New lathe

Well I finally ordered my lathe spent ages looking trying to decide but wanted a new lathe and a once only buy so decided I was going for the warco wm 250v with a stand but been out of stock for ages but they finally became available again yesterday I had decided to wait for there open day to have a look and hopefully get a deal but found out today it’s been cancelled due to corona virus worries but you could still get a show deal if you phoned up which I did .didnt get much off but saved myself a few quid now just have to wait .they said that you would they have another shipment of lathes on the way but after that who knows when the next lot will be available so if your thinking of buying it might be an idea to enquire sooner rather than later

Yes, impossible to predict the supply situation in coming weeks or maybe even months. Good thing you got in quick.

Happy lathing!

Well that’s put the cat among the pigeons ! Although I ordered the warco wm250v at just over 2k with stand a Boxford AUD mk3 has just come up for sale less than a mile from me been to look and seems good ex school machine so interlocks abound he is asking £1200 and for that all being well he will deliver and put it in my workshop which is no mean feat any advice ? Should I cancel the modern warco and get the Boxford ? Help

The gods they love to toy with us...

The Boxford

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As a Boxford owner I would agree with Bill; YES

Brian

thanks that was quick and very decisive anything I need to be concerned about lads ? Tia

I have a late 5" metric AUD so my answer would be go with the Boxford.

Without knowing the work you wanna be doing, I'd say:-

For lots of screwcutting of mutliple threads, the Boxford should be much quicker to set up and change.

If you want versatility and to do milling ops in a vertical slide, the accessories are cheap and available to suit the Warco.

If the Boxford's decent, I guess you'll be happy whichever way you go. When I was turning for pay, I liked Boxfords much more than Myfords, chiefly for the gearbox.

Edited By Mick B1 on 09/03/2020 16:16:07

Well I normally bang on about the advantages of buying new, but if that Boxford is in reasonable condition and the chap shows it working, and will deliver, I'd jump at it. Make sure the gearbox is OK though.

In the good old days amateurs rarely bought Boxford because their cheapest machine was about 30% more expensive than Myford's best. Well made and robust.

The risk is they were bought by schools. You wouldn't want the lathe from my metalwork class because the poor thing was severely abused by unsupervised yobs.

However, other establishments were much more careful with their equipment. A friend did a stint as a school technician after being made redundant aged 55 and found his private workshop included a Denford. To his certain knowledge it was never used in the 7 years he was there. Absolute bargain if that school ever decide they need the space!

Condition is everything though.

Dave

I’m going to have another look tomorrow hopefully I’ve never run a Boxford only a Colchester and CNCs how do I check the gearbox ? Visually or by sound and he had a bit of a job changing the lever over on the traverse but I think that was mainly because I was standing there .thanks for all the comments so far

I have a three year old Chester DB10 which is a very similar spec to the Warco VM250v, About five months ago I came across a very old Boxford for sale locally, after checking it out I bought it and moved it into my workshop, I would say that I now do about 99% of my work on the Boxford, I can't explain why if I am completely honest, it's just more reassuring in use. I have to fanny around changing belts to get the spindle speed I want or the nearest one to the one that I want, where as with the Chester I would just twiddle the knob to the desired speed, also the Chester has a QCTP which I fitted about two years ago, the Boxford requires me to pack tools the the correct height, despite all this I prefer the Boxford. For what it's worth the accuracy is the same, but it took a lot of messing about to get the Chester to cut accurately.

That AUD sounds like good value for money and is the best of the UD range. I bought an ex-school CUD from a dealer four years ago for £500 and they are now selling them for £1100.

I knew very little about lathes when I bought mine which is one reason why I bought it from a dealer. Boxfords are very robust and I would recommend that you run it for about ten minutes and listen for strange noises coming from the headstock bearings. Also make sure that the bed hasn't got any really nasty dings in it and make sure that anything that is meant to go round goes round.

I did an article for ME Workshop a while back about my Boxford and will email you a copy if you would like one.

Edited By Nick Thorpe on 09/03/2020 19:09:45

Thank you all very much for your advice I’ve decided to go for the Boxford ,probably be asking dozens of questions but hey ho

Ask away, owning a 5" AUD for quite a few years I know it fairly well.

Well it’s in the workshop and have spent quite a few hours cleaning and levelling it ,I must say I’m pleased with it I checked the serial number and it seems to be a late model from rom1978/9

Good news - endless hours of fun and it will appreciate in value.

Edited By Nick Thorpe on 14/03/2020 19:06:40