Thread: Lathes again

I know that there has been a recent thread that discussed lathes (amongst other things). I have been looking at the HAFCO stuff and wonder about opinions on a few features.

I mostly just mess about in the workshop with small stuff but reckon that anything smaller than 300x900 would be too small (ie 150 centre height).

I wouldnt want to regret having spent a little more for a genuinely better setup.

Hare and Forbes have several lathes in that size range. They all have a gap bed, camlock spindles etc. I would also want a suds pump etc

The AL336 is a chinese lathe that looks and feels good in the shop.
It has a foot brake (which i have never had on a lathe that i have used). I can see that it would have some safety value but dont quite buy that it can be used when screwcutting in blind bores etc.

There is a Taiwanese equivalent, L 960 (about $1000 more) that doesnt have the footbrake. It also doesnt have a suds pump (but obviously one could be fitted)

The next lathe up is a chinese one A540 (356x1000mm) which has all the features and is about $2000 more than the AL336. It has a 3.2 hp motor vs 2 hp for all the others (I only have 240 single phase)

The king is the L 1000, Taiwanese 356x1000 with all the features, another $1000 but only 2hp.

All of them have a "deluxe" version with digital crossslide and carriage readouts (which sounds cool) as well as quick change toolposts etc

1.How much of an issue is the Taiwan vs China thing? (lathe quality not politics)

2.How important is the footbrake?

3.How important is 3.2 hp cw 2hp- would i miss the difference and in which circumstances

4. should i get the deluxe version?

Hi Russ.
The quality on this Lathe is very good.There is cheap Chinese and better quality Chinese.The difference is reflected in the costs.
I wouldnt have spent ANY MORE!!! We spent HEAPS more than we set out to,at least it should last him his lifetime if he looks after it.At first we told Lindsay $1200 to $1500.It soon became apparent anything in this range was of poor quality or too small.Lindsay paid around $300 of the total for tooling out of his savings,the rest is his birthday and xmas presents for the next few years.
He is looking at buying a vertical mill slide next week,around $160 from the same shop.
Andrew