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Centre lathe recommendations


LDC1982

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So I’m in the market for a used centre lathe, and wondered if anyone could advise on what makes and models are worth looking at and which ones to avoid. 

During my apprenticeship I always remember using Colchester students and masters which seemed ok. I’m looking for something accurate and able to cut metric threads and tapers.

budget is around £4-5k

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You should look at Harrison, Boxford and the Chinese lathes are quite good value (but need some fettling to make them really good).  Do you have 3ph elec?  If not you could install a 1ph to 3ph AC drive (that will also give you useful speed control).  Myford 7's are very popular but expensive for quite an under-powered spindle in my opinion.   For £4/5k you can definitely get something pretty good.  Don't forget you need a really good base to sit it on if you expect precision.  Plenty of good tooling available now - ceramic inserts are the business. If you intend to use ceramic you need plenty of spindle power as feeds and speeds need to be considerably higher than HSS tools to get the benefit.

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hardinge toolroom lathes are good  as are colchester harrison boxford etc    the warco and chesters are good but not as good as an earlier English Lathe  (or American in the case of hardinge i think )

 

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My father-in-law has a Colchester Trophy with all the bits and bobs. He’s just turned 90 years of age and I’ve finally convinced him that it’s time for tge lathe to go to a new home.

He’s been a machinist all his life and carried on with private work after he retired but the lathe doesn’t get the use that justifies its existence.

If you’re interested please PM me.

Father-in-law lives in Gloucester so not far from you to take a look at the lathe.

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