Thread: Lathes

for wood or metal? what's he want to make?

More like what does andy want to make using his boy as an excuse! still cheap way of going about it making it his birthday and xmas present means you still get stuff for yours

It'd be wood.

We try to buy the heavier stuff, but almost all of it now is coming out of China. I'm pretty sure even the Woodfast stuff sadly is.

If metal in the way of a cheapie I have one of these https://ishop.gasweld.com.au/ishop/stock/item/580508.

Surprising what it can do. I made a coolant tray and use a fish tank pump on it.

Not the best or most accurate out there but I got it on a special price

For a grand you have limited choice in size. Check on the consumables as they can get away in price before you jump in.

I got mine for around a grand with a basic set of tools.



Tony

https://ishop.gasweld.com.au/ishop/stock/item/580508

I've never seen those! Absolutely brilliant, especially for home/small workshop.

You are all wrong.
STEEL.
No I dont need one.Lindsays interests at the moment are BOMBS, FIREWORKS,AIR POWERED RIFLES(have holes in my shed) and a JET ENGINE!!!! He is 14,at least he isnt sneaking off drinking and druging it with others.
He built an air powered piston motor using the school gear which impressed the hell out of quite a few people He is also studying aeronautics,pretty sure it will impress the hell out of the teacher and class when we take his jet engine in for a demo once its built
Seen some impressive fireworks bombs on the beach(IN COMPLETELY SAFE CONDITIONS) and some Thermite experiments he is doing at the moment.
He has been in the top 5% in the state in his school testing since primary school He finds school boring and no challenge,hence the allowing under supervision to do stuff other kids wouldnt dream of.
Andrew

I have 2 lathes. One a tiny watch makers one, the other a large model engineer's size lathe (8" dia swing, 4' bed). Both are nearing 70 years old, and apart from the big one not being set up at the moment, both are superb machines.
For the money, you could pick up a very nice Aussie, american or European made lathe and a heap of tooling, and if you choose carefully you'll have a more accurate and capable machine than buying new chinese gear.
You may want to consider getting in touch with a local model engineering society for advice or find out if one of their members is selling a lathe.

Now I wish I had a mill
Cheers,
Mark

Bugger... the computer got out of control and I lost my reply.

In a nutshell I was saying firstly send him to my school! I need students like that!!!

I also didn't know you could get metal lathes for that cost.

But, I'd be looking for rigidity in the bed, carriage and tool post. The machine generates more force than what you would think and deflection causes a lot of problems. You will even get deflection in just the workpiece creating visible tapers when parallel turning with machining as close as 40-50mm from the chuck.

I'd also just check it has enough grunt to drive the project and that you can do all of the usual things like grind and fit your own tools, it has a compound slide and tailstock etc.