New Lathe, £400-ish budget

[slemishwoodcrafts]

HI guys,

Been a few years since I have posted here, but I am in the market for a new lathe. I am looking one with increased bowl turning so a swivel headstock is a must. Budget is around £400 and ideally I would like to buy new, but if I get a good deal secondhand then I have no issues with that. I have looked at the following and wondered if anyone has any experience of them?

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/scheppa ... v-cw-base/

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/draper- ... -wood-lat/

http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-ho ... the-501268

http://www.recordpower.co.uk/product/cl ... t4AGLy54pE

http://www.poolewood.co.uk/acatalog/Lat ... ional.html

I do notice though that many of they lathes look very similar and suspect they may be just the same rebranded.

Anyway, help is as always appreciated.

Michael

 

[chipmunk]

Hi Michael,
It's not easy to advise you which to buy but I think I'd suggest the Axminster AWVSL1000. I had a APTC M950 many moons ago and although the Reeves drive on it was noisy and the head and tailstocks were a bit imprecise (failed kiss test by approx 1mm) it was ok and I'd be extremely surprised if the Scheppach and Draper lathes are any better. One thing that improved my M950 was a ply or MDF box in place of the shelf filled with kiln dried sand bags (~125kg) to add some dampening mass. The pressed steel stand will resonate and rattle unless you're very lucky. You do need to budget for a grease gun if you buy a Reeves drive lathe to keep the pulleys greased and operative and a spare v-belt is worth keeping on stand-by.

The real revelation to me was your link showing the new improved Record CL3 which actually looks to be a half-decent lathe in that price bracket. MT2 headstock with knock-out bar, M33 spindle thread, proper banjo and tailstock with a proper handwheel! The downside is of course that for your money you don't get a stand.

HTH
Jon

 

[CHJ]

The Axminster will do everything you want, need to give it a monthly bit of TLC on drive clean and maintenance if you use it a lot. I churned out several hundred pieces on a real budget end version (perform brand) over a two year period.
Has the advantage of variable speed although still on the high side for very large diameters (blanks need to be reasonably balanced)

The Record 5 speed is the better and more robustly engineered lathe and should outlast the Axminster as far as useful lifespan by some margin.
Penalty being fixed speeds, not so easy to find the sweet spot when turning oddball pieces and the niggle of changing belt positions, possibly not a great pain in the neck until you have had the pleasure of working with seamless variable speed.
If funds won't run to the variable speed version at this time then it is a future conversion (and additional expense) possibility.

 

[heimlaga]

For that kind of money you could get a top qyuality lathe secondhand. One that can swing a 60 cm bowl without swiveling headstock.

 

[Stiggy]

I'm thinking of upgrading my Sealey lathe in 2/3 months, and have been looking at a slightly lower budget than you at around £200-£300.

There are a few factors I was looking for;

Variable speed (fed up with changing my belt position)
Better banjos and tool rest holder
Decent bed for tools to slide on
3/4"x16 spindle thread (MT1 would be nice but not important)
Nice proper turny handle thing on the tailstock!

I am currently looking at the SIP 01936

http://www.toolgurus.co.uk/sip-0193...-wood-lathe/?gclid=CKLC5ZqktMsCFUE_Gwodu34Dvw

It's around the £330 - £350 mark and seems to fit all my requirements.

If I were to buy it, I would be bolting it to some 18mm ply and then fixing that to my bench.



The thought of having a steady, lovely variable speed lathe makes me dribble!

 

[chipmunk]

Hi Stiggy,
Have you checked out the Charnwood W821? It looks a pretty much identical lathe and is £30 cheaper (Amazon).
The Axminster AH-1218VS does everything this lathe does too and is even cheaper just without the speed display - which is pretty irrelevant IMHO. It also comes with new proper Axminster live and drive centres.

I can appreciate that changing belts can be a fiddle but at this end of the market I'd gladly swap a DC motor VS with MT1 and 3/4"x16TPI for an induction motor powered, MT2 and 1"x8TPI with belt changing TBH.

There's less to go wrong and the spindle tends to be bigger along with the headstock bearings with MT2 but at the end of the day it's your choice.
HTH
Jon

 

[Stiggy]

Cheers Jon, I think I'd better re evaluate my budget as they all ( including the SIP) are hobby classification - the trade is only 1000 hours a year use - I've done over 200 since November.

My missus is going to go mad!

 

[graduate_owner]

I posted this comment a while age but it's worth repeating. Axminster rate their hobby machinery as being suitable for 100 hours use annually - maximum, and very few, if any, continuous work periods. I don't suppose that would matter much for pillar drill or bandsaw etc because they tend to get used for short periods, but a lathe could well be running for hours almost non stop. I haven't heard of people having issues with their Axminster lathes though so perhaps their hobby lathes are actually OK.

K

Edit - I recently bought a Viceroy lathe. These were popular in schools and colleges and so designed for hard work and a long life. It cost me £300. You would need to make sure the outboard faceplate is present as that is a really odd thread -
1 1/4" x 9 tpi. However it is a nice solid piece of kit.