Manual lathe for large diameter turning

I'm investigating bringing some machining back in house (actually back to the UK) but we would need a gap bed lathe capable of turning a diameter of ~900mm. So far I have been searching for both new and used machines, as a DRO will be used I'm not worried about it being metric or imperial. Material being machined is aluminium and as the part is a ring only about 150mm travel is required. Depth of part is about 100mm.

Not much luck so far and some distributors swapping between radius and diameter for the swing over gap isn't helping much.

Any help or suggestions of brand to look for would be much appreciated.

Vertical borer? Would be more compact, but may not be a fast enough cycle time.

Andrew

Edited By JasonB on 21/10/2017 13:09:32

Edited By JasonB on 21/10/2017 13:10:17

Hi Andrew,

Thanks, ill have a look in to a vertical borer, I think that is how they are being machined at the moment. I have asked admin to delete this thread as the title is wrong. not sure how my name got in there.

Mike

Edited By JasonB on 21/10/2017 13:10:40

This is called a vertical lathe may be the same as a borer, could be the tool for the job?

John

Edited By JasonB on 21/10/2017 13:10:59

Vertical borer looks interesting especially if we could fit a drilling spindle to the tool post as there are some holes to drill on a PCD

Edited By JasonB on 21/10/2017 13:11:22

Back in the 70s I was turning big cable reel components for the Coal Board on a Binns & Berry with about a metre or more swing into a wide bed gap, but a max between centres of maybe 2M. I came to think well of the machine, but I can't remember any model no. I think it was already quite old back then.

Edited By Mick B1 on 21/10/2017 12:14:20

sound like you need a facing lathe of some kind such as:

or has been previously mentioned on the other thread:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Binns-and-Berry-short-bed-facing-lathe-9-750-VAT-/263232210839?hash=item3d49dcc797:g:KFwAAOSwep1Zy2~i

Edited By mark smith 20 on 21/10/2017 12:40:42

A Binns and Berry machine would certainly do the job, not sure we have the floor space for a machine that long though.

Vertical lathe was what was used at RARDE / DERA / DRA for such jobs. As I recall matters the guy who drove it didn't consider it unreasonably slow but never saw it in use myself.

Setting up on a facing lathe will be a PIA. Not a one man job. Probably crane involved too. Much easier to slide around on the horizontal faceplate of a vertical lathe.

Clive.