What would you do?

[Retromill]

George, you will not get , precision and rigidity for $3000 in a Chinese made lathe. They work OK but usually need some work to fix things that are not right. The stands on the cheap lathes are usually flexable and not very rigid. I think you should save your money a bit longer and buy a Tiawan made lathe they are much better. The AL 1000c (240v) and AL 1000D (415v) is well made and has adjustable gibbs and has a thick rigid stand system, do some research into this lathe before you commit to a Chinese lathe. It may be better to wait till you can afford a good lathe as you dont want to waste a lot of time and money setting up the wrong lathe.

[Fossil]

What is your experience with running a lathe George.
Reason I ask is that you may be better off getting the smaller lathe such as the AL-60 from H&F. It doesn't look too bad for the price, and you can sell it if you want a bigger machine machine later. There is a very steep learning curve when using these things. I guess that is why it is a four year trade course in Aus. You will learn so much from getting to know the small unit, and you won't have outlayed too much, when you decide from experience what you really want or need. Having said that.... mabey you have heaps of time on lathes so sorry if I sound patronising.


Tooling is a big issue, and I don't see where you mention this cost anywhere in your posts. I have an old but very accurate English lathe that I refurbished a few years ago. All up I have put $700.00 in to the lathe, and about $2000.00 in tooling.
Like I have said before, I would decide what type of tooling you need to run, and then select the lathe to run the tooling.
I agree with previous posts on the Chinese lathes. I don't like them. My brother has a large hydraulics business. He bought one off H&F for about the $5k mark, and hasn't been very happy with it. He recently bought a used Russian lathe, which is better suited to his needs, and is very happy with it. It cost him less than the new Chinese lathe.

[George Metz]

Hi Fossil, I agree with you on all aspects.
My experience with lathes is very limited as the last time I used one was when I was in highs school but in saying that I took to the lathe like a duck to water, I scored 100% in all my tests and the important thing I think was that I really enjoyed using the lathe. I had a good ability to plan the job quickly and had the patients to come up with a good finish on items I worked on. The jobs I need the lathe for now are pretty basic, nothing intricate just some thread work and basic diameter change.
The reason I don’t mind a Chinese lathe is that I will not need super accuracy and I think a Chinese lathe with the price tag will do me fine.
The reason I would like a lathe of the size above is that I need a spindle bore of at least 38mm and I don’t think that I will ever need a bigger one. The rigmarole of buying, selling and buying again I really couldn’t be bothered with, I would rather set up my work area once and be done with it.
As far as buying a better Taiwanese lathe for 5 to 6 K is really out of my budget and as I mentioned before I don’t need that sort of precision for things like pins, washers and collets, if I was making lineal slides, hydraulics or gears then that would be a different story. As for tooling I have an uncle who has just about every lathe tool you can think of and is willing to let me use them as I build my collection of tools.
I would just like to know what others would do if they had a maximum of 3K to spend on a lathe, what would they buy?

[Sterob]

I think Arose62 has the right idea.
Go and spend an afternoon annoying Hafco and see what you can get for your money. Go away and look around on Ebay and such and see if there is anything of better value around and then make a choice.
Seeing the lathes in the flesh and comparing features SHOULD make it easier to decide what you want. You can't tell the physical sizes of the machines from the photo's and that makes it harder to form an opinion.
I am looking at lathe as well, but am some way from choosing one.
I am not convinced of the benefits of buying a 40 year old english lathe over a brand new chinese lathe...it just dosen't seem right.
I have looked at a couple of Hercus's and they were used a abused, had alot of the extras missing, were imperial ( I want metric) and were rather over priced. Also they are hard to find ( Myfords as well).
Anyway, good luck with your purchase and let us know how you go.

[George Metz]

This is the lathe I'm looking at and have posted the information about. It is very similar to the H&F AL-300A which is also made in China, the difference is that I can get the stand (which I will probably scrap), work light, coolant set up, and delivered to my door for $55.
For just under 3k. Also I have not seen one of these for sale second hand, which tells me that either they must be OK and people are hanging on to them or no one has bought one because they are totally crapola, that is the mystery surrounding my dilemma.
I'm with you Sterob in regards to purchasing an old named brand and paying top dollar for over a brand new model that I can nurture from the beginning. I will give Arose62 advice a go in the new year and see what H&F can do for me and let you all know. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL AND MAY YOU HAVE A SAFE AND PROSPEROUS 07

[rpepper]

George,

I am no engineer, so this is only my opinion. I have a Hafco AL340A lathe, bought May 2005. It leaks a little oil from headstock to gearbox and down to the feet (cast iron with 5/8" threaded rod adjusters) - not a lot, I just wipe it off now and again.
I turned up some aluminium handles to replace the plastic ones too.
It works well for me, but doesn't really compare that well to the ones at Tafe, but you get what you pay for.
The lathe is more $$$ than the 300 obviously ($4300ish). I wanted a foot brake and my teenage son encouraged me
I have probably spent too much on tooling, as we nearly all do.
The guys I dealt with at H&F were excellent (Sydney store). If you can wait for an Open Day you can save a bit (look under events on the website).
Regards,
Richard

[rpepper]

Here is attempted pic of lathe foot - you can just see the oil in the circular recess.
The feet are cast iron roughly 80 x 80 mm x 25 mm high that my Tafe teacher gave me (good exercise in setting up and facing etc). I contacted some floor-type vinyl pads underneath for a slight cushioning effect.
The threaded rod is 5/8" UNC(?).

[George Metz]

Hi rpepper, there is no attachment or I just can't see it

[rpepper]

hi George,

I posted at home, but I'm now at work and I can see it here too.

I guess I'm in a minority using Safari on a Mac but I just checked it on IE for Macintosh & it's OK.

Let me know if you want me to send it via email.

Regards,

Richard

[George Metz]

Hi rpepper,

would you please send it to me via email.

Thanks.