Bought a Boxford...

Morning all, I've come to metal late; I've been making things out of wood, plastic, clay, anything but metal really since early childhood but have finally seen the light. Bicycles were what got me going, I've modified several and am now near to finishing a frame frome scratch - lugged steel, brazed together. I bought a Boxford a year ago and have made various small parts for bikes with it but now I'm engrossed in the process of making new parts and gadgets for the lathe. Once I get that out of my system I'm thinking I'd like to build something steam powered, hopefully an improvement on the Mamod engines I used to burn myself with as a child.

William Chitham.

Thanks for the introduction, and welcome to the fold! I built a 531 bike frame back in 1978. I won a road race on it the following year, and the rather sad-looking frame is still hanging up in my garage, rusty, cracked and with a stuffed bottom bracket shell. Can't bear to throw it away...

Good luck with your steam project. Tubal Cain, aka Tom Walshaw, published a couple of books on "simple steam engines" and they're well worth acquiring for the gems they contain as to how to go about it. I built his steam crane "Hercules" for my nephew and it was a very interesting project.

Welcome to the forum from another Boxford (lathe) user William.

If you have any questions you have but to ask.

Brian

For an entry level lathe, this looks like its worth a punt. Still lots to spend on chucks etc and little possibility of converting to a screwcutting lathe, but cheap.

**LINK**

Cheap yes but after a year of messing with my Boxford CUD not one I would recommend to a beginner. Being able to cut screw threads was an absolute revelation to me, indeed I now regret not spending a bit more for a gearbox equipped lathe with power feed both ways. Boxfords can be upgraded but the parts are exorbitantly expensive, I have fitted a model B apron to mine but a Mod A gearbox is way beyond my pocket.

William.