Draper lathe worth picking up 2nd hand?

[LewisM]

I've just discovered that this Draper lathe is going to be sold at a local auction. It's all done online / on the day so I've got no idea what it's going to go for, but I'm hoping I could pick up a bargain.
What are these machines like? I'm always wary of Draper but an £800 lathe can't be *that* bad...
Any thoughts on it, max price I should pay, other options etc would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Draper stuff isn't all that bad compared to Silverline etc. and should be reasonable for to be sold at that price. It's got quite good spec. although for a fair capacity it has a small thread and Morse taper - nevertheless it makes chucks easily found. If you can get for a decent price I'd go for it - you can always sell it on without losing too much.

 

[curtisrider]

Looks to be the same as my Clarke one, very capable starter machine but certainly was not an £800 retail price! I think mine retailed at £350-400 and I got it in as new condition for £150 with loads of chisels.

 

[Alexfn]

That lathe is a standard design, i must have seen it with 20 different brand names on it. I have one branded delta. Ive had it about 18 years and pretty sure i paid about 400 for it new back then.

If you can get it at a decent price then go for it

 

[NickN]

150-250 would be a good price (unless loads of chisels etc. come with it) and worth noting the speed range is 500 to 2000, making it a definite 'jack of all trades but master of none' lathe when either bowl or pen turning, imo. Of course electronic variable speed control can be retrofitted to a lathe but it would probably cost more than the value of it in this case.

 

[LewisM]

Thanks for the advice, I'll put a cap of around £150 on it.

 

[Alexfn]

150-250 would be a good price (unless loads of chisels etc. come with it) and worth noting the speed range is 500 to 2000, making it a definite 'jack of all trades but master of none' lathe when either bowl or pen turning, imo. Of course electronic variable speed control can be retrofitted to a lathe but it would probably cost more than the value of it in this case.

the speed range on this is variable it has 10 speeds