lathe bigger than myford

[ShottendenAveling]

Originally Posted by MARK RIGG

Forget all those nasty cheap Colchesters, Harrisons, Excels, Warco etc. Look for a
Dean, Smith & Grace - the finest British lathe.

MARK

Not sure I fully agree with the list. True about the Warco (and similar lathes) my first hand experience of stuff like Warco is that it is little more than a hobby lathe of the most basic type and to be avoided for any serious stuff.

As for the Colchesters and Harrisons, we have both at home and they are good machines. They tend to get a little noisy in the head when they are old but still turn out good work. There a plenty of spares out there for them and they dont take up a lot of space. If I were looking for a bigger machine I would look at the Colchester Triumph or later 2000.

The DS&G is a fantastic lathe, agreed... but I would venture IMHO my Holbrook runs a pretty close second at a quality British machine.

[hornsbyfan]

Hi I would recommend a Colchester master 2500 a good lathe,5hp motor runs well on a Transwave converter, has forward and reverse clutches ideal for tapping,and metric screwcutting on a imperial version.accessories are readily available on the secondhand market,genuine new spares are expensive.backplates readily available,and it can take 1.625 inch dia bar through the headstock spindle. I also have a Myford S7 and Colchester triumph 2000. The master gets the most use. The top class toolroom lathes like Holbrook,Dean Smith and Grace etc are superb machines if in good condition,but accessories are not readily available,only buy one of these type of machines if it has all the equipment with it.plus these machines are very heavy,they were built for precision not versatility.Avoid any lathe with variable speed,they can be big trouble and expensive to repair.The Bantam is a nice lathe but the Master is better,mine has the long bed ie 40 inches between centres which means the tailstock can be pushed right back out of the way .

[weidner]

Originally Posted by weidner

The many clones of the WW2 4.1/2" Southbend imports are an advance on the Myford . The Boxford is the commonest , but there are many made for schools with no screwcut or auto feeds fitted . The nicest of them is the Smart and Brown Sabel . Boxford parts will fit this . There was also an old fashioned looking 5" LeBlond which was like a larger lathe scaled down , but a nice machine if you can find one which has had a charmed life .

Beware of the fancy drive arrangements on the Colchester Chipmaster . Do your homework on the ' Latehs for Sale websit archive section .

Further to the above , there is currently a Smart and Brown Sabel on eBay no 140 506 615 855 , and LeBlond Regal , which is the model I referred to , 140 486 100 794 , both with the same seller at Lowestoft , also a Dean Smith and Grace , to please old Riggy's heart , no. 290 506 615 855 up in Tadcaster . The DSG comes up soon .