Dreaming about lathes / mills

[tomlad]

Wanted both for ages , been looking now abit more seriously
Re mill , seen one , vertical, that far a can tell from images the quill , if my terminology is right, is fixed .
So u rase and lower the bed , neez, , ?
Most seem to have a bit of rase ,lower on quill .
Does it matter .
Looks like x axis powered, but looks like only on ,off , no speed options....
Same question.
Big does / dont regarding choosing plz people......
Ive never used a mill , tiny bit on lathe years ago
Tia

 

[tinman]

if you buy a mill your Doomed lad.

 

[tomlad]

On the way to expence ???

 

[Phil P]

It’s a slippery slope with machine tools! Once you get the bug, just remember you’ll spend nearly as much on decent tooling as you will on half decent machine!

If it was my money I’d be looking for a lathe first as you’ll probably find you have more jobs for it, however depending on the type of work your doing.

I’d be lost without either now but the lathe will get used most weeks, unlike the mill that tends to get more specialist jobs.

As for a mill, go for the highest spec you can afford, a dro on the x&y axis makes life a lot easier. They can be fitted at a later date though.
A movable quill means it’s much quicker if you want to double it up as a pillar drill. Also a variable speed for the power feed is a must if you want to use the power feed to cut slots rather than manually.

Mine is a Semco, which is basically a copy of a Bridgeport.

There also a Colchester mascot 1600 with a 3m bed and a little boxford. Oh and a vertical slotter hiding in there as well. It’s a slippery slope

 

[tomlad]

Absolutely see ur pionts that a lathe prob get more use

I blame utube , abom ,k fenner,doubleboost.
Ive an eye on both .

 

[tinman]

On the way to expence ???

Prety much the same as what Phil said.

Starting out your best bet is to buy a nice clean lathe, not too big n not too small, roundabouts a 11-12" swing is a nice size, the more that comes with it the less you will have to spend later, buying a lathe with as many toys as possible with it now, likes of a 4 jaw, travelling steady, fixed steady, face plate, drive dogs, taper turning attachment {scarce enough}, live center's and any tooling will be cheaper in one lot that buying seporate after.
Really and truly with a few carbide/hss tools, a 3 jaw and a bit of round stock on a lathe your ready to play.

The mill is a whole different class of animal.
For instance, my bridgeport cost me 3,500 with a slotting head on it and some tooling.
Since then at best guess I've spent 6-7k on tooling for it and altho I'm fairly through the wish list I'd say it ill take another 2k at the least to get me where I want to be and that's just to have the luxury of bieng able to complete a job that may only show up a few times a year.
The mill is the lathes right hand man but unless you have a need for one, or deep pockets then I'd avoid it for as long as possible.

Keep watching fenner and booth, Tom lipton is another man but keep this in mind,
Them lads make it look like child's play, which trust me, its not. But you will learn from them too, we all do because every day is a learning day and rarely are any two jobs the same.
Also, remember, most of them lads are using 2 or 3 generations worth of tooling, it's an incredibly long road starting from scratch but possible with patience at the same time.

I fear in the not too distant future the "old metal" will disappear, the generation cummin up now will fill the skips with it because they won't know what it's for and the generation that dose will have died off, literally.
It saddens me,
to think that such a trade will disappear and it will,
unfortunately we live in such a throw away society now that I'm appalled as to the quality what's accepted today and I really hate to think what the future holds for our children or their children, "Ready player one" springs to mind..

Anyways,
If it interests you, for sure go for it, but take your time and buy wise, the day you buy is the day you sell imo.
Start out with a nice lathe and use it as a stepping stone to the next one.

 

[Phil P]

Prety much the same as what Phil said.

Starting out your best bet is to buy a nice clean lathe, not too big n not too small, roundabouts a 11-12" swing is a nice size, the more that comes with it the less you will have to spend later, buying a lathe with as many toys as possible with it now, likes of a 4 jaw, travelling steady, fixed steady, face plate, drive dogs, taper turning attachment {scarce enough}, live center's and any tooling will be cheaper in one lot that buying seporate after.
Really and truly with a few carbide/hss tools, a 3 jaw and a bit of round stock on a lathe your ready to play.

The mill is a whole different class of animal.
For instance, my bridgeport cost me 3,500 with a slotting head on it and some tooling.
Since then at best guess I've spent 6-7k on tooling for it and altho I'm fairly through the wish list I'd say it ill take another 2k at the least to get me where I want to be and that's just to have the luxury of bieng able to complete a job that may only show up a few times a year.
The mill is the lathes right hand man but unless you have a need for one, or deep pockets then I'd avoid it for as long as possible.

Keep watching fenner and booth, Tom lipton is another man but keep this in mind,
Them lads make it look like child's play, which trust me, its not. But you will learn from them too, we all do because every day is a learning day and rarely are any two jobs the same.
Also, remember, most of them lads are using 2 or 3 generations worth of tooling, it's an incredibly long road starting from scratch but possible with patience at the same time.

I fear in the not too distant future the "old metal" will disappear, the generation cummin up now will fill the skips with it because they won't know what it's for and the generation that dose will have died off, literally.
It saddens me,
to think that such a trade will disappear and it will,
unfortunately we live in such a throw away society now that I'm appalled as to the quality what's accepted today and I really hate to think what the future holds for our children or their children, "Ready player one" springs to mind..

Anyways,
If it interests you, for sure go for it, but take your time and buy wise, the day you buy is the day you sell imo.
Start out with a nice lathe and use it as a stepping stone to the next one.

It’s frightening when you start adding up all the extra bits you end up getting, trouble is a lot are for as you say one off jobs.
My mill came with no tooling but did have the dro, since then I’ve bought collets, clamping sets, vices, rotary table, dividing head, and let’s not forget all the various sizes of cutters, end mills, slot drills etc. It soon adds up but some jobs are impossible without the right kit.

As you say, in this throwaway age and with the takeover of cnc it’s a diying art! A lot of very nice machines where also weighted in when scrap prices where high meaning decent old kit is now very expensive and hard to come by!

 

[Kevm]

I fear in the not too distant future the "old metal" will disappear, the generation cummin up now will fill the skips with it because they won't know what it's for and the generation that dose will have died off, literally.
It saddens me,

Jeez, I hadn't thought of that, that is sad. None of the young lads I have worked with lately have done a proper apprenticeship and played about with lathes, mills and shapers in techy college like us old uns.

 

[Phil P]

Jeez, I hadn't thought of that, that is sad. None of the young lads I have worked with lately have done a proper apprenticeship and played about with lathes, mills and shapers in techy college like us old uns.

Its surprising how many younger generation can’t tell what size a bolt head is by looking at it or know the basic thread sizes and pitches either. There’s just no enthusiasm about the old school type of engineering, if it’s not done on a computer it’s interesting!

I remember the first time I went with my dad to a local engineer, really clever chap who’s now sadly passed away. He’d look at something over the top of his glasses smoking a pipe and say no problem I’ll sort that. Worked out of an old wooden shed full of machines. I was hooked first time I saw the lathe turning down a shaft, still find it mesmerising now

 

[Scribus]

Its surprising how many younger generation can’t tell what size a bolt head is by looking at it or know the basic thread sizes and pitches either. There’s just no enthusiasm about the old school type of engineering, if it’s not done on a computer it’s interesting!

I remember the first time I went with my dad to a local engineer, really clever chap who’s now sadly passed away. He’d look at something over the top of his glasses smoking a pipe and say no problem I’ll sort that. Worked out of an old wooden shed full of machines. I was hooked first time I saw the lathe turning down a shaft, still find it mesmerising now

TBH, as a lad I wasn't that interested in nuts'n'bolts and stuff, loved the Airfix and was always interested in planes and ships but actually getting my hands dirty didn't really grab me until late teens when it was too late to go back to school and do the metalwork I had dropped at the earliest opportunity. Still have an itch to catch up where I left off though.

 

[tinman]

Jeez, I hadn't thought of that, that is sad. None of the young lads I have worked with lately have done a proper apprenticeship and played about with lathes, mills and shapers in techy college like us old uns.

i was at many auctions a good 15 yrs ago where there was a world of ex college stuff sold off, it was never too cheap but it wasnt too dear either, at the time even tho i was a mechanical engineer i didnt really have a graw for it, i bought some stuff no doubt but when i reminisce now about it i should of bought far more, i notice now that kind of stuff is slowly disappearing, less and less auctions all the time and now ebay seems to be about the best selection out from the odd auction of old school stuff, more and more auction notification mails come in now that are more cnc orientated, even some of the cnc's are getting old.
times are a changing.

 

[tomlad]

Noticed a boxford advertised locally on single phase, some tooling, he thinks about 1976 .. hes getting back to me with bed size ... boxford lathes ??
I have found lathes .co.uk very good knowledge

 

[Phil P]

Noticed a boxford advertised locally on single phase, some tooling, he thinks about 1976 .. hes getting back to me with bed size ... boxford lathes ??
I have found lathes .co.uk very good knowledge

Boxford aren't bad machine, they’ve been making lathes for a very long time. Think they still do?

This is my little 280, doesn’t get a lot of use but it was free.

 

[tomlad]

The boxford is a bud

 

[powerfarmer]

Boxford aren't bad machine, they’ve been making lathes for a very long time. Think they still do?

This is my little 280, doesn’t get a lot of use but it was free.
View attachment 768060

Nice machine, I was very tempted by similar Denford Synchro a few years ago but I passed on it. Regret it since

 

[pycoed]

My mill (Marlow) has a non movable quill - it's OK but a proper quill would be a lot better IMHO - as someone else has stated you could use it as a heavy duty pillar drill, & lot's of boring jobs would be easier to do. Having said that, if the price was right any mill is better than no mill!
BTW don't ever try to use a pillar drill as a mill - bad things will happen...

 

[tomlad]

I didn't bid .
lathe first

 

[tinman]

The boxford is a bud

is it the one where you change the belts under the headstock to get certain speeds?.
if it is i personally wouldnt be bothered with that craic, down on your knees moving a belt up n down a pulley.
also, if you did get handy bear in mind thread cutting, will it do a metric thread as well as an imperial, id say its probably more likely the latter.
a slightly more modern lathe would/could do both.

 

[tinman]

Boxford aren't bad machine, they’ve been making lathes for a very long time. Think they still do?

This is my little 280, doesn’t get a lot of use but it was free.

similar looking to a harrison M250.

i had a 250 here once, bought in an auction, a mint wee thing, took it out of storage one day to give it a spin, threw in a bit of 25mm ms and took a pass off it, iirc it was about 2mm, it near stalled it.
i was so impressed i sold it......

 

[powerfarmer]

similar looking to a harrison M250.

i had a 250 here once, bought in an auction, a mint wee thing, took it out of storage one day to give it a spin, threw in a bit of 25mm ms and took a pass off it, iirc it was about 2mm, it near stalled it.
i was so impressed i sold it......

A bit like the time I went from using a Triumph 2000 to a Bantam...

Anyway all this talk about lathes and mills is giving me notions to finally sort my dream workshop, now how to hide that from the missus...