Thread: Lathe shopping

Gidday all,
I find myself in the market for a lathe for home use, fabrication of shop and vehicle components I’m thinking.
Have waded through numerous posts but struggling to find any current information I thought I would give it a whirl.
Having never owned one but used many and varied on a casual (work ) basis I need a bit of assistance.
Have been wading through the usual outlets for a used bargain (non existent it seems) as well as the new machinery dealers.
Limited to a single phase 15 amp outlet (vfd probably not out of the question), space not really a problem as I am still setting up the workshop and don’t have everything in place.
The real question is do I persevere looking for the elusive bargain or succumb to the lure of the fancy bells and whistles.
Looking at the value for money I have looked at the offerings from Paramount Browns, and decided on a phone call, asked why there options were considerably cheaper than the opposition (Hafco and Asset) ?
Call taker was not familiar with those brands and asked where they were made as there products are imported from China. Go figure.
Being four and half hours from Dandenong (Hafco and Asset) and about the same to Gepps Cross (Paramount Browns) the suggestion to have a look and compare doesn’t really float.
Has anybody bought from Paramount Browns (call taker was at Mt. Barker and suggested a trip to Gepps Cross so may just not have been up to speed).
https://www.paramountbrowns.com.au/p...al-read-out-2/ This FI 1000 model with 51 mm spindle bore seems a whole lot of machine for the price.
https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/L565D Which appears to equate to about the AL356 model here.
Could possibly go next size down but like the bigger is better idea especially if the PB with the three axis DRO is really a reasonable quality machine.
Not in a huge screaming hurry and there are some slated for January auctions, which pose the travel, viewing problems and second hand (I don’t know what I’m looking at) scenario.
Any thoughts and ideas welcomed.
Cheers, Raggsie

Hi Raggsie,

Welcome to the Metalwork Forums

A great bunch here very helpful and supportive of one another. You will find there are many lathe owners here.Theres two dedicated lathe sub forums ,but I suggest you might get more replies in the general metalwork forum.I recall some mention of Paramount Browns several years back back, but not recently.

If you explore our pages you will find bits and pieces of interesting things all over the place.

Go to the FORUM box at top LH corner and click on it.

A drop down menu appears and you can select Forum Home at the top of the drop down menu list. Scan down the pages to look at what we have.

Please make an effort to read the Terms of Use -our Rules - pretty standard for many forums these days. By joining our forums its automatic that they apply to you as a member.,having read them or not.

Sometimes the soft ware works so you can't post pics or links until 10 posts are made ( or such links and pics are cleared by a mod)

Its anti spam thing.

There are all sorts of forums that might be parallel with your interests, found as described above.

If any questions contact me via PM and I'll try to help you.

Grahame

H Raggsie,

I had a look at the Paramount Browns link .

Did you notice the lathe had to be pre-ordered, suggesting it might not be be in stock.

Certainly it seems attractive on the face of it.

I believe you may find out about the unwanted "extras" that may come with a new Chinese lathe.

Casting sand not removed form the gearbox cavities is just one. I will leave it to the blokes who have purchased new lathes recently to fill in the details for you.

From past posts it appears that there is sometimes a bit of fettling to do before you can use the machine.

Good Luck with your search.

Grahame

It's probably not much help to you, but the difference between the machines is probably not so much features - they are all Lathe Shaped Objects (LSOs), but the build and fit quality is the primary difference. I have not bought a lathe from Paramount but they have been in business for a long time selling machines. So have Hare and Forbes, so you would expect the offerings both have to be 'reasonable'. I can't talk about Asset.

Paramount's main outlet is in Gepps Cross. Just up the road is General Tools, a family owned SA company that sells a lot of the H&F offerings (they are primarily a supplier to trade). They also have been in business for some time, so worth calling and/ or checking their website.They deal and repair second hand machines too, so if you wanted to buy new (small machines secondhand are pretty rare and there is not really the margin in it), they might be willing to unbox your purchase and check it out so you don't have to do a 8+ hour round trip just because you get it home and find something broken/ missing. (Paramount and Asset as far as I know are mainly sales outlets, so may not be able to knowledgeably survey the machine for you)

The forum pages are filled with stories of people who have bought import lathes and have had to clean them out, change oil, fettle castings, have changed bearings and so on to being the machine quality up to a level that they are happy with. Sadly, that's part of the 'build to a price' end of the machine tool market.

Michael

Thanks Grahame, call taker that I spoke to told me the container had arrived but yet to be unpacked.
Thanks to Michael as well on the quality issues.
Have read plenty and watched plenty of stuff on all manner of gear from all over the place hence the buy it new thinking, distance is my biggest problem.
Used stuff that comes up locally is either in the scrap yard or big old heavy stuff in a dusty farm shed.
Not about to push the buy it now button, I think it is worthwhile waiting for silly season to end and who knows if I can cross the border and come home again.
Regards Raggsie.

Welcome aboard Raggsie.

What sort of dollars do you want to spend?

Welcome to a TOP FORUM Raggsie.
Should you plan on purchasing from either Paramount or General tools, it won't be a problem for me to pick it up for you.
I'm in Murray Bridge and planning on going to Geelong in the near future to pick up a machine and some other items, if I can be of assistance getting it over to you PLEASE let me know?
Will be taking over a tandem 8X5 trailer, so weight shouldn't be a problem.

The forum pages are filled with stories of people who have bought import lathes and have had to clean them out, change oil, fettle castings, have changed bearings and so on to being the machine quality up to a level that they are happy with. Sadly, that's part of the 'build to a price' end of the machine tool market.

As Michael mentioned above, most of the machines that come from China, are assembled to make sure the KIT of parts are there. They usually are covered in a thick oil/grease mixture that needs to be cleaned off, so that is a good time to strip the machine, clean and fettle any items that you feel are lacking in the finish department, plus gives you a good understanding of how everything works, as you assemble it.
Regards,
Kryn

Originally Posted by Raggsie

https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/L565D Which appears to equate to about the AL356 model here.

I have the AL346 as does one or two other forum members, and at least one has the AL356 - I don't think any of us have regretted our purchases or found any particular problems.

That said, the price on that Paramount Browns machine is pretty damn good at $3k less than the H&F. The only thing missing is the opinion of someone who owns one.

It might be worth asking the shop if there's a customer who has bought one that you can speak to?

Thanks Guy’s, duplicated the reply.
Regards Raggsie

Thanks for replies guys.
Sterob, I haven’t pinned down a price it’s probably more about value for money.
Kryn, thanks for the kind offer, if I was to go and look at them in Adelaide I would take the gear to cart it home.
Rusty, that’s my thinking as well the call taker I spoke to was at Mt. Barker and didn’t really seem up to speed, so A call to the Gepps Cross store after silly season might produce more information.
One would think they would be happy for past customers to give them a good report, I have seen a guy from Adelaide who reviews a bit of their gear on YouTube but only has the smaller machine.
Maybe I do have stars in my eyes and aiming to big to start with, but I figure I will only ever buy one lathe so might as well get it right.
regards Raggsie.

If you only ever buy one lathe you will be in a small exclusive minority!
For most people their first lathe ends up being to work out what they really need/want, and the subsequent one/s try to fill those requirements.

Either way the shopping is part of the experience - enjoy!

Steve

Originally Posted by Raggsie

Maybe I do have stars in my eyes and aiming to big to start with, but I figure I will only ever buy one lathe so might as well get it right.

I hadn't touched a lathe since school, but wanted a capable and accurate machine, had no clue how to correctly evaluate a used machine (if I could find one) and could afford to buy new. The only thing I might have done differently in hindsight was spend a bit more and get the AL356 with the bigger bore, but the AL346 was on sale at the time and everything about the machine suited me, and that hasn't changed.

The only reason I can think of to have bought a smaller machine was if my budget was limited, and it wasn't (at the time), or some great bargain turned up.

Gidday Rusty, that’s exactly why I was thinking bigger is better.
I know that I have a 45 mm ram shaft to do something with so I figure 51 mm spindle bore is better than 38 or 40 mm.
Raggsie.

Ive shopped at paramonts quite a few times, Id buy small items there but would be wary of buying their house brand machines as they will be the cheapest they can import...

Had a few machines from H&F you do get value for money and back up from them(had a few problems which they sorted), hands on they look better made, Paramonts look really rough cant comment on after sales back up and the machines may be fine once fettled/cleaned up.

Personally Id be buying from the place that specializes in machinery not a $2 shop(but they do have lots of good stuff at very good prices)

Raggsie has time on his side ,so why can't we, as a group, use our accumulated lathe knowledge to provide him with a lathe pre purchase inspection list.

Our new member can then at least be armed with a number of points to check against when he fronts with whom ever he is going to purchase his lathe from.

I would be asking is it ok to unscrew the headstock gearbox cover to check the oil.

When I got mine I reckon they filled with used sump oil as it was black.

At the same time inspect the inner surface of the gearbox for free casting sand and some machine swarf they forgot to clean out.

Check the functioning of the the tailstock to clamp down strongly at all points along its bed way.

I am sure there a ton of other points but hey! its a start.

Grahame