New lathe

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norris

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I'm looking at a new lathe and have considered a Webaco but the spindle bore is only 20mm.
Are there any alternatives anyone can suggest?

I have thought about a second-hand Myford ML7 but would like a new lathe really.
Not interested in a Chinese made one.
 
Well im afraid there not much choice especially in british made lathes now apart from a myford super 7 with a 1 inch bore available via rdg tools, there are some very good taiwanese made machines available basically copys of colchesters, i have a colchester size chinese lathe and to be honest its a great machine, equally as accurate as my harrison, but its not made to the quality of the harrison, that said there not harrison money. but ive made plenty of stuff on it with no issues at all
 
If you want new and you don't want Chinese/Far Eastern, you could be looking at serious money and limited choice.

You can get an awful lot of used lathe for the price of a new Wabeco. I think Wabeco are German but that's not to say their machines aren't made in China!

It's very hard to give you advice on what to look at without knowing what your intended use is, how much space you have and how much you have to spend.
 
I can afford a Wabeco and they do one with a 30mm spindle bore. As far as I'm aware they're made in Germany, so should be quality and reliable. I'm actually not keen on anything made in Germany and feel most of it is overrated as the German stuff I have bought in past has failed, let me down and not lasted. I have wasted lots of time in dealerships waiting for brand new German stuff to be fixed and have wasted more time on the roadside with something new that left the dealership the week before!
 
This old adage is still true today. Buy the biggest lathe you can afford.
You can make small stuff on a big lathe, but you can't make big stuff on a small lathe.
 
I have an old (1970's) Colchester Bantam that works well for me - Only 1" bore but a proper little lathe.
 
Anchutz said:
This old adage is still true today. Buy the biggest lathe you can afford and it’ll still be too small
You can make small stuff on a big lathe, but you can't make big stuff on a small lathe.
Click to expand...

Fixed it for you 😬🤣
 
I was advised 40 years ago:

Buy the best socket set you can't afford. I did. Still have it and if I become temporarily unsure of a part's position, because it wasn't cheap I bloody well look for it. The set is still complete.

Buy the biggest lathe you can't quite afford and haven't quite got the room for.

On those lines I'm looking for a Boxford A or B series. Or maybe a Prazimat. Problem is buying them before someone else does.
 
norris said:
I'm looking at a new lathe and have considered a Webaco but the spindle bore is only 20mm.
Are there any alternatives anyone can suggest?

I have thought about a second-hand Myford ML7 but would like a new lathe really.
Not interested in a Chinese made one.
Click to expand...
I have a Myford Super 7, given to me by my dad, who had it given to him by my grandad … but my kids aren’t interested 😢
As both my dad and grandad worked at Mirrlees Diesel Engines, Stockport they collected and built all sorts of steam engines on it.
I’ve been using it for 20+ years for modelling and for parts on my airguns and targets.
I did a full engineering apprenticeship in Stockport so used a number of larger lathes in the workshop and college.
I can only advise, to get a MYFORD and there’s plenty of spares online.
Just make sure your wiring is done properly and checked.

Mine shorted out on my bench a few months ago … I found the cable my grandad / dad used was 7 core off an old trailer or caravan, they were mechanical NOT electrical 😡😡😡

WANTED; electrical engineer with knowledge of lathe wiring
 
Fluffchucker said:
I have a Myford Super 7, given to me by my dad, who had it given to him by my grandad … but my kids aren’t interested 😢
As both my dad and grandad worked at Mirrlees Diesel Engines, Stockport they collected and built all sorts of steam engines on it.
I’ve been using it for 20+ years for modelling and for parts on my airguns and targets.
I did a full engineering apprenticeship in Stockport so used a number of larger lathes in the workshop and college.
I can only advise, to get a MYFORD and there’s plenty of spares online.
Just make sure your wiring is done properly and checked.

Mine shorted out on my bench a few months ago … I found the cable my grandad / dad used was 7 core off an old trailer or caravan, they were mechanical NOT electrical 😡😡😡

WANTED; electrical engineer with knowledge of lathe wiring
Click to expand...
Lathe wiring is just ‘motor wiring’.
It may pay you to just replace the motor, perhaps install a 3 phase job with an inverter to give additional speed control? I’ll do that one day on my own myford.
 
MrBloggs said:
Lathe wiring is just ‘motor wiring’.
It may pay you to just replace the motor, perhaps install a 3 phase job with an inverter to give additional speed control? I’ll do that one day on my own myford.
Click to expand...
There’s nothing wrong with the single phase motor as it’s been working fine.
It was the constant kick of the drive that worked through the rotten rubber outer, causing the short.
I bought new 5 core and 3 way switch; LEFT ⬅️ || 📴OFF || ➡️RIGHT
However I decided to strip and clean the original Dewhurst that it came with, as with the new switch, I couldn’t get my fingers into it.

As I’d had 2 heart attacks and Myocardial Infarction and dead for 4+ minutes … I’m not happy with electrics anymore.
I did have a local "electrical engineer” 🤡 come and have a look at it, who took away my working Dewhurst, reworking it to match his lathe, then he fitted it … and it failed to work 🤬.
He wanted to strip down the Brook Crompton motor as there were 2 black wires in it that weren’t in his, that was November 2024 and not heard from him since 🙏
 
That sounds like a bit of a dodgy Engineer!
In your position ( motorless) I’d be even more tempted to put a 3 phase motor ( picked up cheap on eBay?) and an inverter to give speed / direction control although with a screw chuck as on the myford, reverse direction is not always a great option.
 
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