Ferm lathe

[karfeef]

Hi all. I'm in the market for my first lathe. I've seen a ferm one, no model number I can see. It's going for £100 with a bunch of chisels, bowl plates.

It looks in pretty good Nick. Is it worth a punt at the price, or should I leave well alone. My budget is extremely limited right now :-\

Cheers

Sent from my GT-I9300

 

[CHJ]

With no details on which model it's impossible to give any meaningful advice, but personally Ferm is not one of the brand names that I would entertain recommending.

Suspect there will be limitations on available accessories to fit the threads etc. and the machine is likely to be at the lower/lowest end of the genre.

 

[Setch]

I have no experience of Ferm lathes, but experience with their other products would make steer well clear. As CHJ said, real low-end bargain basement stuff, bordering on unusable. .

 

[wizard]

My second woodworking lathe was a myford ml8 good little lathe, when i had no more use for it i broke it for spares and made a very good profit from it. broke lots of them now as the bits are worth a lot more than the lathe.
keep well away from the ferm.

 

[Vic Perrin]

A mate of mine brought a Ferm lathe a few years ago as his first lathe, within a couple of months he realised that he had reached the limit of what he could do with it and had to upgrade it.
If i were you I would save up a few more pennies and go for a better spec lathe that will be capable of doing more advanced work as you improve your skills

I started off with a Record DLM 36 Swivel Head Lathe and even out grew that after a couple of years.

Cheers

Vic

 

[karfeef]

Thanks guys. Will swerve that one. As long as I can get a couple of years out of something to turn stuff that will probably be no more than 8"dia, I'll be happy. No doubt I'll get the bug to make more adventurous stuff later on

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[finneyb]

Merseyside Woodturners http://www.merseyturners.co.uk/index.htm meets in Huyton British Legion every month AND they have a workshop that members can use in Calderstones Park, from memory. May be worth going to get a feel for lathes , turning etc.

Brian

 

[karfeef]

Merseyside Woodturners http://www.merseyturners.co.uk/index.htm meets in Huyton British Legion every month AND they have a workshop that members can use in Calderstones Park, from memory. May be worth going to get a feel for lathes , turning etc.

Brian

I've got a session with those guys next week funnily enough, just reminded me lol

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[Phil Pascoe]

Ferm ,I believe, is Screwfix own brand.

 

[Tazmaniandevil]

I bought a ferm table saw from a drop-ship company. Burnt the motor out inside a week. Poor build quality and really not fit for purpose. Screwfix do sell ferm stuff, but I think it is manufactured in china.

 

[Sheptonphil]

I bought a ferm table saw from a drop-ship company. Burnt the motor out inside a week. Poor build quality and really not fit for purpose. Screwfix do sell ferm stuff, but I think it is manufactured in china.

And strangely I've had my Ferm 10" table saw for over 15 years and it has, and still does give stirling service. It's powerful and has taken a lot of abuse from me over the years re sawing board sheets, cls timber and 3x2 and beyond to make all manner of stock for projects. It's not industrial quality by a long way but it's never let me down and was only about £100 from new from Screwfix. Spares are still available from Germany.

Phil