New Equipment

[Mutley]

Right fellow members, i have £1600 to spend on a lathe and mill.

I would like separate machines.

Space available is the length of my garage, that is 10 feet, this gives me room to get the door open and the other hobbies i have in their as well, now i dare say, and looking at this forum, this is going to be a totally addictive hobby and the others will suffer, the thing is, i can use the tools for my other hobbies.

I build model boats ( RC ) these always need fittings made.
Also race 1/8th scale rally cross and truggy, once again, small milling and turning jobs to aid performance.
Then their is my target shooting, clay pigeon and archery.
Plus photography, fishing, woodwork, so as you can see i am a little full on the hobby front.

This new hobby though is one i have wanted to do since school, i made a screw driver and a welding slag hammer.

Back on subject, I have been looking at WARCO, CHESTER, AXMINSTER, SIEG, and the other far east imports, i would like one like that, as their is plenty on the forums and web about them, know i am not knocking the likes of MYFORD, BOXFORD etc etc, but to get a good example will cost a bit, and they are not as compact as the far east ones.
From reading what various people have said on the web, though they all look the same, they are not created equal.
So this is my delima.
The same goes for the mill.

Any help will be gratefully received.

P.s. i live in the UK.

 

[tel]

About the only advice I can give is try to get machines made in Taiwan rather than China, other than that .....

 

[deverett]

I don't own any Far Eastern machinery, but reading in the various fora, Warco may be a bit more expensive, but they do have first class after sales customer service.

One company you don't appear to have considered, who also get good reviews, is ArcEuroTrade.

I think the likes of the companies you have mentioned get their machines from the same factory, with a bit of badge engineering to distinguish them.

Dave
The Emerald Isle

 

[Maryak]

About the only advice I can give is try to get machines made in Taiwan rather than China, other than that .....

I second that advice :bow:

Best Regards
Bob

 

[Jasonb]

When I changed my lathe last year I went for Warco, the machine was a couple of hundred pounds more than Chesters but the spec was slightly better and they seem much better to deal with. I got my mill from Engineers Tool Room, also good to deal with

Don't forget that a fair amount of your budget should be set aside for tooling etc as it all adds up though you can buy as & when you need something specific.

Jason

PS ive got this for sale
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=2378.0

 

[DickDastardly40]

Jon,

What size models do you want to build? This will dictate the smallest machinery you should look at. You can build small on big tools but vice versa is more difficult.

If you buy brand new from one of the usual suspect clone supliers expect to have to do some fettling to get a good machine, apparently they aren't always brilliant out of the box.

I have a Myford Super 7 and recently acquired an older Warco VMC, I can rate Warco's customer service.

IMHO, buy a decent lathe first, which you can also do milling on. A milling machine is nice but not necessarily essential. £1600 sounds a lot but you will have to add probably 25% to this for tooling, measuring eqpt etc.

www.homemachinery.org.uk is a good place to look for less expensive used machinery than ebay.

Hope this is of some use.

Al

 

[rake60]

Axminster is very straight forward in their catalog about the machines they offer
being manufactured by Sieg. Warco and Chester do not tell where their machines
are manufactured but it is quite apparent that they are also Sieg products.
In the 9 X 20 class:

Grizzly Model G4000 (The lathe I own.)

Chester Model 920

Warco Model 918

The choice would have top be based on the company's customer service reputation.

Rick

 

[minerva]

Hi Mutley,
based upon my recent experiences with lathe purchase and given your location might I suggest a visit to AMADEAL'S web site www.amadeal.co.uk or give Hugh a ring (. Tel: 0208 558 4615 ) they are based just up the road in Essex and I found their service First class. No connection other than as a customer but I will thoroughly recommend them
regards
Terry T

 

[Mutley]

Many thanks for the replies, the tooling is on a separate budget, i have £400 set aside for this so far.

As for the size of models etc, The boats i build are up to and over a meter long, however the fittings etc are not to large, the biggest bits would be the Kort Nozzles, which can be between 40 and 70 mm in diameter, bollards, winches, lights, horns, fire monitors etc are all quite small.

Same with the cars, these will only be small items.

Bushes etc for classic vehicles, tractors and stationary engines ( Could get pics of the engines if anybody needs them ) that my uncle is in the middle of restoring

As for the other things, it would be those miniature engines etc that can be found on this site.

So nothing massive.

What would be first on the shopping list regarding tooling?

I have 2 verniers, 1 x 6" & 1 x 4", 1 micrometer 2" gap, 1 x 12" & 1 x 6" steel rules, various calipers, internal & external, 1 x Dial indicator with mag base and arm, 2' square by 2" thick Granite block, 1 steel depth gauge/protractor and 1 x 4" & 1 x 6" engineers square.
Been collecting for a while, also have a quite a few bits of stock material as well, aluminium, brass, mild steel, silver steel and bronze.

Thanks in advance.

 

[kvom]

Things you will likely need (may already have some from other hobbies):

- set of small files
- taps and dies for the threads you will use in your models
- thread gauge
- drill index
- edge finder
- center drills
- parallels

I'm sure others will chime in.

 

[ksouers]

Hi Mutley, welcome.

The only that jumped out at me in your list of tools that was missing was a 1 inch micrometer. There verniers are good for getting close, hence the nickname "very near" calipers. Might also want to consider metrical flavored micrometers if any of your engine plans use that measuring system.

No need to get everything all at once. You will learn what you need as your projects and skills progress. You may also find that you have as much fun making some of the tools you need as you do the models.

Kevin

 

[Noitoen]

If you want eastern machinery with German warranty, try http://www.optimum-machines.com/ or http://www.quantum-machines.com/. I have this mill http://www.optimum-machines.com/products/milling-machines/f-40-f-45/index.html and I'm happy wit it. I don't know if they have imperial machines but you can try.

 

[Jasonb]

The Optium range can be bought in the UK from MSC/J&L Not sure what warrantee is included

Jason

 

[rake60]

The measuring tools for my home shop include a boxed set of 0 to 6"
outside mics. That was a waste of money. I have never used anything
bigger than the 2 - 3"
One too set that does get a lot of use is a set of telescoping gages
for measuring small bores.

At this moment Enco has them on special for $10USD

It is best to buy tools as you need them, and as they fit your your
your hobby budget.

Rick

 

[Mutley]

:bow: Once again, many thanks for the help and advise, much appreciated :bow: