Inherited lathes

My father died recently, and it fell to me to clear out his man-shed. In it, there are two lathes – of which he was very proud. One is Clarke Metalworker 6-speed and the other is a Clarke Metalworker Variable Speed (photos available) and the other is Unfortunately, I know nothing about lathes, so I am seeking advice. I have attached two photos of each. My question is: are they wroth anything? If so, how should I go about selling?

The Old Man was a subscriber to Model Engineer for as long as I can remember, so I thought this was a good place to start.

Many thanks in advance.

Please read this Posting pictures in a thread

Martin C

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Martin & Bill - many thanks. here are the photos (two of each lathe)

Hi Adrian, they are certainly worth selling, but I can't give you a value. Take a look at those at Machine Mart bearing in mind that these are new prices, so age and condition will make a difference. I don't know whether the classified section on here allows open to offers, but I'm sure someone would be interested in them.

Regards Nick.

Hi Adrian, sorry to hear about your Dad. Its always a sad time when you have to dispose of a lifetimes work of collecting tools etc.

Besides the lathes, I expect that there are many small tools which don't look particularly useful, but I expect that there is probably as much value in the bits and pieces as the lathes themselves. To give you an idea, I have a well worn older lathe and an old milling machine. My total estimated second hand value of the workshop is around £25,000. If I take away the value of the lathe and mill it would leave 23,000 for insurance value, so even if I divide by 2 it still leaves a lot of value in the bits and pieces ! If you don't know / can't identify what you want to dispose of, perhaps get someone to dispose of them for you where you would offer a percentage of the sold value.

Bob

One of the tricky things for someone with limited knowledge is knowing which bits go together. So on the Clarke lathe for instance there is a 3 jaw chuck which will have somewhere a key and a second set of three jaws. The latter are often mislaid and knock £50 off the value of the chuck.
That is just one instance so if at all possible I would wait until things are a bit more open and someone perhaps from this forum or a nearby club can come and advise you on that kind of detail.

The people to avoid if possible are the 'house clearers' and garage traders who will give you little and put it all on ebay.

The 6 speed looks like a CL500M, and the smaller one a mini lathe.

There are posters on here who have and use CLM500s (A combined Lathe and Milling machine )

As said, it is important that the three jaw chuck has the second set of jaws (Note that like the set in the chuck, they will be, or should be, numbered, 1,2 and 3 ).

The mini lathe will be well known to many posters.

Neil Wyatt, having written a book on his Metalworker lathe, will, be very familar with it, and can give advice.

There should be sets of gears with both lathes. Don't mix them between the two machines.

Those for the mini lathe will be plastic, in all probability. The set should include:

20T (2 ), 30T, 35T, 40T (2 ) 45T, 50T 55T, 60T, 65T, 80T (2 )

The mini lathe has the Milling Attachment as an additional accessory, which does not normally come as a standard part for the lathe, but was bought additionally.

If you Google "Clarke CL 500M Manual", you should be able to download a manual, which will list the changegears available with the machine. Page 12 will show all the accessories that came with the machine, and allow you to identify the two sets of jaws for each of the 3 jaw chucks (See Page 25. Look at the teeth on the back. They will be the opposite way round for the internal jaws from those for the external. ).

H T H

Howard

Edited By Howard Lewis on 11/04/2020 19:24:57

If you contact your local Model Engineering Society, there may be someone there who, could give a better idea of prices.

If you go to one of the dealers specialising in Model Engineering machines, they will offer less than you could get by a private sale. (They need to make a profit to stay in business ) This is where, hopefully, the local M E S may be of help.

Howard

The blue one is a Clarke CL500m and is worth approx £500-£700

The yellow one is a Clarke CL250m and is worth approx £300-400

These are estimated using ebay, if you sell privately expect the lower end of the range and any extra tooling you have will obviously effect price upwards.

Hope that helps.

Edited By Hollowpoint on 11/04/2020 20:10:03

Look on ebay, advanced, search, completed listings to get an idea of what they go for. Wait until this virus is over and then sell on ebay. A video on youtube will help you to get a good price. List all the accessories that go with them. Also time the sale to end on a friday or saturday night. Make it the first weekend of the month as people have just been paid.

Good luck

Just wanted to thank you all for your time and help. I will take your suggestions on board and see if I can get something sorted when all this Covid-19 crisis blows over.

Many thanks

Hi Adrian,

Be aware that there is good value just in the items on the wall behind the lathe in the first picture:

Chucks on MT arbors, nice boring head etc etc. All will be very easy to sell. As other have said the smaller items often do as well in aggregate as the main machines.

Good luck with an unpleasant task.

Regards, Martin