Touch screen??

[Muzzer]

Good to see it. Even better if you can bring yourself to drill a few holes in the machine itself - that might keep the knob polishers at bay if you ever need to trade it in for something better.

[Doddy]

Good to see it. Even better if you can bring yourself to drill a few holes in the machine itself - that might keep the knob polishers at bay if you ever need to trade it in for something better.

Any conversion, it's important to understand what your goals are - for me, it's a lathe that fits a small nook in the shed, and still allows me to squeeze into the work area near the mill. Not, as you might say, polishing the knobs.

I've got to the stage where I've more bits stripped off the machine, than what remains on the machine. A tipping point where I can start to sell off bits rather than wistfully think of future restoration. Bed, spindle and saddle is all that I have left of the machine, and a bag of bits that is getting close to paying off what I originally spent on the machine.

[Kitwn]

I have come to realise that the Chinese mini-lathe is basically a set of parts from which it is possible to construct a usable lathe if you put in enough time and effort. It's the old triangle of COST, TIME, QUALITY. Fix one and the other two are inversely proportional. I couldn't afford even a Myford anyway. Retirement is getting closer (I now know the address of my future 6m sq workshop in Tasmania) so I might get to begin work on it sometime next year.

[John11668]

I have come to realise that the Chinese mini-lathe is basically a set of parts from which it is possible to construct a usable lathe if you put in enough time and effort. It's the old triangle of COST, TIME, QUALITY. Fix one and the other two are inversely proportional. I couldn't afford even a Myford anyway. Retirement is getting closer (I now know the address of my future 6m sq workshop in Tasmania) so I might get to begin work on it sometime next year.

Is the working population of Australia , progressively retiring to Tasmania??

I suppose there are few decent british lathes coming available there, so you need to trade with near neighbours and then try to make a silk purse .

I never thought much of Myford though and cant see why they have such high asking prices.
For a well equipped and compact lathe I would have gone for Boxford AUD but even they are now so sought after that their prices are overtaking Myford, Even the poorly equipped TUD models are probably a better platform on which to build a CNC version.

MY Bantam is too precious to break down though. I couldnt be without it for the months it would take me to convert and get used to using.

So Back to my TCL so I can try to make it work reasonably.

[Kitwn]

Is the working population of Australia , progressively retiring to Tasmania??

Quite a few of us. Having suffered 12 summers with New Year temperatures around 45C and the property prices still (for a short while anyway) being so low if you avoid Hobart it's the perfect place for us. Tasmania is a bit like the England you wish England was like.

Kit

[John11668]

So what I take from this is that touch screens and Dedicated controllers all have some issues which could add complications to my TCL conversion. And I dont need those at this stage.
So back to that thread. My thoughts are to get the machine working on a software I am familiar with, then convert to a better software for lathe.
Keyboard options are in the future at this stage but thanks to all for your thoughts.

[Kitwn]

John,
You don't have to use the latest technology, but you should always use an appropriate technology. Sometimes there's no substitute for a real button with real wires.