Portass Dreadnought?

Been offered one of these for £300 with all its tooling,  and this is in the same city as me so no courier costs.

What quality level were these lathes and are they worth buying ?

Edited By Rich2502 on 09/06/2022 20:19:58

Presumably you have looked at lathes.co.uk?

If the machine is in reasonable condition, not too much wear, then I think you will find they are a well made accurate machine. I've never used one but a friend had one for many years and built several locomotives, a Dore Westbury mill and a Quorn on it. Portass built machines for many other distributors and had a reputation for no frills but sound machines.

If it's in reasonable condition, tooled up and suited to the type of work you plan to use it for , I'd rip their arm off, can't see you losing on it even if you decide to change it at a later date. I had a Drummond M of a similar vintage and it was a great lathe that I liked using, still regret selling it as I thought I should upgrade to a newer machine, wrong again!

Dave

At £300 I'd go for it . Older lathes like this one and the Drummond mentioned by Dave are a lot of fun and can produce good work. The only caveat is that it can be a labour of love getting it set up and running sweetly. Changing wheels takes an age on my Drummond compared to a more modern lathe , but then half the time is half the fun to me.

I've seen an Atlas MK1 12 " without gearbox for the same money now, bigger than I need but...