Hello from Malta

Hi,

I'm Chris from Malta - found this forum by chance while looking for information on hobby lathes and mills which at some point I intend to buy. At the moment it's works in progress building a workshop at the rear of my garage.

I got basic knowledge in turning but still consider myself a beginner, and although back in my younger days at school one of the subjects was turning on the lathe it was all basic. Never used the milling but I got an idea of how it works.

Locally there's not much to choose from and machinery is typically expensive, so I was looking at shops from the UK or EU to buy from. I'm more inclined to Warco more that to any other shop as I've seen mostly positive reviews on their equipment. I believe a local shop has what looks like very similar machines but under a different brand (Weiss I think).

I'm thinking a good sized lathe and milling would be a WM280v lathe and a WM18 Milling. Any suggestions regarding basic tooling required to start with are welcome.

Cheers

Chris

Hi Chris,

No help to you, but iv'e just sold a mill to a chap in Malta. I suppose the exchange rate will be favourable at the moment ?

I had a few reservations at first, but in fairness it was one of the easiest transactions ever. Popped it on a pallet and he sorted the rest from his end.

Hi Alan,

Yes it is, this is the right time to place an order as long as the rates stay the same. Shipping is relatively easy as there's quite a lot of transport companies which do the UK - Malta route shipping all sorts of things.

Should not cost more than 250euro to ship a lathe and a milling on two separate pallets.

Welcome to the forum Chris,

It seems Malta is a little bit of a model engineering enclave in the Med!

Neil

Welcome Chris.

​From my perspective your thinking on Warco equipment is on the right track; mind you there are a lot of very similar machines but badged differently, The majority are made by Weiss in Zhangzhou in China anyway but to ea. sellers requirements, AC as opposed to DC motors, belt driven as opposed to gearbox etc. etc. look to what comes as supplied with the machinery, quite a lot comes supplied with Warco's equipment ( usual disclaimer ) whereas with other sellers a lot are optional extras.

​Bear in mind that there is always extra tooling you will want ( oh yes you will ! ) so budget for that. Look at all the suppliers websites to see what is on offer & what extra charges are involved ( some charge delivery ). look at getting decent drill sets, metric & imperial, plentiful supply of centre drills, spotting drills, a ER32 collet set, keyless chucks, just to mention a couple.

​Whatever you end up with practice with it a lot to find out it's capabilities before you embark on your first project, from what you say that your a beginner, you've at least some experience on a lathe so it won't be long before your first project kicks off, the main thing is ... enjoy!

​George.

Hi Chris.

Kif inti u merhba.

As you can see I am also from Malta.

Do you know about the guy in Zurrieq who sells lathes and mills and other tools?

Vince

Thanks Neil, you're right, small island but lots of enthusiasts!

Hi George, precisely my thoughts as the machines look too similar!

Think that the first thing I should do is to list all necessary tooling I will be needing to start with, otherwise I'm blowing the budget with just the lathe and milling.

Hello Vincent, good to know there's a fellow co-national on here!

Yep I know the shop, I had asked for a quote for a lathe similar to this:

**LINK**

but without the milling attachment and he asked for 3800Euro, too much I think when for 2900Euro I can get a warco WM280v