer would hit the flywheel.

This also means that to turn the outsidee diameter you have to have the tool a long way out and the topslide fully extended

So yes they can turn to their max quoted dia but best to treat it as 20-25mm less. having said that its usually only once on an engine you need a big flywheel so not a great hardship, bit different if you were working to the max capacity every day.

Edited By JasonB on 22/04/2015 14:21:10

Some great advice there, thanks.

With a bit of luck at the Harrogate exhibition I might be able to negotiate a bit of discount from the traders, or possibly get them to throw in a few extras