Looking for a Lathe but no idea where to start.

[Shinobiwan]

Just for clarification you was asking for 70mm dia turning space that could be done by a lot of lathes even a ml7 the 70mm bore that is being mentioned is through the head stock ie if you want to put a long bar through. Even quite a big lathe would not give you a 70mm bore the normal size for a bore would be about 20mm-30mm

I was wondering about that. I thought it was a case of opening up the jaws in the chuck and as long as you've got the capacity then you'd tighten it down and away you go but then bore was mentioned and I thought what do I know, I'll go with that.

So you don't need this thing sitting in the bore of the chuck unless your feeding your bar through? Is that correct?

[Clive S]

Spot on Good luck ...Clive

[Swarfing]

You don't necessarily need to scale back the parts if you don't need to fit the part down the bore of the headstock.If not long lengths then you can fit them between centres(headstock and tailstock), use fixed and traveling steadies. You do have to keep in mind the swing of the lathe (centre height of chuck to the top of the bed). You could have a chuck with a 70mm bore if you have space to swing it but chances are you won't get a lathe with a headstock that can take 70mm. Not to fit in your workshop anyway.

[John S]

Ant,
check your PM's