Help with second hand lathe please

[carpenteire2009]

Hi, I hope someone can help me with my new purchase- a Scheppach HMT 450 hobby lathe. This was an impulse purchase when I saw it advertised for sale, not too far away from me. I know nothing about woodturning, I've never had an opportunity to see a lathe up close before, never mind use one- thus my dilemma.

The machine was pretty dirty, with some surface rust when I bought it, but appeared not to have been abused. I stripped it down and gave it a thorough clean and lubricated/ greased as required. First off, good points:

Motor runs smoothly and is very quiet. Bearings are good, any rust was very superficial and cleaned off easily. It's a nice substantial little machine and should be a good intoduction to the world of wood turning.

Bad points:
There is a part missing from the running end of the lathe (what is this called- face plate?). Should there be a chuck or centre of some kind here? Can I improvise here or would I get something generic from someone like Axminster? As you can tell I'm a complete novice here, so any help would be appreciated.

The bristol lever that locks the motor/ belt tension is missing. Funnily enough the hex head on what remains is 1/8" AF, despite every other fitting on the maching being metric. For the moment I can adjust this using a spanner.

The belt is old obviously so has stretched and therefore not all speed/ pulley configurations are available. I don't thinlk I'll worry too much about this as I'd have to pull the bearings/ shaft to get the belt out.

The big question is- was it worth the €150/ £110 I paid for it? Thanks.

 

[parvum]

Hi Nice lathe,
Screwfix seem to be selling this lathe, google is your friend here. Your lathe is already fitted with a face plate on which you would screw a bowl blank. For spindle turning you will need a No 2 morse taper drive centre, either 2 or 4 prong. If the drive belt is knackered it will spoil the finish on your work and generally drive you mad, if you do not want to risk dismantling the spindle, cut off the old belt and use a Brammer/link belt which is assembled to length from joinable links I would strongly advise you to obtain and read Keith Rowleys book before doing anything, it is a mine of information and guidance and will save you money and more importantly physical pain possibly leading to impressive scars!
best of luck and enjoy your turning

regards Paul

good luck and enjoy turning

regards Paul

 

[carpenteire2009]

Thank you Paul,much appreciated.

 

[Dalboy]

There is a part missing from the running end of the lathe (what is this called- face plate?). Should there be a chuck or centre of some kind here? Can I improvise here or would I get something generic from someone like Axminster? As you can tell I'm a complete novice here, so any help would be appreciated.

The bristol lever that locks the motor/ belt tension is missing. Funnily enough the hex head on what remains is 1/8" AF, despite every other fitting on the maching being metric. For the moment I can adjust this using a spanner.

The belt is old obviously so has stretched and therefore not all speed/ pulley configurations are available. I don't thinlk I'll worry too much about this as I'd have to pull the bearings/ shaft to get the belt out.

Yes you can buy MT2 fittings for the lathe also as said you already have a faceplate which can be unscrewed and a chuck fitted when you buy one looking at the specs for this it is a 1" X 8 thread which is easy to get different bits for.

The Allen bolt which I believe you are talking about is standard on this machine and does not have a Bristol lever(The one where the black lever is near the motor)

I would change the belt now at least it will be ready for turning.

looks like it has cleaned up nicely

 

[carpenteire2009]

Just to follow up on the excellent advise here, and info I gleaned from other threads, I am happy to update on my "new" lathe. I placed an order with Axminster and got myself the following:

Cone drive centre (safer for a newbie like me?). A copy of Rowleys book, which came with a DVD (excellent value when paired like this). Axminster HSS chisel set- I think they were good value for money and certainly good enough to get me started. Plastic centre finder- dear for a piece of plastic but works well. I also opted for a new faceplate although I may have some more questions regarding this as it's geometry is somewhat different to the old one- I hope it's ok to use. Lastly I got the full face visor- great piece of kit for the money and certainly gave me more confidence than a set of eye protectors (googles) that had first tried when I started up the machine.

I've watched the DVD and I'm currently reading the book. I tried out the roughing gouge to see how it cut and how the machine performs- looking good so far. I have an older Tormek grinder whick I will use to put proper edges on the chisels before I do anymore. That's it for now, all I need is more time to get immersed in it all! Thanks again.

 

[BearTricks]

Dust mask. I have a 3M one. Just got some new filters after using the old ones for months and months with no issues. I only changed them because I thought it had probably been a silly amount of time, not because I couldn't breathe or they were letting dust through.

The mask was around 20 quid. The filters aren't cheap, but occasionally you find some that may or may not have fallen off the back of a van on eBay for a significant discount. Plus they work out cheaper than the flimsy disposables in the long run.