Thread: Toolex BL330E for first lathe ?

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum and to lathes for that matter so please go easy on me.

I'm looking at purchasing my first lathe with a budget of around $3k for the machine alone. I've opted against second hand and I know you get what you pay for generally which is why I've stretched the budget a little to get the best I can. I would rather get something I can grow into than sell and upgrade later. I have set aside a tooling budget already so I'm really only looking at your thoughts on the machine.

After a bit of research and comparing specs/reviews I've narrowed it down to a couple which I think would suit my needs. Gaswelds Toolex BL330E, Unbranded CQ6133 from QLD company and HAFCO's AL320G. When it's all said and done, the specs and price of each machine seem to be all on par with each other, and as I visit QLD regularly, getting each to my door wont be an issue with extra cost.

I was wondering if anyone had any feedback or experience with the BL330E in particular? It's the only one I can't seem to find any reviews on. The limited specs provided by Gasweld all seems pretty good but I can't seem to find any first hand info on them. It appears to be Pan Sino brand rebadged as Toolex. I found a lot of favourable info regarding the quality of Gasweld's Toolex CQ6230 and this is steering me towards the Toolex one over the other two. Had the CQ6230 not jumped up considerably in price to $3700 it probably would have been my choice to begin with too.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Nate

Welcome to a TOP FORUM Nate. If you get a chance, you might like to go to the Forum: G'day mate - THE WELCOME WAGON -Introduce yourself site and write a bit about yourself, what you do like to do etc.
Kryn

I would heartily advise looking at each lathe in person. At that price range there is going to be some quality control you will have to do when you receive the machine, go over everything yourself and look for cheesy shortcuts.

Some things I like to look at that little Chinese machines often skimp on:

Threading and powerfeeds gear train, how wide are the gears, do they have some beef to them and how good are the finishes on the teeth, are they bushed well or will their bores get wallered out.

Pull up and down and side to side on the compound, does it feel properly rigid.

Have a good look at the leadscrew under the cover if you can, check it's free of swarf and gunk.

Check it can do a good range of threads out of the quick change box, also check it has some good fine feed rates, a minimum of .01mm per rev.

Extend the tailstock barrel out to max, wiggle it both around and in and out, any slop is bad

Is there heaps of slop in the carriage traverse, often they don't have a good mesh with the rack and there is heaps of lost movement, some is okay but any more that 3/16 or so of a turn isn't okay.

That's some of the stuff I would look at if I didn't have any inspection gear.



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Thanks for that info caskwarrior. Some good tips that I'll definitely check out. I'm heading to see both next week so hopefully it'll give me a better idea of the build quality.

I realise I'm in a tricky price bracket and would love to have an extra grand or so but I just don't unfortunately.

If anyone has any other machines they think I should be considering feel free to let me know.

Nate

Neil I am also new to the forum and in a similar position in that I am looking at the Toolex BL330E.
I would be very interested in your thoughts once you have seen it and checked it out. My closest Gasweld is 3 hours away in Dandenong and they don't have one on the floor.
I was hoping it had an Imperial lead screw however they are not so common these days in a size that will fit the space I am able to allocate.
I'm planning to upgrade from my Myford ML7 which is a fabulous little lathe but less suitable for my purposes these days.

Regards,
Alan

Hi Guys
I'm also look at these 2 lathes (toolex bl330e and hafco al 320g). From my research it looks like the toolex is the way to go because it has the quick change gearbox. I have very limited knowledge of these things. I was wondering if anyone had purchased one yet?