Bench lathe -opinions sought

[cropwell]

My Clarke CL300 keeps shredding belts and I am ready to upgrade anyway.

What about this one as a replacement ? Anyone any experience of this machine or this seller ?

**NEW** AMA290VF Bench Lathe (11x27) Var.spd - power crossfeed - 38mm bore | eBay

Cheers,

Rob

[Saracen]

I can't comment on the quality of that particular lathe, but Warco seem to offer the same one, with a few extra bells and whistles:

http://www.warco.co.uk/metal-lathes-...wm-290-vf.html

Adrian.

[cropwell]

Yes, it is another £600 for a stand and DRO's. I think that takes it out of my budget, but I might have word with Warco when they open up after the break. Somehow I trust Warco more than the other vendor. After all said and done it is a Chinese product, and I am a bit wary of the low-end machinery. I bought a Clarke CL300 from Machine Mart about 10 years ago, and it was basically crap. One day, for the hell of it, I might see if I can turn it into a lathe

[EddyCurrent]

Or this one
Axminster Engineer Series SC8-AX1 Lathe - Lathes - Engineering Lathes - Metal Working | Axminster.co.uk

[Web Goblin]

Have a look through Lathes.co.uk and see if you can pick up a good old one. Stay away from that myford crap though.

[magicniner]

Have a look through Lathes.co.uk and see if you can pick up a good old one. Stay away from that myford crap though.

In a strangely uninformed way he's right, the Myfords do tend to sell for far more than they're worth.
That said almost all the arguments against a decent Super 7 at the right price for hobby use are based on lack of turning experience or simple inability to setup a job on a lathe.

- Nick

[Stuart Winsor]

I think the real downside of the Myfords is the small spindle bore, otherwise they are a fine lathe. I think a re-conditioned one from Myford would have been a good buy if you were only turning small diameter stuff. (Yes, I know about the later "big bore" versions but you need rather more cash than many people have available)

[Neale]

I've been very happy with my Myford - but I bought it as-new around 35 years ago when the market was very different and the current Chinese machines weren't around. My current frustration with it is that the spindle bore isn't anywhere near big enough to turn the ends of useful size ballscrews. I envy you the DRO on a lathe, though - I didn't realise just how useful they were until I bought a vertical mill with 3-axis DRO. Don't suppose that I've looked at a leadscrew dial more than a couple of times on that machine!

[irving2008]

I've been very happy with my Myford - but I bought it as-new around 35 years ago when the market was very different and the current Chinese machines weren't around. My current frustration with it is that the spindle bore isn't anywhere near big enough to turn the ends of useful size ballscrews. I envy you the DRO on a lathe, though - I didn't realise just how useful they were until I bought a vertical mill with 3-axis DRO. Don't suppose that I've looked at a leadscrew dial more than a couple of times on that machine!

Its not hard to fit a couple of cheap digital calipers to a lathe for a poor mans DRO, and even get the readout on a big display with some jiggery-pokery... of course its easier but not cheaper to buy it pre-fitted...

[Stuart Winsor]

I've been very happy with my Myford - but I bought it as-new around 35 years ago when the market was very different and the current Chinese machines weren't around. My current frustration with it is that the spindle bore isn't anywhere near big enough to turn the ends of useful size ballscrews. I envy you the DRO on a lathe, though - I didn't realise just how useful they were until I bought a vertical mill with 3-axis DRO. Don't suppose that I've looked at a leadscrew dial more than a couple of times on that machine!

No DRO on my current lathe but I will be ordering them fitted on the new one. Can't find much information on the ones they fit though, maybe Hugh can supply more information when I see him tomorrow. I fitted cheap DRO scales on the mill and they work fine.