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Thread: Lathe sugestions
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6th Feb 2022, 06:01 PM #1Golden Member
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Lathe sugestions
Hello all
I am thinking of getting a new lathe. I have a perfectly serviceable QC6128 lathe (Chinese 610mm bed and 280mm swing). Yes that comment made no scenes to my wife either.
I am not sure what I want or if it even exists.
My list of requirements are as follows including the last.
- Bed must be over 600mm long up to about 1000mm max.
- Swing must be 280mm or if less have a decent width gap bed. 250mmswing is the smallest I would want.
- Minimum 30mm bore, prefer a bit bigger.
- Must be able to cut Metric and Imperial threads with very strong preference to minimal or no gear changes required. All lever operated.
- Must be reasonably to very ridged construction. It is home use but I want to take decent cuts.
- Must be able to do left hand threads.
- Must be able to spin above 1500 rpm.
So far this is what I have except for I have change gears and I don't want to go backwards.
- Must have separate control for power feed. I have to use the change gears to find the right feed rate.
- For my last requirement, which is probably the hardest. It must have some style about it. Call me crazy but the square block look of my current lathe does nothing for me. The look of an early Sheriton lathe is like fine art to me. It must have some curves and maybe a bit of polished alloy. I enjoy walking into a workshop and seeing nicely shaped machinery. It may not be any better quality but it looks it. I want a lathe that looks like someone took more than 5 minutes to come up with the design. Bonus points if it is Australian made.
If you are up for the challenge please let me know what I want.
Extra bonus points if you know where on is, especially if it is in SE QLD.
Thanks Steve
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6th Feb 2022, 07:39 PM #2Most Valued Member
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Obviously Chinese is out of the question!
Seriously, in terms of looks and quality you can't go part one of these....
Of course I'm not sure if it ticks ALL of your boxes but the Monarch are a beautiful machine!
Not sure where you would find one though!
Sent from a galaxy far far awayGirl, I don't wanna know about your mild-mannered alter ego or anything like that." I mean, you tell me you're, uh, super-mega-ultra-lightning babe? That's all right with me. I'm good. I'm good.
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6th Feb 2022, 08:21 PM #3Golden Member
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Of course I'm not sure if it ticks ALL of your boxes but the Monarch are a beautiful machine!
You are right it has it in the looks department, I best do some research about the rest. Steve
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6th Feb 2022, 08:41 PM #4Diamond Member
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A Hafpos AL340D (I think its called something else now) will do most of what you want.
But it has no style.
Gear swaps are required between imperial and metric threads and turning.
Its probably not the most rigid lathe ever made.
But apart from that its exactly what you want.
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6th Feb 2022, 08:41 PM #5Most Valued Member
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The veem lathe was made in australia and would fit your requirements, all the others apart from Sheraton are too big.
I think my smart and brown would tick the boxes but the bed might be a bit long. Otherwise I cannot reccomend a CVA or 10ee high enough.
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6th Feb 2022, 09:44 PM #6Golden Member
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6th Feb 2022, 09:51 PM #7Senior Member
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Have a look at these guys,
https://whitelawmachinery.com.au/pro...centre-lathes/
Rgds,
Crocy.
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6th Feb 2022, 10:01 PM #8Golden Member
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6th Feb 2022, 11:39 PM #9Most Valued Member
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Mines a 1024VSL the much uglier version of the 1024. Bed is 32" overall but only 24" between centers, so possibly a bit small, but the machine like the 10ee, cva etc is very large for its small working envelope.
It does take 5c collets directly in the nose which is nice. I dont know how far your budget goes, but Whitelaw and Benson's machinery can both supply cyclematics which are Taiwanese HLV-H clones and extremely nice.
Between 40 and 50k though from memory, but about the only nice looking manual machine still available.
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6th Feb 2022, 11:48 PM #10Most Valued Member
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I was lucky enough to buy this off a fellow metalwork forum member, he had looked after it very well.
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7th Feb 2022, 06:20 AM #11Most Valued Member
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Thats a very nice machine!
Simon
Sent from a galaxy far far awayGirl, I don't wanna know about your mild-mannered alter ego or anything like that." I mean, you tell me you're, uh, super-mega-ultra-lightning babe? That's all right with me. I'm good. I'm good.
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7th Feb 2022, 09:16 AM #12I break stuff...
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The bold part is what will bring you unstuck with many machines - the metric can often be tricky with old machines (especially Australian ones), and not needing to use change gears for the common thread pitches is something very few machines seem to be capable of... It was one of my requirements also, when I similarly replaced my 'perfectly serviceable' AL335.
To be honest, your whole shopping list looks pretty similar to mine.
A Graziano Sag 180 or SAG 14 (same machine, just minor updates through the years) will do the threading though, and meet all your other requirements (well, you decide on the last, I may be biased!). Mine is an early model SAG 180, so you do need to change one gear for 13 TPI (1/2" UNC), but all other common pitches metric and imperial use the one set of change gears. Later model 180s and all SAG 14s had a 4 position and 10 position lever, instead of the 3 and 6 I have, expanding the range somewhat. Most of the 'extra' pitches are pretty useless, and there are a lot of blank spaces on the threading chart, but it does mean you can cut 13 TPI with changing a change gear.
The motor spins one way only, and fwd/rev is selected by a pair of wet clutch packs, meaning the VFD conversion is very simple (only need start/stop), and you can afford to run a decent ramp time to keep current draw down. Can also bump the clutch lever into the opposite direction as a brake, and ease things up to speed by slipping the clutch a bit.
51mm spindle bore, 14" (355mm) swing over the tailstock ways, about 19.5" (495mm) swing over the not-a-gap section next to the chuck (which is roughly 12" wide from memory, can measure if needed). Came in 40" (1016mm) and 60" bed lengths. Overall length of the 40" bed model is roughly 2200mm. Weight around 1300kg, motor is 5hp. 1800rpm top speed on mine, think some were 1500rpm though.
Both the 40" and 60" models pop up with some regularity around the place, they must have sold pretty well over the years.
IMG_1508_1400x1050.jpg
A SAG 12 would also probably meet most of your requirements, including the threading, although they're very boxy for my taste, and the electric clutch for every speed arrangement on the 12 can be troublesome. They do exist in Australia, but not in any quantity I don't believe.
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7th Feb 2022, 09:43 AM #13Most Valued Member
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I really like that graziano, the s and b needs change gears to cut imperial threads, and because its a metric latge the threading dial is incredibly complicated.
Only other nice looking machines that work for the requirements are a
Cazenuve, although nearly all are too big, hembrug Dr1 although that needs change gears for metric
Schaublin 102nvm (needs changears but you have multiple feed rates at least) or 125
Chipmaster (needs heaps of changears)
Colchester / harrison m300
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7th Feb 2022, 06:26 PM #14Senior Member
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Have inserted a few comments amongst the quote.
I think the Aesthetic aspects get very difficult with a new machine, cost wise, and old machines can be very variable accuracy wise.
I went through a lot of this and went for a new Taiwanese machine. The cost ended up quite a bit, $35k, but its only money My machine is a Sunmaster TC 1640. I also included the constant surface speed option.
https://www.sunmaster-cnc.com/pro-tc...ead-lathe.html
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7th Feb 2022, 08:05 PM #15Philomath in training
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Castlereagh?
https://metalworkforums.com/showthre...60#post1994460
Michael
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