Which lathe?
Looking for expert advice again chaps. There are a bunch of lathes here, I’m looking at one of the combis vs one of the DB series (both out of china, but QC’d by the UK chaps). Sales guy reckons they’re precise enough to do even scope bodys etc, but won’t tell me the typical spindle TIR etc.
http://www.chestermachinetools.com/store/lathes.htm
I’m doing lots of research before I buy and getting to grips with what’s important re precision. So far I’ve ascertained:
Spindle TIR.
Mass of the cross-feed assembly.
Bearings.
Quality of the ways (trueness, hardening etc).
Smoothness of the drives up the ways.
Max RPM (how high is enough?).
Any advice would be much appreciated if somebody would be kind enough to cast an expert eye over the stuff. 🙂
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Ive got a Chester DV8 and im pretty happy with it for the money. As Voltar_1 said low rpm is always a must , as far top speed rpm , i havent used mine ubove 1500 rpm and its done everything so far ive asked of it. Holds tolerance fine , the electrics could be better. If you look on the Chester site theres a forum , maybe post some questions on there and see what the users say. My lathe is pretty new and the quality over my mill which is older , has inproved alot. The English machines you see is just to expensive for home work even as secondhand .
Thanks for the RMP figures, that is very helpful. I had no idea what kind of top-end I should need, though I did know a low RPM is needed for threading (but maybe better done by hand with a tap & die set…?).
I did most of a lathe course in my early twenties. I got kicked off because I’d finish long before everyone else, within spec, on a machine that had a fair bit of lash, then disturb the others by chatting to them. 😆 So I figure I’ve got half a chance of turning out useful work. Did a fair bit of metal work subsequent to that, but nothing particularly complicated.
I just don’t want to lumber myself with some piece of lashed-up chinese shite that turns out work multi-thousandths out.
I actually own a Kingston 20×80 now so the Valiant is ‘like’ mine.
You will do fine then with pretty much any machine.
Do not let your British pride chase you away from all Chinese.
It is leaps and bounds ahead of the stuff first offered.
Have fun and make chips!
Walter…
The Valiant? What would you be making on that then, the breech for a tank cannon? 😆
Thanks for the RMP figures, that is very helpful. I had no idea what kind of top-end I should need, though I did know a low RPM is needed for threading (but maybe better done by hand with a tap & die set…?).
I did most of a lathe course in my early twenties. I got kicked off because I’d finish long before everyone else, within spec, on a machine that had a fair bit of lash, then disturb the others by chatting to them. 😆 So I figure I’ve got half a chance of turning out useful work. Did a fair bit of metal work subsequent to that, but nothing particularly complicated.
I just don’t want to lumber myself with some piece of lashed-up chinese shite that turns out work multi-thousandths out.
QC’d by the UK chaps…. now that is funny 🙂
What kind of work are you able to turn out? Any of those machines would likely do the job.
slowest speed of more importance than fastest esp for threading.
50/60 rpm as a low is good and say 1500 to 2000 fastest ok.
Cheap enough if you don’t like it sell/trade on something better.
Good luck
my choice would be the Valiant 20×80 🙂
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Beware of Chinese lathes that are sold under different names and are cheap ….. They are cheap but are not good, do not have the precision to be expected. (I normally expect 0.02 mm in a diameter of 30mm say)
I have two English lathes, Harrison. High quality and high price, perhaps in second-hand …is cheaper and you will have real good lathe for all your life.